Dressed to Kill (1980)

A mysterious blonde woman kills one of a psychiatrist's patients, and then goes after the high-class call girl who witnessed the murder.

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writer:

Brian De Palma

Stars:

Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 1 win & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Caine	...	Doctor Robert Elliott
Angie Dickinson	...	Kate Miller
Nancy Allen	...	Liz Blake
Keith Gordon	...	Peter Miller
Dennis Franz	...	Detective Marino
David Margulies	...	Dr. Levy
Ken Baker	...	Warren Lockman
Susanna Clemm	...	Betty Luce
Brandon Maggart	...	Cleveland Sam
Amalie Collier	...	Cleaning Woman
Mary Davenport	...	Woman in Restaurant
Anneka Di Lorenzo	...	Nurse (as Anneka De Lorenzo)
Norman Evans	...	Ted
Robbie L. McDermott	...	Man in Shower
Bill Randolph	...	Chase Cabbie

Storyline

While taking a shower, Kate Miller, a middle-aged, sexually frustrated New York City housewife, has a rape fantasy while her husband stands at the sink shaving. Later that day, after complaining to her psychiatrist Dr. Robert Elliott about her husband's pathetic performance in bed, she meets a strange man at a museum and returns to his apartment where they continue an adulterous encounter that began in the taxicab. Before she leaves his apartment, she finds papers which certify that the man has a venereal disease. Panicked, Kate rushes into the elevator, but has to return to his apartment when she realizes she's forgotten her wedding ring. When the elevator doors open, she's brutally slashed to death by a tall blonde woman wearing dark sunglasses. Liz Blake, a high-class call girl, is the only witness to the murder and she becomes the prime suspect and the murderer's next target. Liz is rescued from being killed by Kate's son Peter, who enlists the help of Liz to catch his mother's ...

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Plot Keywords:

shower | throat slitting | blonde | wedding ring | fondling own breasts | 

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Taglines:

The latest fashion in murder.

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 July 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dressed to Kill

Filming Locations:

World Trade Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,500,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$31,899,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Filmways Pictures, Cinema 77 Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dr. Robert Elliott's (Sir Michael Caine's) psychiatric office is located at 162 East 70th Street on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

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Goofs

After Liz grabs the razor that Dr. Elliott drops in the elevator, she begins to running toward the screaming housekeeper, with her purse left on the ground in front of the elevator door. As Liz leaves from the apartment door the housekeeper goes into, her purse now appears over her arm.

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Quotes

Bobbi: Don't make me be a bad girl again!

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Alternate Versions

In the network television version, the following changes are made:

• A different opening. In this version, the shower scene is much shorter.
• After a few close ups of Kate's face, it shows the man grabbing her, then it cuts to Kate waking up. We never see her and her husband engage in sex.
• Kate's murder is almost entirely omitted. After the elevator doors open, the quick shot of Bobby's razor slashing Kate's hand has been cut. It just shows the murderer backing Kate into the elevator. Kate's scream as she is slashed is also missing Then, the entire murder is edited out and it just cuts to Liz talking with her John about stock exchange, after which, all the shots of Liz looking at the dying, blood drenched Kate are omitted entirely except for the close ups of Liz's eyes and hands.
• Instead of having the razor slash Liz's throat at the end, we just see it pressed against her skin, after which it quickly cuts to Liz awakening from her nightmare.
• All of the cursing and sexually explicit language was re-dubbed.

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Connections

Featured in Nancy Allen on Dressed to Kill (2015)

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Soundtracks

The Note
(uncredited)
Composed by Pino Donaggio
Conducted by Natale Massara

User Reviews

De Palma is in his element here.

"Dressed to Kill" is an intense, dreamy, erotically charged thriller, and clearly another of filmmaker Brian De Palma's homages to the works of Alfred Hitchcock. It manages the neat trick of being fairly classy and rather trashy at the same time, as De Palma brings all of his directing skill to bear. This may not be his best but it's certainly one of his most well known, thanks in no small part to the excellent star trio of Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson, and Nancy Allen; Allen, of course, was married to De Palma at the time.

Caine plays an eminent psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Elliott, and Dickinson portrays Kate Miller, one of his patients who's not getting any sexual fulfillment in her life. Unfortunately, once she is able to experience an afternoon of passion the satisfaction is short lived, as a tall, cold looking blonde woman in sunglasses and trenchcoat slashes her to death with a straight razor. (This has to rank as one of the scariest ever elevator rides captured on film.) A witness on the scene is high priced call girl Liz Blake (Allen), who's accused of the crime after stupidly picking up the murder weapon. So she ends up working with Kate's son Peter (Keith Gordon) to try to identify the woman, who Liz and Peter guess to be another of Elliott's patients.

In the opening minutes of his film De Palma shows you what you're going to be in for, showing Dickinson pleasuring herself in the shower (intercutting shots of Dickinson with those of a body double) until a male stranger materializes behinds her and starts forcing himself on her. The combination of sex and danger is always stressed in this movie; as we will learn our killer has some severe psycho sexual problems. There are some highly memorable sequences, such as an extended seduction taking place inside an art museum, that being followed by a steamy coupling in the back of a cab. Other aspects that make it effective are Jerry Greenberg's editing (this was the man that cut "The French Connection", after all), Ralf Bode's widescreen cinematography, and Pino Donaggio's haunting music.

The actors each get an impressive showcase; both Dickinson and Allen look amazing to boot. Included in the cast are Dennis Franz as the investigating detective, David Margulies as the psychiatrist who explains everything for us in the end in case we didn't already get it, William Finley who does some uncredited voice work, and Brandon Maggart in a brief bit as a john.

Overall, the film has a definite ability to get under one's skin. It's often genuinely spooky and could easily shock more sensitive viewers due to the level of sexual frankness on display. While subtlety may be in short supply, it's hard to deny the ability of "Dressed to Kill" to manipulate us into a state of excitement and expectation.

Eight out of 10.