#770: DE PALMA, Brian: Dressed To Kill (1980)

DE PALMA, Brian (United States)

Dressed To Kill [1980]

Spine #770
Blu-ray

Brian De Palma ascended to the highest ranks of American suspense filmmaking with this virtuoso, explicit erotic thriller. At once tongue in cheek and scary as hell, Dressed to Kill revolves around the grisly murder of a woman in Manhattan and how her psychiatrist, her braniac teenage son, and the prostitute who witnessed the crime try to piece together what happened while the killer remains at large. With its masterfully executed scenes of horror, voluptuous camera work, and passionate score, Dressed to Kill is a veritable symphony of terror, enhanced by vivid performances by Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, and Nancy Allen.

105 minutes
Color

Monaural

2:35:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2015

Director/Writer

Brian De Palma was 40 when he wrote and directed Dressed to Kill.

Other De Palma films in the Collection:

#89: Sisters (1973)
#562: Blow Out (1981)

The Film

None of the initials of LGBT were in any way culturally significant when Alfred Hitchcock made Psycho in 1960. However when De Palma decided to do a remake (c’mon, what else can we call it?) in 1980, at least the “L” “G” and “B” were gathering understanding and respect in all but the most redneck parts of the country.

It’s the “T” that hadn’t caught on at that time — over 40 years ago as of this writing.

The Trans killer is exactly the same in both films — a man aching to be a woman — and therefore, is so completely screwed up that he can do nothing but become a maniacal killer (dressed very badly in women’s clothing and a terrible wig) …

Times have changed. Again, leaving out the rednecks, most of 21st-century American culture is beginning to accept the idea that Trans people (even young kids) have a definitive right to change their sex and go on with their lives.

The most progressive moments in the film are from a clip of an old Phil Donahue Show featuring a trans woman.

De Palma’s film is exciting, super-suspenseful, erotic, and beautifully made. But it is dated.

De Palma and Ralf Bode, his cinematographer, don’t miss a (Hitchcockian) trick. Take the scene in The Met, where Kate (Angie Dickinson) and Ken (Warren Lockman, terrific without a word of dialogue) stealthily chase each other around the rooms, filled with contemporary art (I thought we were in MOMA for a moment; in actuality the interior filming was done at the Philadelphia Art Museum) … the dropped glove, the coy exchange of glances — all filmed with magnificent timing and editing.

The charged eroticism in the very first (shower) scene (not Dickinson, but body double (Victoria Lynn Johnson, a former Penthouse Pet) sets off the suspense which never lets up.

Michael Caine (his usual high-quality acting) and Nancy Allen are very good.

Keith Gordon (Peter) is also excellent as the nerdy kid. In the first few scenes, our interest is piqued in his electronic experiments — a great exchange between him and his mom (Dickinson) involves trying to name is invention — Kate tells him how the pastry, the Napoleon, was named after the famous Frenchman, who “did some baking on the side.” She finally convinces him to name it the “Peter.” Hilarious.

Dennis Franz is his usual great New York cop.

But De Palma never follows up any of this after Dickinson leaves the scene — Peter’s involvement thereafter is purely as a prop for the plot (his hidden camera is important — we should have seen him making it!)

Beautiful to look at, unfortunately dated and sexist, the film exists as a relic of the early 80’s. Great score, btw, by Pino Donaggio.

And tell me something — what was so difficult about getting blood to look realistic back then?

Film Rating (0-60):

54

The Extras

The Booklet

12-page wraparound. Essay by critic Michael Koresky.

He describes one of my favorite scenes in the film:

“Liz describes to Peter, over lunch at a fancy restaurant, the penectomy and vaginoplasty Elliott never went through with [De Palma’s original script opened with a man in a shower who his shaving himself, and eventually cuts off his penis. He smartly discarded the idea.] (‘they take your penis and slice it down the middle …’). That scene features a killer visual gag lurking in a corner of De Palma’s wide frame — a middle-aged woman overhears Liz and gets the vapors — in case you made the mistake of taking it all too seriously.”

Commentary

None.

A Lost Art — Brian De Palma

Between De Palma and filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

Intelligent discussion:

De Palma: “Choosing the right sound to hear is almost choosing the right color to put on a canvas.”

Interviews

Character and Choreography — Nancy Allen

With actor Allen, producer George Litto, composer Donaggio, shower-scene body double Victoria Lynn Johnson, and poster photographic art director Stephen Sayadian.

Allen was married to De Palma for 5 years (1979-1984).

More than Money — George Litto

Litto — originally a musician — talks about how films must move like musical scores, with the ups and downs, the crescendos and diminuendos … and then discusses how he “fell in love” with De Palma, the director. At the end of the interview, he laments the fact that producers like him don’t exist anymore — a money man willing to take the risk on a controversial film.

The Music in an Actor — Pino Donaggio

Donaggio (his Italian is subtitled) wrote a score which is truly a “character” in the film:

“A thriller with no music at all will have a hard time ‘thrilling’ anyone.”

He is justifiably proud of his writing for The Met scene, where there is over six minutes with no dialogue.

Body Double — Victoria Lynn Johnson

Her story.

“It certainly wasn’t anything that was that different from how I’d posed before the magazine (Penthouse).”

After Dickinson had the nerve to say she had no body double on The Tonight Show, People magazine told the true story. Her name became a clue in Trivial Pursuit. And — given a breast cancer diagnosis of 18 months, she fought the disease for 20 years before passing away in 2019.

The Art of the Sell — Stephen Sayadian

The one-sheet. A former art director at Hustler magazine, he designed some of the famous one-sheets in 20th century film history, including the one at the top of this page.

My favorite is not from a movie, but from an album: Frank Zappa’s 1984 Thing-fish:

Documentary

The Making of “Dressed to Kill,” from 2001.

• De Palma wanted to make Cruising, but couldn’t get the rights (William Friedkin ending up directing it).
• Peter is a stand-in for a young De Palma, who actually built a sprawling computer set-up like the one Peter builds.
• Dickinson:
• “ … the getting killed early off didn’t bother me. As a matter fact, when Brian was pleading his case, he said, ‘I have to have you, because I need a recognizable person who is willing to die in the first half hour, and I need somebody that the audience will like immediately because I don’t have time to set her up …”

New profile

Of cinematographer Bode, featuring filmmaker Michael Apted.

Apted — who had nothing to do with this film — praises Bode’s skills. He was the kind of DP who wanted nothing more than to get the story on the film stock without any conspicuous camera work.

Interview

With actor-director Keith Gordon from 2001.

Great story about the one argument he had with De Palma, who wanted him up and pacing the room in the scene with Dickinson. Gordon argued strenuously that he should be so tired from being up all night that he’d remain seated. As one can see, Gordon won the argument!

Pieces

From 2001 about the different versions of the film and the cuts made to avoid an X rating.

De Palma was infuriated.

Gallery

Of storyboards by De Palma. Like Hitchcock, he story-boarded everything, down to what an actor should be doing with their eyes.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

34

54 + 34 =

88

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