Tuesday, May 03, 2022
Dressed to Kill
- Commentary: I'm finally catching up (including rewatching) with films I haven't yet commented on. This is one of those films.
Frankly, it's hard to say whether or not I consider it a "winner" of my affections. This is not a movie I saw, or of which I was even aware, when it was released in 1980 and caused such a furor. It has some spectacular scenes that I love watching, like the flirtatious museum scene at the beginning, and some intriguing split scene work, but the truth is, when I rewatched the film, all of this caught me by repeat surprise. When I looked at the cover of the movie prior to rewatching it, just before writing it up, I didn't recall anything about the film except Angie Dickinson in the shower and the startling reveal of her character's strawberry blonde pubic hair. Having said this, I have a small number of Brian De Palma films that I both enjoy and consider significant in his career. This is one of them.
Here is a review of the movie 35 years after its initial release by one of the reviewers at RogerEbert.com, which is specifically about the Criterion release, which is the release I have. It is an admiring retrospective that I enjoyed reading and took into serious consideration when deciding whether to keep or cull this movie. I landed, once again, on the "keeper" side.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Michael Caine Dr. Robert Elliott Angie Dickinson Kate Miller Nancy Allen Liz Blake Keith Gordon Peter Miller Dennis Franz Detective Marino David Margulies Dr. Levy Susanna Clemm Betty Luce Ken Baker Warren Lockman
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1980
Directed by Brian De Palma.
Labels: §3, brian-de-palma, erotic, michael-caine, nancy-allen, neo-noirA, thriller2
