Dressed to Kill [1980] dir Brian De Palma

Dressed to Kill (1980)



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080661/




Dressed to Kill is a 1980 suspense thriller/horror film written and directed by Brian de Palma. It stars Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. The original music score is composed by Pino Donaggio. The film is marketed with the tagline "Brian de Palma, master of the macabre, invites you to a showing of the latest fashion... in murder." It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.





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



The film was the target of some backlash from the gay and transgender communities, who felt that its portrayal of transgender people was misguided and homophobic.



The film was the target of mild controversy when it became known that the nude body in the opening scene, taking place in a shower, was not that of Angie Dickinson but of Penthouse model Victoria Lynn. This controversy stemmed mostly from Dickinson's status at the time as being a mature, still-slender and shapely, sex symbol; the provocative shower scene - and the film - originally seemed to cash in on the idea that this nude body was that of its star. However, this revelation of a body-double (a theme later explored by director De Palma in his 1984 release, Body Double) seemed to do no harm to its box office performance.



Although this film was quite successful for actor Michael Caine, he was nominated for a Razzie anyway.



There were two versions of the film, an R rated version and an unrated version. The unrated version was only longer by seconds that showed more genitalia in the above-mentioned shower scene and more blood in the elevator scene.



The film is rated R18 in New Zealand and its contains sexual violence.



Both Sean Connery and Liv Ullmann were approached in early 1979 by De Palma to appear as Elliot and Kate, respectively, but both passed on the project.



William Finley, of DePalma's Sisters and Phantom of the Paradise, provides the telephone voice of Bobbi.



Actress Rachel Ticotin (Total Recall, Falling Down) receives an early screen credit as a production assistant on this movie.



Actors Keith Gordon and Michael Caine would later play good-turned-bad protagonists in horror films (Gordon as Arnie Cunningham in Christine and Caine as Jon Lansdale in The Hand).



Extras include:



The Making of 'Dressed to Kill'

Slashing 'Dressed to Kill' [censorship troubles]

Comparison of the Unrated and R rated versions

An Appreciation by Keith Gordon

Video photo gallery

Original Trailer

Spanish and French subtitles