Dressed to KillPeople have a predilection to adopt the characteristics of what they desire, or even how they see themselves--and some take this compulsion to extremes. Dressed to Kill is a psychological thriller that begins with Kate Miller (Angie Dickinson), a sexually discontented housewife who verbalizes her urges with her psychiatrist, Dr. Robert Elliott (Michael Caine). Dr. Elliott later comes to believe that one of his patients, a transsexual named "Bobbi" (voiced by William Finley), has started killing to provoke him. After an upscale call girl named Liz Blake (Nancy Allen) witnesses Bobbi killing his victim, she becomes targeted for the next murder.
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It has been said that writer/director Brian De Palma is one of the most fervent admirers of Alfred Hitchcock, and it shows in Dressed to Kill, perhaps more than in any of his other films. Dressed to Kill openly embraces multiple stylistic and narrative conventions from Hitchcock's body of work, especially Psycho. The narrative structure of Dressed to Kill comes from Psycho, including the dramatic replacement of the protagonist almost halfway into the film. Dressed to Kill begins with a highly erotic shower scene, later revealed to be Kate's fantasy while engaging in pedestrian lovemaking with her husband. This languid dream is meant to shock the audience with its vivid frankness, subsequently upping the ante with a sudden shift to violence; Kate envisions herself being raped while her husband dispassionately watches, shaving with his straight razor. Kate looks the part of a beautiful yet reserved hausfrau, while her sexual frustration chips away at her domesticated veneer. When she is visiting Dr. Elliott, there is a closeup of her face that reveals her anxiety; her proposition that he sleep with her is an inevitability. There is a pregnant pause while Dr. Elliott considers her solicitation and looks at himself in the mirror, before he rejects her offer on the basis that he is married and wouldn't want to jeopardize his situation. Kate is brimming with unresolved urges; her visit to the art museum leads to an encounter with a handsome stranger in sunglasses, which in turn leads to an impromptu affair. (The encounter at the museum is deliberately framed to recall Hitchcock's masterpiece, Vertigo, as is the music.) The wordless encounter in the museum is one of the most celebrated scenes in Dressed to Kill, representing the metaphorical thrusts and parries of sexual arousal between strangers through a figurative and literal chase around the winding corners of the museum. Kate clearly came here seeking some kind of encounter to spice up her life, watching the people more than artwork--although the pieces she regards speak to her feelings of ironic amusement and vulnerability. She inadvertently reveals that she is married after removing her glove; and after dropping said glove, the mysterious "Prince Charming"--later named Warren Lockman (Ken Baker)--uses it as the proverbial "glass slipper" to entice Kate into a cab for erotic escapades.
De Palma has been quoted regarding the murder scene in Dressed to Kill--which takes place in a claustrophobic elevator--as being the best one he has done. It deftly transitions protagonists, placing Liz as the impromptu inheritor of that role by virtue of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Because she witnessed the murder--and had the misfortune of picking up the straight razor used in the killing--she is considered a suspect by the hard-nosed Detective Marino (Dennis Franz) assigned to the case. As if this wasn't bad enough, Liz is pursued by the killer through the streets of New York City, and into the subways below, where she is rescued by none other than Kate's inventive son, Peter (Keith Gordon). Peter is convinced that Dr. Elliott concealed evidence about the killer's identity from Detective Marino, and has composed an elaborate scheme to discover what that evidence is, which in turn leads him and Liz joining forces. Peter gets this impression after eavesdropping on an interaction between Marino has Elliott, during which Elliott is almost stubbornly uncooperative. What makes this puzzling is that prior to seeing the police, Dr. Elliott received a threatening voicemail from Bobbi, in which the psychotic transsexual's all but confesses to the killing. Dr. Elliott obfuscates the truth ostensibly because he needs to be sure before incriminating his client. He goes about this by consulting with Dr. Levy (David Margulies), who Bobbi contacted after Dr. Elliott refused to sign off on a sex change operation. (A lengthy expository scene during the denouement of Dressed to Kill involving Dr. Levy recalls a nearly identical one with the psychologist at the end of Psycho.) Gender identity has become a more prominent social topic in recent years, and Dressed to Kill runs the risk of appearing insensitive to this, especially considering that the killer is a psychotic transsexual. A key scene that counters this accusation comes when both Dr. Elliott and Liz are watching a broadcast of Phil Donahue interviewing a professed transsexual, who shares her motivations and the background behind her transition.
Although Dressed to Kill is a psychological thriller, the elements of psychology are used as a framing device for the mayhem born from insane behavior. Dr. Elliott is an informal psychologist, and his candid and even provocative comments to both Kate and Liz about his sexual arousal by them puts him on ethically shaky ground. It is ultimately less important that the killer is a transsexual, but rather is someone who is enraged by sexuality--the reasons behind this viciousness are revealed in the climax, which is another direct nod to Psycho. Liz and Peter's plan to abscond with Dr. Elliott's client ledger involves Liz using her seductive wiles and experience as a call girl to distract him long enough for her to get access to his files. There is a thunderstorm raging outside during this scene, and Liz tells Dr. Elliott about her nightmares. This scene recalls yet another Hitchcock film--one that deals with psychopathy in the same way as Dressed to Kill--namely Marnie; the exchanges between Dr. Elliott and both Kate and Liz mirrors those between Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren from the earlier film. Dr. Elliott combines professional detachment with confident masculine sexuality, meant to arouse the libidos of his female clients--intentional or otherwise. However, in Dressed to Kill, the gender roles are swapped where arousal as a threatening force is concerned; both Kate and Liz come on to Dr. Elliott, forcing him to politely decline their advances. There is a pervading sensation of sexual repression and guilt of sexual desire in Dressed to Kill; this is most evident in Kate, but also in virtually every subsequent main character. Kate's son, Peter, is brilliant if a bit withdrawn, and it is understood that he is a virgin. There is no suggestion of compensation in the form of sexual favors after he saves Liz, but by the end of the film, there is the implication that their relationship has evolved into one that does not preclude this. On the cusp of maturity and without practical experience, the prospect of getting involved with a far more experienced woman would be intimidating for a boy like Peter, and his awkward stammering as Liz describes the specifics of a sex change operation speaks volumes. Dr. Elliott is a handsome man, but is almost diffident when he rejects the offers made for his body, even though it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that he has had to deal with these encounters before. Liz is a professional escort, so it would seem unusual to presume she would be uncomfortable about sex. She confesses to Dr. Elliott that she enjoys being "bad" and doing "the things he has only read about" with her clients. But Liz is clearly more interested in money than thrills, capitalizing on stock tips from her "johns", and buying artwork solely on the basis that it might increase in resale value ten years later, especially if the artist dies. Dr. Elliott asks her if she ever goes to bed with someone without money involved; there is just enough hesitation to suggest that this hasn't happened in a long time--that she associates kinkiness with being "bad" reveals her subconscious belief that what she's doing for a living is "wrong". Despite favoring a stylistic approach to psychopathology, the underlying psychological message in Dressed to Kill is that people often invite emotional distress by concealing their urges not just from the world, but from themselves.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological thriller that transitions rapidly from erotic titillation to shocking violence in a deliberate attempt to unnerve the audience, and in that disquiet foster feelings of vulnerability. Dressed to Kill is an overt tribute by Brian De Palma to some of Alfred Hitchcock's most beloved thrillers--boasting two tense shower scenes, no less.
De Palma has been quoted regarding the murder scene in Dressed to Kill--which takes place in a claustrophobic elevator--as being the best one he has done. It deftly transitions protagonists, placing Liz as the impromptu inheritor of that role by virtue of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Because she witnessed the murder--and had the misfortune of picking up the straight razor used in the killing--she is considered a suspect by the hard-nosed Detective Marino (Dennis Franz) assigned to the case. As if this wasn't bad enough, Liz is pursued by the killer through the streets of New York City, and into the subways below, where she is rescued by none other than Kate's inventive son, Peter (Keith Gordon). Peter is convinced that Dr. Elliott concealed evidence about the killer's identity from Detective Marino, and has composed an elaborate scheme to discover what that evidence is, which in turn leads him and Liz joining forces. Peter gets this impression after eavesdropping on an interaction between Marino has Elliott, during which Elliott is almost stubbornly uncooperative. What makes this puzzling is that prior to seeing the police, Dr. Elliott received a threatening voicemail from Bobbi, in which the psychotic transsexual's all but confesses to the killing. Dr. Elliott obfuscates the truth ostensibly because he needs to be sure before incriminating his client. He goes about this by consulting with Dr. Levy (David Margulies), who Bobbi contacted after Dr. Elliott refused to sign off on a sex change operation. (A lengthy expository scene during the denouement of Dressed to Kill involving Dr. Levy recalls a nearly identical one with the psychologist at the end of Psycho.) Gender identity has become a more prominent social topic in recent years, and Dressed to Kill runs the risk of appearing insensitive to this, especially considering that the killer is a psychotic transsexual. A key scene that counters this accusation comes when both Dr. Elliott and Liz are watching a broadcast of Phil Donahue interviewing a professed transsexual, who shares her motivations and the background behind her transition.
Although Dressed to Kill is a psychological thriller, the elements of psychology are used as a framing device for the mayhem born from insane behavior. Dr. Elliott is an informal psychologist, and his candid and even provocative comments to both Kate and Liz about his sexual arousal by them puts him on ethically shaky ground. It is ultimately less important that the killer is a transsexual, but rather is someone who is enraged by sexuality--the reasons behind this viciousness are revealed in the climax, which is another direct nod to Psycho. Liz and Peter's plan to abscond with Dr. Elliott's client ledger involves Liz using her seductive wiles and experience as a call girl to distract him long enough for her to get access to his files. There is a thunderstorm raging outside during this scene, and Liz tells Dr. Elliott about her nightmares. This scene recalls yet another Hitchcock film--one that deals with psychopathy in the same way as Dressed to Kill--namely Marnie; the exchanges between Dr. Elliott and both Kate and Liz mirrors those between Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren from the earlier film. Dr. Elliott combines professional detachment with confident masculine sexuality, meant to arouse the libidos of his female clients--intentional or otherwise. However, in Dressed to Kill, the gender roles are swapped where arousal as a threatening force is concerned; both Kate and Liz come on to Dr. Elliott, forcing him to politely decline their advances. There is a pervading sensation of sexual repression and guilt of sexual desire in Dressed to Kill; this is most evident in Kate, but also in virtually every subsequent main character. Kate's son, Peter, is brilliant if a bit withdrawn, and it is understood that he is a virgin. There is no suggestion of compensation in the form of sexual favors after he saves Liz, but by the end of the film, there is the implication that their relationship has evolved into one that does not preclude this. On the cusp of maturity and without practical experience, the prospect of getting involved with a far more experienced woman would be intimidating for a boy like Peter, and his awkward stammering as Liz describes the specifics of a sex change operation speaks volumes. Dr. Elliott is a handsome man, but is almost diffident when he rejects the offers made for his body, even though it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that he has had to deal with these encounters before. Liz is a professional escort, so it would seem unusual to presume she would be uncomfortable about sex. She confesses to Dr. Elliott that she enjoys being "bad" and doing "the things he has only read about" with her clients. But Liz is clearly more interested in money than thrills, capitalizing on stock tips from her "johns", and buying artwork solely on the basis that it might increase in resale value ten years later, especially if the artist dies. Dr. Elliott asks her if she ever goes to bed with someone without money involved; there is just enough hesitation to suggest that this hasn't happened in a long time--that she associates kinkiness with being "bad" reveals her subconscious belief that what she's doing for a living is "wrong". Despite favoring a stylistic approach to psychopathology, the underlying psychological message in Dressed to Kill is that people often invite emotional distress by concealing their urges not just from the world, but from themselves.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological thriller that transitions rapidly from erotic titillation to shocking violence in a deliberate attempt to unnerve the audience, and in that disquiet foster feelings of vulnerability. Dressed to Kill is an overt tribute by Brian De Palma to some of Alfred Hitchcock's most beloved thrillers--boasting two tense shower scenes, no less.