Dressed to Kill (1980 film)

Development

While acknowledging similarities to Alfred Hitchcock films (particularly Psycho), Brian De Palma claimed that he got the idea of the murderer from watching a transsexual on The Phil Donahue Show (the show made an appearance in the film).^[7]

Pre-production

Sean Connery was considered for Robert Elliott, but because of his previous commitments, Michael Caine ended up playing the part. De Palma originally wanted Liv Ullmann to play Kate Miller, but she declined because of the violence. He then thought Angie Dickinson looked the part and gave her the role.^[8] Nancy Allen was drawn towards Liz's character, when her husband De Palma began developing her, but kept it to herself, thinking that he will reject her. It was only when she was filming Steven Spielberg's 1941 that she got a telephone call from De Palma telling her to take a look at Liz. She accepted the role immediately. Originally, a "straight and aggressive" character, Liz developed a sense of humor after her input.^[9] Matt Dillon and Cameron De Palma (Brian De Palma's nephew) were also in contention for the role of Peter Miller. Keith Gordon ended up gaining the part. Paul Mazursky being busy on a film prevented him from playing Detective Marino, which was eventually played by Dennis Franz.^[8] Susanna Clemm, who played Bobbi, and De Palma "worked out a pair of glasses that had a nose in it that matched Caine's."^[4]

Filming

Dressed to Kill was shot primarily in New York City, though the art gallery scene was filmed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. De Palma scouted the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in hopes shooting the museum scene there, but when the museum officials objected to the script, he chose to film it in Philadelphia. The film was shot between October 1979 and January 1980.^[10][4]

The naked body in the opening scene, taking place in a shower, was not that of Dickinson, but of 1977 Penthouse Pet of the Year model Victoria Lynn Johnson.^[3] There was a conflict between Dickinson and Ann Roth, the film's costume designer. Roth wanted Dickinson to wear a gray suit in reference to Kim Novak in Vertigo, but Dickinson wanted to wear white, saying that "they're not going to expect blood to go on a white coat." Dickinson eventually won the argument.^[11] De Palma has referred to the elevator killing as the best murder scene he has ever done.^[12]

Allen got the idea of Liz playing the stock market after she across Xaviera Hollander's book The Happy Hooker. During her research, a psychiatrist told her about one of his call girl patient "who came into his office wearing a fur coat with nothing on underneath." That's where Allen got the idea to wear a black garter belt under her coat in the seduction scene.^[9]

Originally, during Peter Miller's introductory scene, he was supposed to run around the room, but Gordon managed to convince De Palma that since Peter was up all night, he would not have "that kind of energy." Clemm portrayed Bobbi up until the reveal, at which point Caine portrayed the character in costume.^[4]

Scoring

De Palma settled on Pino Donaggio to score the film, wanting a sensual and erotic score, and emotional, sensuous, feminine, abrasive and disturbing sounds.^[7]

Censorship

Two versions of the film exist in North America, an R-rated version and an unrated version. The unrated version is around 30 seconds longer and shows more pubic hair in the shower scene, more blood in the elevator scene (including a close-up shot of the killer slitting Kate's throat), and more explicit dialogue from Liz Blake during the scene in Elliott's office. These scenes were trimmed when the MPAA originally gave the film an X rating.^[13][14]

Box office

Dressed to Kill premiered in Los Angeles and New York City on July 25, 1980.^[10] The film grossed $3,416,000 in its opening weekend from 591 theatres and improved its gross the following weekend with $3,640,000 from 596 theatres.^[18] It grossed a total of $31.9 million at the U.S. box office against a production budget of $6.5 million, and was the 21st highest-grossing film of the year.^[19] The film earned theatrical rentals of $15 million in the United States and Canada.^[20]

Home media

As of 2023^[update], the film is owned by Amazon MGM Studios via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer label (successor to Orion Pictures, who bought Filmways and American International Pictures in 1982). The film saw a 1984 VHS release by Warner Home Video, and later another VHS release by Goodtimes under licence from Orion. In 2001, MGM released the film in a special edition DVD.^[21] In September 2011, MGM released both R-rated and unrated versions on DVD and Blu-ray.^[22]

The Criterion Collection released separate deluxe Blu-ray and DVD editions of the film on September 8, 2015.^[23] On October 25, 2022, Kino Lorber issued the film for the first time in 4K UHD Blu-ray format.^[24]

Critical response

Dressed to Kill divided critics; some called it a masterpiece, while others dismissed it altogether.^[7]

David Denby of New York magazine proclaimed the film "the first great American movie of the '80s."^[7] Gene Siskel gave it three stars out of four, writing that there were scenes "that are as exciting and as stylish as any ever put on film. Unfortunately, a good chunk of the film is a whodunit, and its mystery is so easy to solve that we merely end up watching the film's visual pyrotechnics at a distance, never getting all that involved."^[25] Vincent Canby called the film "witty, romantic," and "very funny, which helps to defuse the effect of the graphically photographed violence. In addition, the film is, in its own inside-out way, peculiarly moral." His review added that "The performers are excellent, especially Miss Dickinson."^[26]

Sheila Benson wrote, "the brilliance of Dressed to Kill is apparent within seconds of its opening gliding shot; it is a sustained work of terror—elegant, sensual, erotic, bloody, a directorial tour de force."^[27] In his movie guide, Leonard Maltin gave the film 3+1⁄2 stars out of four, calling it a "High-tension melodrama", and stating "De Palma works on viewers' emotions, not logic, and maintains a fever pitch from start to finish." He also praised Donaggio's "chilling music score."^[28] John Simon, of the National Review, after taking note of the two-page advertisements full of superlatives in The New York Times, wrote "What Dressed to Kill dispenses liberally, however, is sophomoric soft-core pornography, vulgar manipulation of the emotions for mere sensation, salacious but inept dialogue that is a cross between comic-strip Freudianism and sniggering double entendres, and a plot line so full of holes to be at best a dotted line".^[29]

Variety lamented its "structural weaknesses", Roger Ebert too found its narrative underwhelming, and the plot ludicrously implausible.^[30][31] Gary Arnold called the screenplay "remarkably streamlined, in an admittedly contrived, perfunctory way."^[32] However, Pauline Kael had praise for its sly dialogue. Although, she did criticize the obligatory ending as being predictable and expository, and for lacking in depth.^[16] Ebert also had criticism for its ending, particularly its "it was only a dream!" gimmick.^[31]

The performances were praised by Kael, particularly Caine's typically "unself-centered" act.^[16] Though, Variety was more reserved regarding his performance, finding him excellent "until the film's internal logic breaks down." However, they had high praise for Dickinson, calling her "exceptionally well."^[30] Allen was termed "wonderfully offbeat" by Ebert.^[31]

The film was noted to be influenced by the works of Alfred Hitchcock (particularly Psycho).^[15][32][33] Critics variously identified it as a thriller,^[15][31][32] a slasher,^[15] a psychological horror^[34] or a "suspense comedy."^[16] It was criticized as pornographic and sexist.^[9]

Dressed to Kill holds a 83% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The consensus states, "With arresting visuals and an engrossingly lurid mystery, Dressed to Kill stylishly encapsulates writer-director Brian De Palma's signature strengths."^[35] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 74 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.^[36] The film has since gained a cult following.^[37][38]

Controversy

The film led to controversy and protests upon its release. When the film was screened, Iowa City National Organization for Women and members of other feminist organizations picketed the film as it was shown on the University of Iowa campus, distributing leaflets against the film, condemning what they saw as a depiction of violence against women as entertainment.^[39] During the film's initial release, the activist group Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media distributed a leaflet, arguing that "The distorted image of a psychotic male transvestite makes all sexual minorities appear sick and dangerous."^[40] Numerous critics have since placed Dressed to Kill in a lineage of slasher movies that perpetuate the transphobic myth that trans people are mentally ill sexual predators.^{[41][40][42][43][44]} Dressed to Kill was featured in the 2020 documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen; in a 2020 reappraisal of the film for The Guardian, the critic Scott Tobias referred to De Palma's understanding of trans issues as "disconcertingly retrograde....There's no getting around the ugly association of gender transition with violence, other than to say that it feels thoroughly aestheticized".^[15]

In a 2016 interview, De Palma said, "I don't know what the transgender community would think [of the film now]... Obviously I realize that it's not good for their image to be transgender and also be a psychopathic murderer. But I think that [perception] passes with time. We're in a different time." He added that he was "glad" that the film had become "a favorite of the gay community," which he attributed to its "flamboyance".^[33]

Accolades