Dressed to Kill [1980]

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1980
Running Times: 101 mins [Norway] 105 mins [USA] 106 mins [Australia]
Format: Technicolor 35mm
Ratio: Panavision [anamorphic] 2.35:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Cinema 77 Films / Filmways Pictures / Warwick Associates
Executive Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff
Producer: George Lotto
Associate Producer: Fred C. Caruso
Unit Production Manager: Fred C. Caruso

SCRIPT
Script: Brian De Palma

DIRECTION
Director: Brian De Palma
1st Assistant Director: Michael Rauch
2nd Assistant Director: William Eustace
2nd 2nd Assistant Director: Robert Rothbard
DGA Trainee: Paula Mazur

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Ralf D. Bode
Camera Operator: Michael Stone
1st Assistant Camera: Marc Hirschfeld
2nd Assistant Camera: David Wagreich
Best Boy: James Walsh
Key Grip: Ed Quinn
Dolly Grip: Jack Kennedy
Gaffer: William Ward

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Gerald B. Greenberg
Assistant Editors: Ray Hubley, Maria Iano, Wende Phifer Mate
Associate Editor: Bill Pankow

MUSIC
Music: Pino Donaggio
Conductor: Natale Massara
Music Editor: Todd Kasow

SOUND
Sound Recording: Peter Ilardi
Re-Recording Supervisor: Dick Vorisek
Sound Mixer: John Bolz
Supervising Sound Editor: Dan Sable
Sound Editor: Michael Moyse
Assistant Sound Editors: Lowell Mate, Jean Wardle
Boom Operator: Ed Abele
Conductor: Natale Massara

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Joseph Cranzano
Make Up For Caine: Anthony Lloyd
Hair: Robert Grimaldi
Costume Designers: Gary Jones, Ann Roth
Men's Costumer: Greg Fauss
Women's Costumer: Alba Schipari

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up: Robert Laden

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Gary Weist
Set Decorator: Gary J. Brink
Chief Carpenter: Gilbert Gertsen
Construction Grip: William Lowry
Property Master: William Kane
Assistant Props: Paul J. Wilson

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Martha Pinson
Production Office Co-Ordinator: Shirley Marcus
Assistants To De Palma: Sam Irvin, Gary Hill
Assistant To Litto: Gail Kearns
Production Assistants: Danny Matalon, Jean De Niro, Rachel Ticotin
Transportation Captain: Thomas O'Brien

LOCATIONS
Locations: New York City, New York, USA
Location Manager: Jeffrey Silver
Location Co-Ordinator: Ed Crocitto

STUNTS
Stunt Co-Ordinator: Victor Magnotta
Stunts: Steve James

CASTING
Casting: Vic Ramos
Extras Casting: Sylvia Fay

CAST
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]
Ken Baker [Warren Lockman]
Susanna Clemm [Betty Luce]
Brandon Maggart [Cleveland Sam]
Amalie Collier [cleaning woman]
Mary Davenport [woman in restaurant]
Anneka De Lorenzo [nurse]
Norman Evans [Ted]
Robbie L. McDermott [man in shower]
Bill Randolph [chase cabbie]
Sean O'Rinn [museum cabbie]
Fred Weber [Mike Miller]
Samm-Art Williams [subway cop]
Robert Lee Rush, Anthony Boyd Scriven, Robert McDuffie, Frederick Sanders [hoods]
William Finley [voice of Bobbi - uncredited]

Stand In for Dickinson And Caine: Joy Glaccum

When Kate Miller is brutally murdered in an elevator, neither her psychiatrist, Dr Robert Elliott, not the police seem too keen on pursuing the case. So it's up to Kate's teenaged son Peter to team up with a prostitute, Liz Blake, who witnessed the murder and together they start to unravel the mystery. But the killer is not all that he seems...

Dressed To Kill looks wonderful - as all De Palma films tend to do - and there are moments of almost unbearable suspense, but it's hard to get past the director's obssesive need to keep recycling his hero, Alfred Hitchcock. Drawing heavily on both Psycho [1960] and Vertigo [1958], De Palma seems so intent on cramming in as many references as possible, at the expense of the plot. An exercise in style over content which gets by on the genuinely shocking brutality of its murders, its dazzling technique and wonderful score. Not a great film by any means, but certainly very good and often fascinating viewing.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Filmways Pictures
Video Distributor: Goodtimes Video; Warner Brothers Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: Image [IDVL4050]; Image [ID2595OR]; Vestron [VL4050]

Australia
Rating: R

Finland
Rating: K-18

France
Rating: -16

Norway
Rating: 18

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R
In order to avoid an X rating, the MPAA asked for a number of scenes to be removed from the US domestic release print. These included:

• Close-ups of Kate's hands passing over her pubic hair in the shower
• Two shots of the man raping Kate, including a close-up of man's waist moving against Kate's
• A close-up of the of the rapist's and Kate's hands moving over her pubic area.
• Two close-ups of the razor cutting Kate's right cheek during teh attack on her in the elevator.
• During Liz's nightmare about having her throat cut by Bobbi, a close-up of the wound on Liz's throat.

Some dialogue also had to be changed in the scene when Liz tries to seduce Elliot:

• Liz's line "He drops his pants, spreads my legs, kneels down behind me" was replaced by "He drops his pants, he forces me down on my stomach, kneels down behind me."
• The line - also spoken by Liz - "Well, because of the size of that cock in your pants" was changed to "Well, because of the size of that bulge in your pants."

West Germany
Rating: 18

1981
Academy of Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Films, USA
Saturn Award: Best Actress [Angie Dickinson] - winner

Golden Globes, USA
New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Female [Nancy Allen] - nominated

Razzie Awards
Worst Actor [Michael Caine - also for his perfomance in The Island [1980]] - nominated
Worst Actress [Nancy Allen] - nominated
Worst Director [Brian De Palma] - nominated

1980
December
19: Sweden - theatrical release

1981
January
23: Finland - theatrical release

February
20: Norway - theatrical release

March
15: France - theatrical release

1994
February
8: USA - laserdisc distributor [Image [ID2595OR]]

2000
June
7: France - theatrical re-release

Brian De Palma Master Of The Macabre, Invites You To A Showing Of The Latest Fashion... In Murder

Vestito per uccidere - Italian title

SEE ALSO
Heartstoppers: Horror at the Movies [1992]
Psycho [1960]
La sindrome di Stendhal [1996]
Vertigo [1958]
Watch Mr Wizard [1951]
What Lies Beneath [2000]

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Terror in the Aisles [1984]

MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS

Diário de Notícias 12 April 2000 p.55
review

Necronomicon 7 pp.23-25
illustrated review

BOOKS

The BFI Companion to Crime pp.114-115
credits, review

Hoffman's Guide to Science Fiction, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.114
credits, review

Sex, Shocks and Sadism p.26
credits, review

psychiatrists; psychopaths; infidelity; serial killers; transvestitism; new york; police; prostitution; subways; psychoanalysis; transsexuals; showers; museums; elevators; teenagers