Dressed to Kill (1980)

An incredible thrill ride, 17 January 2005

What do you get if you mix equal parts Alfred Hitchcock with Dario Argento? Answer: Brian De Palma's Dressed to Kill. I suppose you could categorize Dressed to Kill as an American giallo. This is one of those movies that would be difficult to discuss the plot without ruining a good portion of the movie, so I won't even try. If you really must know more about the plot, read it here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080661/

I had not seen Dressed to Kill in about 20 years. I had completely forgotten what an effective movie it is. Several particular moments stand out. The first is the art gallery scene. It's basically a long drawn-out game of cat and mouse. Angie Dickinson is at first pursued and later pursues an unknown man. The way De Palma takes the camera around the twists and turns inside the gallery with only the briefest of glimpses of the mystery man is very effective at building tension. It is amazing that he is able to build this tension and then just let it go without the expected payoff.

The second scene that I find particularly well done is the famous elevator scene. Unlike the art gallery, there is very little in the way of build up. An elevator door opens and ...well you know what happens. The brutality on display in this scene rivals that of the best Italian giallo. The elevator scene was heavily "influenced" by Hitchcock's Psycho. And, the Hitchcock "influence" goes beyond the actual murder. It includes the whole idea of killing off your "star" within the first third of the movie. It must have taken real guts to tell the studio that now that you've hired Angie Dickinson as the star, you're killing her off before the movie is half over.

The third scene that I'll discuss (or not discuss) is the finale in the doctor's office. As I stated at the beginning, I don't want to give away too much of the movie. It is all but impossible to discuss this particular scene without doing just that. I'll just say that it's a joy to watch as De Palma plays tricks on the viewer. Not cheap tricks, but tricks that fit within the story.

The only real negatives to the movie are the scenes that take place immediately after the doctor's office finale. The need to explain everything in the finest detail is not necessary. Any viewer with an IQ of the average houseplant already knows what happened. These scenes just feel tacked on and hurt the overall flow of the movie.

8/10