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Review
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Today's
Date is:
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DRESSED
TO KILL
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Reviewed
by: |
Christopher
J. Jarmick |
| Genre: |
Horror |
| Video: |
Anamorphic
2.35:1 Widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1, Mono 1.0, DVD Format: SS-RSDL |
| Language: |
English,
French |
| Subtitle: |
English (Captions
Only), French, Spanish |
| Length: |
105 minutes
& 117 minutes |
| Rating: |
R & NR |
| Release
Date: |
08/28/01 |
| Studio: |
MGM |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
Making Dressed
to Kill - 42 minute recently produced documentary featuring
most of the major players (but not Michael Caine) |
| Featurettes:
|
Slashing Dressed to Kill:
Featurette covering controversy of film including feminist group
protests. * * * Dressed To Kill: An Appreciation by Keith *
* * Dressed To Kill Comparison X, R & G |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
Only as
part of documentary and featurettes |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
The original theatrical
trailer is presented in Widescreen |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Note: The original R
rated theatrical film and the Unrated director's cut versions
of the film are included on the disc. |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Both the
R rather and Unrated versions of the film are included on the
disc. |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Angie Dickinson,
Dennis Franz, David Margulies, Brandon Maggart, Keith Gordon,
Michael Caine, Nancy Allen |
| Screenplay
by: |
Brian De
Palma |
| Produced
by: |
Samuel Z. Arkoff, George
Litto |
| Directed
By: |
Brian De Palma |
| Music: |
Pino Donaggio |
| The
Review: |
Dressed
to Kill was (and remains) a film that pushes the envelope of
good taste--just as Alfred Hitchcock delighted in doing when
he was making films like Rope. Rear Window, Vertigo, The Trouble
with Harry, Psycho or Frenzy. Dressed to Kill however is more
than just another very good homage to Hitchcock, De Palma style.
* * * The director of such diverse films as Hi Mom!, Get to
Know Your Rabbit. Phantom of the Paradise and Carrie, returned
to improve on what he was trying to accomplish with Sisters
and Obsession. Creating a highly stylized suspense thriller,
which took Hitchcock's techniques and ideas a step further (using
and exploring and working with space) . * * * You might look
at Dressed to Kill as a combination of several Hitchcock films
(Psycho and Frenzy, and Rear Window ) and Michael Powell's Peeping
Tom, but there is much more than merely an homage to the master
on display here. De Palma pushes the envelope of the suspense
thriller in ways that he had never attempted before. He was
rewarded with a huge box-office success for his efforts, but
he was also the target of a tremendously powerful group of feminist
who over-reacted to the film and branded De Palma a misogynist.
* * * Michael Caine gives one of his better performances as
Manhattan therapist, Dr. Robert Elliott. A psychotic killer
is following and killing some of the woman patients of Dr. Elliott
and trying to make it look like the doctor is responsible. The
whiz kid son of one of Dr. Elliott's patients (Keith Gordon),
a prostitute (Nancy Allen) and a police detective (Hill Street
Blues and NYPD Blue's Dennis Franz) all want to find out who
the murderer is and stop him before he kills again. * * * Nancy
Allen's overly aware caricature like performance style was never
better utilized than it is in this film. Allen can be annoying
and grating. But cast as a prostitute (yes pretty much with
a heart of gold) in Dressed to Kill, both her faults and strengths
work seamlessly , giving us a memorable performance. She's often
too self-aware and her performances often feel forced … but
this works perfectly for the character she plays in this film.
* * * What really drove the feminists nuts though, was the extremely
voyeuristic nature of the film and the graphic mixture of sex
and violence. We watch bored housewife (Angie Dickinson) fantasize
and masturbate in the shower. Angie's body was doubled in the
film and filmed to satisfy every horny teenaged boy in the audience.
It's her fantasy that is the reason for the scene but it is
filmed with a decidedly male perspective. It was shocking to
see a popular t.v. star like Angie D. do a scene like this in
a main stream film in 1980, and it remains a pretty graphic
scene today--even though it's much more obvious a body double
was used then it was at the time the film was released. De Palma's
mission was accomplished. He pushed the envelope and created
a film people talked and argued about (and still are). * * *
When a cheating spouse is murdered in the film it's as much
rooted in Judeo-Christian guilt as it is misogyny. I've never
felt there was an underlying hatred of women on the filmmaker's
part at all in this film. Quite the contrary. The feminists
were reacting in knee jerk style and targeted a successful popular
film with over-wrought charges to grab attention to their message.
They made this film sound as offensive as something like Porky's
(the popular sex comedy) truly was. * * * If however one decides
to come to this film with the attitude that it insults and offends
women, there is plenty to find offense with here. It's a film
that purposefully straddles the fence between good and bad taste
and it's story concerns serial killers, bored fantasizing housewives,
male fantasies, and prostitutes. * * * It's not a real argument
to make however. De Palma was exploring the possibilities of
giving character to space in films. He had challenged himself
to be able to tell a story by using a completely fluid camera
style. He preferred camera movement, rather than sharp editing
to evoke shifts in time and place. We see him trying for his
goal in Sisters and finally mastering what he was after with
Obsession. But Obsession was a stylized throwback to another
era (though set in the 70's). De Palma completely restrained
himself during that film and refused to give into anything that
could be termed excessive or puerile. The filmmaker barely allowed
humor into the film. * * * He wanted to make a film that pushed
the envelope, not stayed within it. He wanted a film that was
stylized and purposeful but was also ground breaking in ways
he hinted at with his earlier Greetings and Hi Mom features.
* * * With Carrie, De Palma expanded the remarkably poorly written
Stephen King book (which contained some wonderful ideas) with
a motif that explored the dark side of Christian guilt and obsession.
As Pauline Kael proclaimed: "De Palma uses tawdriness as a tuning
fork. No one else has ever caught the thrill that teen-agers
get from a dirty joke and sustained it for a whole picture ."
(See Kael's When the Lights Go Down). * * * Carrie explored
teen-agers, Dressed to Kill explores mal-adjusted grown ups
that just below the surface are as obsessed with sex as teenagers
ever have been. Suppressing sexual desire and giving into them
creates their own set of problems, which De Palma explores in
Dressed to Kill. * * * And he has fun exploring them with sometimes
tawdry , exhibitionistic/voyeuristic sequences. * * * De Palma
uses images we will accept as an audience, and images we almost
expect him to use as a filmmaker working in Hitchcock's territory.
He then goes beyond our expectations to engage, titillate and
shock us. While dances on the edges of the envelope of what
anyone would consider good taste he delivers the film in a fanciful
stylistic flair that would make Hitchcock proud. He never actually
goes too far. * * * What do I mean when I say he dances on the
edge of the envelope but never actually goes too far? Jump ahead
to the infamous scene in De Palma's Scarface. Again it's a controversial
scene that takes place in a shower/bathroom (just like one's
De Palma gave us in Carrie, Dressed to Kill and mocks in Blow
Out). Scarface is forced to watch as his accomplice is savagely
tied up in the shower and a Chain saw is used to tear him to
pieces. It's a gruesome, brutal unforgettable scene. But we
never see what we think we see in that film. We don't actually
see what is being done. De Palma goes further than Hitchcock
did in the shower scene in Psycho… but he does not show us what
we think, what we are convinced. we see. As any good storyteller,
and writer knows. . . leaving something to the imagination is
more effective than showing everything. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
has a reputation as being one of the most disgusting and goriest
films ever made. However the film has almost no actual blood
or gore in it and it downright tame by today's standards. *
* * De Palma was exploring how far to go with each of his major
sequences in Dressed to Kill. He perhaps showed a little too
much bloodshed, a little too much nudity--but he specifically
wanted to go a little too far and achieved that effectively
rubbing the audiences' noses in what he was doing, without abandoning
all sense of taste. * * * Today, a younger viewer approaching
Dressed to Kill, will see a deliberately paced, very stylized
film. It won't feel like it's a brand new or timeless film.
It has dated. For one it's got the soft-focus look of late 70s
early 80s art films. It's got Actors who give us stagier performances
than the more natural, sometimes partially improvised and often
wooden performances we are accustomed to in horror films. It's
more concerned with visuals then it is with its dialogue. This
makes for a few real clunky lines of dialogue. The film also
takes it's time in getting started and contains an extremely
long and slowly building masterful set piece which requires
a bit of patience to completely appreciate. I think most will
be mesmerized by it. * * * Younger viewers have also had the
opportunity to be exposed to a whole catalog of films from the
past. Many will see the sophisticated parody at work throughout
De Palma 's film. He's not only giving us homage to Hitchcock,
he's twisting and having fun with it --sometimes at the master's
expense. At the same time De Palma is still very hard on the
strings of exploitation films like he did with Carrie. He's
affectionate toward exploitation but has much more film making
skill than such exploitation stalwarts as Jack Hill or Larry
Cohen are. The sometimes-seamless visual sequences suddenly
are thrown by base impulses to tease and shock an audience.
De Palma , delights in showing off like a kid in a candy store
with a 20-dollar bill who's naughty enough to sneak some peaks
at the adult magazine rack. When suddenly a scene stumbles with
a bit of awkwardness it's more noticeable because of how slick
and seamless De Palma can be when he wants to be. * * * In Dressed
to Kill De Palma also gave us several characters we care about
and have an emotional investment in. A lot of this is accomplished
due to the charisma actors like Michael Caine, and Angie Dickinson
brings to their roles. Angie was very popular as t.v.'s Police
Woman at the time, and Michael Caine had not yet comfortably
made the transition to character roles. * * * There are long
sequences in the film which stand the test of time. It does
ask the viewer to be patient and takes it time getting started,
but once it does. . . . it's a film that is still effective,
and shocking. |
| Image
and Sound |
This new
2:35.:1 Anamorphic widescreen transfer is a vast improvement
on all of the previous editions of the film. The film looks
soft. . . because it was shot like many 1970's films were with
diffusion filters and lost of smoke. New prints were found and
improved for this transfer as previous evidence of picture damage
is no longer in evident. Very little grain is noticeable. The
colors seem bright without being oversaturated. Black levels
perhaps are slightly weak as some details do get lost in the
shadow (but that could be do more to how the film was originally
shot). The audio has been re-recorded and re-mixed. The dynamic
range has been vastly improved. A lot of the dialogue has an
obvious loop quality to it and some of the higher notes of the
Pino Donaggio soundtrack music in particularly are slightly
distorted. The use of surround is very noticeable during the
extended climax and the separation among all the channels is
balanced well with dialogue and effects. When you compare it
with the mono mix you realize how much of an improvement the
5.1 mix truly is. Over-all if you are familiar with previous
video or laserdisc versions of this film you will notice a vast
improvements. If you are not particularly familiar with previous
versions, it is a solid Offering of a stylized and often soft
focused type film. |
| The
Extras |
First you
get both the R rated original theatrical version of the film
and the un-rated (director's cut) of the film. * * * Several
of valuable supplements on this special edition of Dressed to
Kill were created by Laurent Bouzerau and are presented in full
frame. The longest and most interesting extra feature on the
DVD is the 42 minute documentary The Making Of Dressed To Kill.
De Palma, Producer George Litto, Nancy Allen (De Palma's ex-wife),
Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz and Angie Dickinson all appear in
recent interviews to tell interesting stories about the making
of the film. Angie once again talks about her reluctance to
take the part and how glad she was she appeared in the film.
Michael Caine was not among the recent interviews conducted
for the documentary but while he is certainly missed this is
an excellent documentary which is compromised almost entirely
of talking heads and production stills as behind the footage
of the production of the film was apparently not available.
* * * The short featurette Slashing Dressed to Kill details
the controversy caused by the film and we learn about the feminist
groups and numerous critics who were very unhappy with the film's
sex, violence and perceived attitude. The ratings board originally
rated the film X and several cuts had to be made to the film
which created a battle between the Motion Picture Producer's
Association and De Palma. A battle that got even hotter several
years later during Scarface. * * * The X R G comparison of Dressed
to Kill shows how the various cuts required to avoid an X rating
and then required for the general audience television broadcast
drastically affected the tone of the film. We even get to see
a few clips in split screen for side by side comparison. This
featurette is too short but a very entertaining extra. * * *
Keith Gordon put to together an interesting short piece analyzing
the film called: Dressed to Kill An Appreciation by Keith Gordon.
After covering some technical details and discussing some stylistic
decisions, Gordon praises the film as one which shows a mature
understanding of deviate sexual / homicidal tendencies. * *
* There are two still galleries. One is a five minute animated
photo montage that shows stills taken during the production
of the film. Accompanying the stills is an excerpt from the
classical sounding film score created by Donaggio. * * * Then
there is fairly generous collection of stills which show several
advertising campaigns for Dressed to Kill from all over the
world. * * * The Films original theatrical trailer presented
in wide screen is also on the DVD. * * * Included in the DVD
is a booklet, which contains some additional production notes.
* * * |
| Commentary |
None |
| Final
Words: |
De Palma hit all the marks he was
after with Dressed to Kill. It's a film that works as a suspenseful
sexy thriller, and as an homage to Hitchcock. It was as big
and controversial a film as Basic Instinct, but is a much
better film that still entertains surprises and shocks more
than 20 years after it was made. This DVD package is a real
bargain for anyone who appreciates this film. Not only has
the film finally been given the quality transfer it deserves,
but several worthwhile, and worth collecting extra features
have been assembled. There's a lot of value in this one.
* * * Christopher Jarmick,is the
author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically
acclaimed, steamy suspense thriller. For information on Author
readings/signings or availability of special autographed editions
of the novel email: glasscocoon@hotmail for details. * * *
Original portions of this review Copyright© Christopher J.
Jarmick 2001. The above work is protected by international
copyright law. * * *
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