Dressed to Kill 1980

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Dressed to Kill ★★½ 1980 (R)

Contemporary thriller merges bombastic DePalma with a tense Hitchcockian flare. Sexually unsatisfied Kate (Dickinson) is told to have an affair by her sympathetic shrink Dr. Elliott (Caine) and ends up in bed with a man who catches her eye in a museum. Then Kate's found brutally murdered by prostitute Liz (Allen). Kate's son Peter (Gordon) teams up with Liz to track and lure the killer into their trap. Suspenseful and fast paced. Dickinson's museum scene is wonderfully photographed and edited. DePalma was repeatedly criticized for using a stand-in during the Dickinson shower scene; he titled his next film “Body Double” as a rebuttal. 105m/C VHS, DVD . Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, Nancy Allen, Keith Gordon, Dennis Franz, David Margulies, Brandon Maggart; D: Brian De Palma; W: Brian De Palma; C: Ralf Bode; M: Pino Donaggio.