Sunday, September 17, 2023

Movie review - "Dressed to Kill" (1980) *****

 De Palma does Psycho very well with Angie Dickinson as Janet Leigh, Michael Caine as Tony Perkins, Keith Gordon as Vera Miles/John Gavin and Nancy Allen as... well, a new charactder so there you go.

This has more warmth than other De Palma films - Keith Gordon's character is a De Palma doppleganger so he totally gets him, and Nancy Allen was his wife and I think the marriage was going well then. The camraderie between Gordon and Allen is wonderful - talk about wish fulfilment for teenage boys. Allen's character is very winning - a prostitute with a heart of gold but also interested in the stock market.

It's an extremelt well acted film - Angie Dickinson gets a terrific opportunity for a change and she's wonderful. Gordon and Allen are splendid and Michael Caine is always good. 

\De Palma's direction is on top of his game. I think he cracked the code with this one - he conquered it. So his other films he had to test himself: sad ending (Blow Out), mega sex and violence (Body Double).

Some unfortunate decisions: the trans killer and the black guys who hassle Allen on a subway just because. Both fit in very well with the film in terms of story, it's still unfortunate.

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