Dressed to Kill (1980 film)

Dressed to Kill
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBrian De Palma
Written byBrian De Palma
Produced byGeorge Litto
Starring
CinematographyRalf D. Bode
Edited byGerald B. Greenberg
Music byPino Donaggio
Production
company
Cinema 77/Film Group
Distributed byFilmways Pictures
Release date
  • July 25, 1980 (1980-07-25)[1]
Running time
104 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6.5 million[3]
Box office$31.9 million[3] or $15 million[4]

Dressed to Kill is a 1980 American erotic psychological thriller film[5][6] written and directed by Brian De Palma, and starring Michael Caine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. It depicts the events leading up to the brutal murder of a New York City housewife (Dickinson) before following a prostitute (Allen) who witnesses the crime, and her attempts to solve it with the help of the victim's son (Keith Gordon). It contains several direct references to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho.

Released in July 1980, Dressed to Kill was a box office success in the United States, grossing over $30 million. It received largely favorable reviews, and critic David Denby of New York magazine proclaimed it "the first great American movie of the '80s".[7] Dickinson won the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her performance. Allen received both a Golden Globe Award nomination for New Star of the Year,[8] as well as an inaugural first-year Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress.

  1. ^ "Dressed to Kill". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Los Angeles: American Film Institute. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019.
  2. ^ "DRESSED TO KILL (X)". British Board of Film Classification. September 1, 1980. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "Dressed to Kill (1980)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  4. ^ Donahue, Suzanne Mary (1987). American film distribution : the changing marketplace. UMI Research Press. p. 291. ISBN 9780835717762. Please note figures are for rentals in US and Canada
  5. ^ Verstraten 2009, p. 111.
  6. ^ Rockoff 2016, p. 41.
  7. ^ Knapp 2003, p. 62.
  8. ^ "Golden Globes".