Dressed To Kill

Michael Caine is a therapist, Angie Dickinson is one of his clients, Dennis Franz is a sleazy cop and Nancy Allen is the call girl who is witness to a murder. Directed by Brian De Palma.

Ah, they don't make movies like this anymore... Over thirty years old, it's still quite a powerful film. De Palma is riffing on Hitchcock, especially Vertigo and Psycho (including the psychiatrist who explains everything in the end). It has some great set pieces: the museum scene, the elevator scene and the subway scene (later improved upon in Carlito's way). De Palma could possibly be criticized for also copying himself; the opening and ending of the film is very similar to Carrie. The first shower scene (yes, there are two!) must have given him the idea to his later film Body Double.

Caine and Dickinson are good in their roles, but the film really belongs to Nancy Allen, very appealing as the witness. Franz is a lot of fun as the cop. De Palma originally wanted Liv Ullmann in the Dickinson role, but she turned it down. Too bad, since Ullmann in a De Palma film really would have been something, and it's probably too late now...