The above summary reflects my daughter's reaction to the first two minutes of "Dressed to Kill" as it played on our television. This is because the opening scene features a very hard core scene for a rated-R film...where a woman masturbates in the shower and then fantasizes that she's violently attacked....an odd juxtaposition of sex and violence to begin any film! Yes, with its very graphic nudity and violence, this is probably NOT a film to show your mother, children or Father Peterson if he stops by for a visit!
When the actual story begins, you learn that Kate (Angie Dickenson) is a sexually frustrated woman...as she divulges this to her therapist (Michael Caine). Her marriage apparently isn't fulfilling and she longs for a lover. And, in the next scene, she has a kinky quickie with a stranger she's just met in an art museum...and they consummate it in a cab, not in the museum itself....though if they had, doubtless that many patrons would have assumed it was some sort of performance art! He then takes her to his apartment, here they continue the love-making. Oddly, these sequences aren't all that graphic...while the opening scene was tremendously so. I'd also say more about the plot but it's difficult to do this without revealing spoilers. Suffice to say, it is a very violent and bloody film.
So is it any good? Yes, though the surprises in the film sure seem a lot less surprising in 2021. Again, I'd like to say more about that...but it would ruin the suspense in the movie. The problem with the film isn't whether or not it's well made or intelligently written...more who would want to see the film in the first place. Yes, it was a popular film in the day, but the violence, seemingly misogynistic plot (according to MANY) and sexual content in the movie are guaranteed to offend many. Well made and scary but not for everyone, that's for sure! If made today, I truly wonder if the film would have been given an NC-17 rating...a rating that wasn't available back in 1980.
Originally I was planning on giving it an 8...it's well done. However, the FIRST ending was VERY talky and characters spent too much time talking and talking about what happened in the story....which was selling viewers a bit short. Additionally, the scene in the mental hospital was overdone and even a bit stupid.
When the actual story begins, you learn that Kate (Angie Dickenson) is a sexually frustrated woman...as she divulges this to her therapist (Michael Caine). Her marriage apparently isn't fulfilling and she longs for a lover. And, in the next scene, she has a kinky quickie with a stranger she's just met in an art museum...and they consummate it in a cab, not in the museum itself....though if they had, doubtless that many patrons would have assumed it was some sort of performance art! He then takes her to his apartment, here they continue the love-making. Oddly, these sequences aren't all that graphic...while the opening scene was tremendously so. I'd also say more about the plot but it's difficult to do this without revealing spoilers. Suffice to say, it is a very violent and bloody film.
So is it any good? Yes, though the surprises in the film sure seem a lot less surprising in 2021. Again, I'd like to say more about that...but it would ruin the suspense in the movie. The problem with the film isn't whether or not it's well made or intelligently written...more who would want to see the film in the first place. Yes, it was a popular film in the day, but the violence, seemingly misogynistic plot (according to MANY) and sexual content in the movie are guaranteed to offend many. Well made and scary but not for everyone, that's for sure! If made today, I truly wonder if the film would have been given an NC-17 rating...a rating that wasn't available back in 1980.
Originally I was planning on giving it an 8...it's well done. However, the FIRST ending was VERY talky and characters spent too much time talking and talking about what happened in the story....which was selling viewers a bit short. Additionally, the scene in the mental hospital was overdone and even a bit stupid.