History Film / DressedToKill

* ADateWithRosiePalms: A rare female example of this, as the hands of Angie Dickinson's body double wander down to her private area as she looks out the window of the shower at her lover.
* DaydreamSurprise: [[spoiler:The opening and closing shower scenes are revealed to be dream sequences.]]

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Kate has a passionate make-out session with a handsome stranger whom she's just seduced in an art museum (culminating in an ImmodestOrgasm for her) in the back seat of a taxicab, while the [[PeepingTom cab driver]] watches the proceedings in his rear-view mirror.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson, Creator/NancyAllen, Keith Gordon, and Creator/DennisFranz. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* HighClassCallGirl: Liz--to the point where she has a ''stockbroker'', and is implied to be quite shrewd at playing the market. She also lives alone in a very nice, generously sized apartment[[note]] at least, she has a good-sized living room, with a full-sized kitchen and at least one separate bedroom [[/note]], in New York, and talks to Peter about the investment potential of the artwork she owns. She is also a HookerWithAHeartOfGold.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Creator/AngieDickinson, Creator/NancyAllen, Creator/KeithGordon, and Creator/DennisFranz. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Creator/AngieDickinson, Creator/NancyAllen, Creator/KeithGordon, and Creator/DennisFranz. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson, Creator/NancyAllen, Keith Gordon, and Creator/DennisFranz. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The repeated use of split screen techniques, [[spoiler: to foreshadow Elliott's SplitPersonality.]] Also, whenever Elliott admits aloud to being aroused by a female character, we immediately see his reflection in a mirror, [[spoiler: which actually captures the moment when the 'Bobbi' personality takes over.]] In addition to this, we also see Elliott as a reflection in a mirror when he's watching [[CelebrityCameo Phil Donahue]] on TV, who is [[spoiler: speaking to a male to female transsexual, which also establishes that generally, transsexuals do ''not'' go around killing people.]]

* StockingFiller: Nancy Allen in black stockings and garters. HOT!!!

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson, Creator/NancyAllen, and Keith Gordon. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by a young prostitute who witnessed the murder, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* {{Irony}}: Detective Marino tells Liz she's a [[ClearMyName suspect in Kate's murder]], and even threatens to arrest her right before the climax. [[spoiler: It's an act to manipulate her into illegally obtaining Elliott's client list for him, since Marino can't get it without a court order that's going to take some time to come through.]] The Irony comes in, when [[spoiler: we find out that the killer is Elliott himself (sort of). His client list would have been useless. As long as Elliott kept the answering machine tapes from the police there was no reason to suspect her, though the whole thing was rendered moot as soon as Elliott went to see Dr Levy, who recognised him as Bobbi's male alter-ego and went straight to the cops.]]

* PsychoPsychologist: Dr. Elliott should really not be practicing.

* RewatchBonus: When Kate comes out of the art museum, and stands on the steps, the camera pans from her down the steps and along the pavement to the taxi where her soon-to-be lover is displaying her glove. On a later viewing, during that long movement the camera also [[spoiler: passes Bobbi, showing that 'she' followed Kate from Elliott's office. But since this is the first time she appears in the movie, you won't recognise her unless you've seen the movie before.]]

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson, Nancy Allen, and Keith Gordon. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring Creator/MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* SlutShaming: Averted. In a movie where the two featured female characters are an unfaithful wife and a HighClassHooker, there's actually very little of this. While Detective Marino tries some of this [[spoiler: while he's trying to manipulate Liz into illegally finding out Elliott's client list for him]] Liz flatly refuses to play along. She's utterly matter-of-fact and unashamed about how she makes her living. And while Kate feels a bout of guilt upon a little girl staring at her in the elevator, after her murder no one implies her fate was in any way deserved, or that she was a horrible person simply for having a casual fling.

* {{Irony}}: Detective Marino tells Liz she's a [[ClearMyName suspect in Kate's murder]], and even threatens to arrest her right before the climax. [[spoiler: It's an act to manipulate her into illegally obtaining Elliott's client list for him, since Marino can't get it without a court order that's going to take some time to come through.]] The Irony comes in, when [[spoiler: we find out that the killer is Elliott himself (sort of). His client list would have been useless. Elliott genuinely believed that Bobbi was another person and former patient, presumably to the point of having patient records for her. As long as he kept the answering machine tapes from the police there was no reason to suspect her, though the whole thing was rendered moot as soon as Elliott went to see Dr Levy, who recognised him as Bobbi's male alter-ego and went straight to the cops.]]

** In a meta sort of way, the title of the film. [[spoiler: when Elliott becomes aroused by a woman, Bobbi comes forth to kill the women and destroy the temptation that might strengthen Elliott's hold on their shared body, and make him more reluctant to go through with the sex change operation. When Bobbi comes forth, before setting out on the hunt she dresses as a woman - thus, literally ''dressing to kill''.

* SlutShaming: Averted. In a movie where the two featured female characters are an unfaithful wife and a HighClassHooker, there's actually very little of this. While Detective Marino tries some of this [[spoiler: while he's trying to manipulate Liz into illegally finding out Elliott's client list for him]] Liz flatly refuses to play along. She's utterly matter-of-fact and unashamed about how she makes her living. And while Kate feels a bout of guilt upon a little girl staring at her in the elevator, after her murder no one implies her fate was in any way deserved, or that she was a horrible person simply for having a casual fling.

* HighClassCallGirl: Liz--to the point where she has a ''stockbroker'', and is implied to be quite shrewd at playing the market. She is also a HookerWithAHeartOfGold.

* DeadStarWalking: Angie Dickinson is top-billed in the credits alongside Creator/MichaelCaine, but gets brutally murdered less than halfway into the movie. It's appropriate, since ''Dressed To Kill'' is an overt homage to [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]].
* DecoyProtagonist: The first half of the movie follows Kate ... [[spoiler:until she gets killed]].

''Dressed to Kill'' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* DeadStarWalking: Angie Dickinson is top-billed in the credits alongside MichaelCaine, but gets brutally murdered less than halfway into the movie. It's appropriate, since ''Dressed To Kill'' is an overt homage to [[Creator/AlfredHitchcock Hitchcock]].

* BookEnds: The movie start and finished on a tense Hitchcockian shower scene. [[spoiler:Both scenes turn out to be [[DaydreamSurprise dream sequences]].]]

'''''Dressed to Kill''''' is a 1980 erotic crime thriller film written and directed by Creator/BrianDePalma and starring MichaelCaine, Angie Dickinson and Nancy Allen. It centers on the murder of a housewife, and the investigation headed by the witness to the murder, a young prostitute, and the housewife’s teenaged son.

* DigitalDestruction: Criterion's first print release of the Blu-Ray/DVD in August of 2015 was met with scathing criticism. DePalma asked the film restorers to fix what he thought were some minor distortion issues and in the process the frame became vertically stretched. Criterion apologized for the error, sent replacement copies to those with the first edition, and eventually released a second printing in October 2015.

* HighClassCallGirl: Liz, but she is also a HookerWithAHeartOfGold.

* BookEnds: The movie start and finished with a tense Hitchcockian shower scene. [[spoiler:Both scenes turn out to be [[DaydreamSurprise dream sequences]].]]