Daily Archives: May 13, 2023

Dressed to Kill
Directed by Brian De Palma
Written by Brian De Palma
1980/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Doctor Robert Elliott: Doctor, I am not paranoid. Bobbi was making threats over the phone. She said she’s going to hurt me. My patient was slashed to death. And now my razor is gone. Now you don’t have to be a detective to figure it out, do you?

Wanna-be Hitchcock with less wit, less dialogue, more gore, and WAY more nudity.

Angie Dickinson plays a sexually repressed upper class woman who decides to pick up strange men on the street and experiment. Michael Caine plays her psychiatrist, Nancy Allen plays a call-girl, and Keith Gordon plays Dickinson’s son. Before the movie is over the three will become amateur detectives to their great peril.

The best things about this movie are Angie Dickinson’s ravishing beauty and that I didn’t guess the twist ending. Nothing I need to see again.

The Blues Brothers
Directed by John Landis
Written by Dan Ackroyd and John Landis
1980/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental

Jake: First you traded the Cadillac in for a microphone. Then you lied to me about the band. And now you’re gonna put me right back in the joint!
Elwood: They’re not gonna catch us. We’re on a mission from God.

This old favorite delivered great comedy, great music and spectacular car chases once again.

Jake Blues (John Belushi) is released from the penitentiary and picked up by his brother Elwood (Dan Ackroyd). The pair’s first stop is the Catholic orphanage where they were raised. The place will have to close unless the nuns can come up with $5,000 to pay property tax. The nuns refuse to accept any ill-gotten gain so the boys decide to reassemble their R&B band. Henceforward they are “on a mission from God”.

The search for band members allows the boys to meet and perform with the greats including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Ray Charles. The musicians in the band are on fire.

In the meantime, the brothers infuriate at different times law enforcement, neo-Nazis, a country-and-western band and a mysterious female sniper (Carrie Fisher). This results in multiple amazing car chases and pileups. No computers were involved.

I love R&B music and this movie.  Highly recommended.

I have now watched 38 films from 1979.  A list of these can be found here. From the 1001 Movies List, I have not seen Stalker, The Tin Drum or Christ Stopped at Eboli.  Here are my favorites of th year.

Breaking Away directed by Peter Yates

Manhattan directed by Woody Allen

Alien directed by Ridley Scott

Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola

The Black Stallion directed by Carroll Ballard

The Marriage of Maria Braun/Die Ehe der Maria Braun directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Wise Blood directed by John Huston

Amator directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski

Best Boy directed by Ira Wohl

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And so starts 1980.  The list I will pick from is here.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHbDBIMi5so