Customer Reviews

Dressed To Kill: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(3)
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This disc has some hardcore fans, and deservedly so. Now obviously, DePalma ordered Pino to write in the vein of Herrmann, but Pino does more than pick the bones of a dead composer (which is more than can be said for dePalma when he's not up to snuff). DRESSED is a really lovely, I mean, LOVELY, score. In fact, it's so lush and awash in emotion that it may simply frighten some people because it almost topples over into kitsch, but I'd argue it doesn't. The title tune makes you feel like that girl in AMERICAN BEAUTY bathing in rose petals, and THE MUSEUM cue is a six minute kind of rondo thing that just takes you higher and higher into its erotic frenzy. Next to DON'T LOOK NOW, this is Donaggio's best.

Pino Donaggio is one of our greatest composers, DRESSED TO KILL is one of his best along with CARRIE and PIRANHA II(which unfortunately is not available). This recording evokes a 1980's sexiness without sounding too dated. Nightmares and murders are meshed well with the erotic nature of this recording. The horrifying scenes are brilliantly moved by the score, they flow right along with it to climax.

I have been addicted to this album since it first came out in the early 80's. It is a fantastic score and the arrangements are lush and gorgeous. I have had it on vinyl as well as another replicated version on tape (a Donnagio collection that wasn't at all as good as the original versions) and on CD. I've enjoyed this soundtrack for all the years since the movie came out. I always wonder what Angie Dickinson must have thought after filming all those scenes in which she had no dialogue and the camera was just on her, and then to see the finished product on the screen scored by Pino Donnagio. It must have been magnificent to see and hear that for the first time after shooting those scenes. Her scenes were the only good thing about that movie, her and of course the music. I can't imagine anyone else playing that role, and how Donnogio scored this movie in such an emotionally evocative way, sad yet elegant and almost verging on Muzac- it's incredible. It's beautifully orchestrated and a brilliant score. My favorite track: The Note. No, make that The Museum. No, scratch that- definitely The Shower (Theme from Dressed to Kill). Highly recommended.