A schizophrenic plumber is responsible for strangling several boston women, but goes undetected until he is arrested for breaking and entering.
The unexpected casting of Tony Curtis as the presumed Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, is only the first of the attractions of this hard-nosed suspense picture. Although the style of The Boston Strangler looks dated today, with its split-screen experiments and post-Bonnie and Clyde permissiveness, the film still has the clean, strong lines of a methodical policier. For the first hour, we don't focus on the Strangler, instead following the Beantown cops (led by Henry Fonda) as they track down leads; the best sequence is the near-accidental connection made between burglary suspect DeSalvo and the killings. Director Richard Fleischer had a forceful hand with true-crime material (Compulsion, 10 Rillington Place) and he takes an unblinking look into the then-taboo subject of sexual pathology. Curtis's physical transformation into a dumpy, dull-eyed brute is the best aspect of his performance; it's a role he lobbied hard for, but it did not lead to more challenging work. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Great Film:
Like all true crime stories that become "art forms" via books and film, you must not expect a literal translation of the facts. I liked this movie as a movie, but I realize that given the nature of this case, it is but one person's understanding of what may have occured in Boston from 1962-1964. The split screen format of the film makes the viewer disoriented in a manner that lends to the film. You feel like a cop in the film: as time goes on, you feel the story come together. Henry Fonda and Tony... more info
Never Confuse It With the Real Story:
I saw this movie when it first opened in New England. I read the book "The Boston Strangler" by Gerold Frank. Then I read the book "The Boston Stranglers" by Susan Kelly.
The movie is a classic, odd in its production and worth adding to my DVD collection. BUT, the film is pure fiction, taken from Frank's book which is nearly all fiction.
Read Kelly's book and afterward I am sure you will agree with the police. Albert DeSalvo had nothing to do with the eleven, mostly unrelated, murders.
The Boston Strangler:
This is a very interestingly directed film with lots of split screen and interesting camera angels. Fascinating also as this really happened in Boston which comes across well in the documentary style. Tony Curtis is suberb as the strangler and Henry Fonda also puts up a great performance.
ALMOST LIKE COLD CASE FILES:
THIS MOVIE WAS INTERESTING.ALL THESE MURDERS ARE HAPPENING,AND THE DETECTIVES ARE LOOKING FOR EVIDENCE OF WHO DID IT AND WHY.IT'S LIKE YOUR TV DETECTIVE SHOWS OF TODAY.I LIKED THIS MOVIE.
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