The Boston Strangler **** (1968, Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, George Kennedy) – Classic Movie Review 1683

Director Richard Fleischer’s 1968 follow-up to his real-life thriller Compulsion is a documentary-style thriller about the capture of a real-life 60s serial killer. It showcases a riveting tour-de-force performance by a heavily made-up, only semi-recognisable Tony Curtis as the Boston sex-murderer and serial killer Albert DeSalvo. Curtis won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor Drama.

Henry Fonda also stars as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective now famous for obtaining DeSalvo’s confession. Bottomly sets out to answer the question in the film’s advertising – ‘Why did 13 women open their doors to the Boston Strangler?’ And George Kennedy and Murray Hamilton also co-star as Detective Phil DiNatale and Detective Frank McAfee, who help to lead the seemingly endless and increasingly complex manhunt.

This tricky, potentially risky subject receives sympathetic treatment under the direction of the liberal-minded Fleischer, who specialised and was adroit in handling this kind of difficult real-life murder material. He made Compulsion in 1959 and went on to film 10 Rillington Place in 1971.

The flashy, quintessentially late-60s multi-images in the style of the Thomas Crown Affair are very much of their era, but they work very nicely, effectively building up tension and enlivening the narrative. Although they not work as well on a home screen as in the cinema and they need the biggest image possible.

DeSalvo in 1967.

Curtis fought tooth and nail to land the role against type, and deserves his casting. Alas, his good reviews didn’t really revive his flagging movie career. And Mike Kellin, Sally Kellerman, Hurd Hatfield, Jeff Corey, William Marshall, William Hickey, James Brolin and George Voscovic handle the star supporting character performances with the style expected of such a distinguished group of players.

[Spoiler alert] Edward Anhalt’s screenplay is based on Gerold Frank’s bestseller about the schizophrenic plumber serial killer and seen from the point of view of the investigators who have few clues to follow up. The film splits into two parts, the first showing the police investigation and the seedier side of Boston life, the second the apprehension and interrogation of the killer. Anhalt won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture. Don’t look to the film for the whole truth. Question marks hang over the movie as it changes the events in Frank’s book considerably, making the film essentially a work of fiction based on the real events in order to entertain.

Though the murders of 13 women were attributed to DeSalvo after he confessed, details revealed in court during a separate case, as well as DNA evidence linking him to the last murder victim, it has since been suggested the crimes were not committed by one person. DeSalvo was sentenced to life in prison in 1967. Six years later, he was found stabbed to death in the infirmary of the maximum security Walpole State Prison where his killer was never identified.

Curtis said: ‘It was the most eerie experience I’ve ever had. Looking into the mirror I wasn’t there anymore. I couldn’t wait until the end of the day and I could take all that makeup off and see that adorable blue-eyed kid again.’

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1683

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Gainsborough Street, site of the first murder attributed to the Boston Strangler.