Movie: The Boston Strangler (1968)
Directed by Richard Fleischer
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL
Plot:
The women of Boston are being murdered and the authorities (as is their wont) are trying to put a stop to it. Hilarity ensues.
Background and Reaction:
Class is on Thursdays. I don't generally write up my thoughts until the weekend because I like to mull it over a bit. And in the couple of days between class and my post, I spend a good deal of energy thinking about what I want to say. But this week, no. Here, it's Tuesday night and I've hardly though about the movie. For those keeping score at home, that's a bad thing.
When it comes right down to it, this movie didn't really make a big impression on me. It was decent, don't get me wrong. Tony Curtis' performance was really inspired. But...well...I dunno. It just didn't stick with me.
Part of it may be that it was too ambitious. In some ways it seemed like multiple movies, one after the other. But it just didn't hold my interest,
The post-viewing discussion was more interesting than the movie itself, as we debated the question of how true-to-fact a movie needs to be if it's billed as being based on true events. Not that we came to an agreement. From my perspective, I'm happy to give wide lattitude to fictionalize events. As long as they're not calling it a documentary or otherwise claiming accuracy, they can say that a movie was based on American history and show Abraham Lincoln fighting with Captain Kirk. It makes me no nevermind.
Ratings:
Sean: 2 out of 4
Me: 5.5
Dave: 9.2-9.3
Scott: 6
Joe: 8
Ethan: 5
Bechdel:
The Boston Strangler passess the Bechdel test, which just shows what a low standard the test is.
Star Trek reference:
William Marshall, who made a guest appearance as Dr. Richard Daystrom, had a small role in this movie. So I (or was it Joe?) made some snide remark when he appeared.
Pittsburgh Reference:
Talking about catatonic patients in a psychiatric hospital, a doctor said "Nobody knows where the withdraw to. I suggested "Pittsburgh."
I suppose that, if two or more women come home from shopping and comment to one another about a DOOR being locked or unlocked, before finding a murder victim, that’s enough to pass the Bechdel Test.
ReplyDeleteNo *man* was the subject of the conversation… though I believe the DOOR was made of WOOD! So, it’s a tough call!
I *think* I was the first one to refer to Dr. Daystrom (can’t be sure because I was too preoccupied trying to keep track of the “… multiple movies, one after the other”, and Richard Fleischer’s possibly having invented the “picture-in-picture”, which is so commonplace today), but I don’t recall any of the Daystrom remarks having been snide. I’d figure we ALL like the character, and the episode in which he appeared. …Though, too, I may have been too preoccupied to notice… because the M5 must survive!