the town that dreaded sundown (cinema history class)

Session: Cinematic Serial Killers, week 4
Movie: The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976)
Directed by Charles B. Pierce
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

Plot:
A mysterious killer is brutally murdering the citizens of Texarkana. Hilarity ensues.

Background and Reaction:
The Town That Dreaded Sundown is based on a real-life string of unsolved murders in Texarkana, AR, in 1946. Because it's based on true-life events, there's the inevitable tension between historical accuracy and quality story-telling. So, despite being relatively true to reality, the movie added a climactic shootout near a railroad -- a scene that Keith said was made up from whole cloth. That scene works very well. It is, in fact, one of the best scenes in the movie.

On the other hand, the ending stayed true to reality. That is to say, there wasn't an ending. The Phantom Killer (as he was known) was never caught, and the killer in the movie wasn't caught either. That was actually one of film's two big weaknesses. The storytelling seemed incomplete without a resolution. This was something that really bothered Joe, as he's big on being told a good story. It's as if he feels there's a contract between the movie and the viewer -- the viewer puts in the time and the movie provides closure.

The other drawback that bothered both Joe and me was the comic relief. Now, I'm perfectly fine with some comedy thrown in to a horror film to act as a pressure valve. But this movie had a character, Patrolman A.C. "Sparkplug" Benson, whose main role was to provide some laughs. And that would have been fine, except that they overdid it. Forgetting his keys when he's supposed to drive a VIP around (and emptying his desk drawer looking for those keys) was OK. But when he drove his car over an embankment and into a swamp, I thought I was watching Smokey and the Bandit. It was simply too much and detracted greatly from the film.

Of course, I don't want to sound like I'm completely down on the film. The creative killings that seemed to make this a groundbreaking proto-slashet movie were interesting in their own right. And stars Ben Johnson and Andrew Prine were very good in their roles. I will admit that Prine seemed a bit too much like a young Robert Reed, but that's beside the point.

This wasn't up to the level of Deranged that we had seen a week earlier, but it was pretty good.

Ratings:
Sean: 3 out of 4
Scott: 8
Me: 7.5
Ethan: 9
Joe: 9.3
Dave: 9.2 - 9.3

Bechdel:
The Town That Dreaded Sundown fails the Bechdel test.

Tangentially-Related Anecdote:
I remember my first visit to Texarkana. I was coming East on I-30 from Dallas. I got off the highway at US 71 (which happens to run down the border between Texas and Arkansas. At a gas station, I asked the lady behind the counter what state I was in. "Well," she said in a slow drawl, "right now you're in Texas. But if you cross the street you're in Arkansas." When I left the gas station, I drove South on US-71, in the left lane. I'd stick my arm out the window, then pull it back in, while saying to myself, "My arm is in Arkansas. My arm is in Texas." I did this over and over again Fun times...