Rent The Boston Strangler (1968)

Great film ... - The Boston Strangler review by AB

A film before it's time .. I have seen this before but forgotten how brutal it was .. In the days before Dna or mobile phones... This killer murdered in Boston but in different areas so the Police had no way to forward information as no Computers .. Amazing how the Boston Strangler was caught .. Good watch Curtis as you never seen him before .

True Crime. - The Boston Strangler review by Steve

Critics knock this for its deviation from historical events, but it triumphs as an example of late sixties social realism. This is a fascinating and intelligent film. For the first hour, the Boston police search for the psychopathic killer of women who live alone . Detectives instigate and respond to a backlash of prejudice and ignorance. They also expose a pandemic of neglected mental illness.

Tony Curtis doesn't make his appearance as Albert DeSalvo until the second hour and while it's obvious that liberties have been taken with real psychiatry, the scenes between Curtis and Henry Fonda, as the cop leading the investigation, are compelling. Curtis is convincingly banal as the blue collar family man who lives in unconscious fear of his other, suppressed personality.

Richard Fleischer uses split screen, which offers alternate ways of observing the killer's personality. Maybe this was cutting edge. It feels a bit gimmicky now, but it doesn't detract from the impact. Otherwise, the hand held cameras produce that jerky documentary look which eventually became standard in docu-drama. And it works. There's intimacy, as well as a sleazy portrayal of the naked city.

The film pleads for more proactive treatment of the mentally sick. The pinched public purse of the Boston police department shown here implies there isn't much hope for progressive public health initiatives. But still, the film makes wider political points with some subtlety, even if inevitably the frank depiction of some of the city's subcultures looks a little dated.