The Boston Strangler (film)

Plot

After three murders of elderly women, the victims having been strangled and penetrated with foreign objects, the Boston police conclude that they have a serial killer to catch: the Boston Strangler. As the murders stretch over several police jurisdictions, Massachusetts Attorney General Edward W. Brooke appoints John S. Bottomly as head of a "Strangler Bureau" to coordinate the investigation. Several suspects are interrogated and released.

As the body count grows, Bottomly, in desperation, calls in a psychic, Peter Hurkos, who pinpoints Eugene T. O'Rourke, a man who seems to fit the profile. The severely masochistic O'Rourke is taken in for psychiatric observation for ten days but nothing implicates him in the murders. Another murder is committed while O'Rourke is under observation, clearing him of suspicion.

While the 1963 funeral of John F. Kennedy is on television, Albert DeSalvo leaves his wife Irmgard and children, under the pretext of work. He gains entry into the apartment of a woman, Dianne Cluny, by posing as a plumber sent by the building supervisor. He attacks her, tying her to her bed with rags ripped from her dress. DeSalvo is taken aback by the sight of himself in a mirror as he tries to subdue Dianne. She struggles free and bites his hand; DeSalvo flees.

He tries to enter the apartment of another woman, but finds that her husband is home. DeSalvo is apprehended by a passing police patrol. Found incompetent to stand trial for attempted breaking and entering, he is committed to a hospital for psychiatric observation. By chance, Bottomly and Detective Phil DiNatale pass DeSalvo in an elevator; they had been visiting Dianne, who survived the earlier attack. Observing the wound on DeSalvo's hand (Dianne, who survived his attack, could remember biting him but not his appearance), the pair makes him a suspect for the Boston Strangler murders.

Conventional interrogation is ineffective because the treating physician thinks that DeSalvo suffers from a split personality: he has two identities that are unaware of each other. His "normal" personality fabricates memories in place of the memories of murder committed by the "strangler" personality. The treating physician, Dr. Nagy, thinks that DeSalvo could be forced to confront the facts but that the resulting shock risks putting him in a catatonic state. Bottomly expresses the opinion that catatonia would be the second-best thing to a conviction.

Under the condition imposed by DeSalvo's defense counsel that none of what comes to light is admissible evidence in court, Bottomly is allowed a final round of interviews with DeSalvo. After several sessions, Bottomly manages to reveal DeSalvo's hidden personality. Reeling from the shock, DeSalvo slips into a catatonic state.

Cast

• Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo
• Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly
• George Kennedy as Phil DiNatale
• Mike Kellin as Julian Soshnick
• Hurd Hatfield as Terence Huntley
• Murray Hamilton as Frank McAfee
• Jeff Corey as John Asgeirsson
• Sally Kellerman as Dianne Cluny
• William Marshall as Edward W. Brooke
• George Voskovec as Peter Hurkos
• Leora Dana as Mary Bottomly
• Carolyn Conwell as Irmgard DeSalvo
• Jeanne Cooper as Cloe
• Austin Willis as Dr. Nagy
• Lara Lindsay as Bobbie Eden
• William Hickey as Eugene T. O'Rourke
• George Furth as Lyonel Brumley
• Carole Shelley as Dana Banks
• Gwyda Donhow as Alice Oakville
• Richard X. Slattery as Capt. Ed Willis
• James Brolin as Detective Sgt. Phil Lisi
• Dana Elcar as Luis Schubert
• Almira Sessions as Emma Hodak
• Arthur Hanson as Police Commissioner Edmund McNamara
• David Lewis as Judge Schroeder

Production

Film rights to Gerold Frank's book The Boston Strangler were bought for $250,000 (equivalent to $ million in ). Terence Rattigan was hired to write the script, but the producer was unhappy with it. Edward Anhalt was subsequently hired. Director Richard Fleischer got the job based on his work on Compulsion, a dramatization of the Leopold and Loeb murders.

Filming took place on-location in Boston and at 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles. Due to the subject matter, many individuals and agencies in Boston were unsupportive of the film's production. According to a 1968 Philadelphia Inquirer article:

Boston Police Commissioner Edward McNamara insists it would be highly improper to cooperate with the filmmakers in a story about murder rampage which hasn't been officially resolved....[Producer Robert] Fryer asked for permission to use Boston policecars. The answer was no. A letter from Commissioner McNamara also made it plain that police personnel would not be authorized to work as extras on the film, a practice that had been approved in two other pictures that went on location in Boston last year. Another request to bring cameras into police headquarters for one scene was deleted. Fryer couldn't even get permission to take still photos of the offices of the attorney general and the local police commissioner so that they could at least be reproduced back at the studio in Hollywood. Not a soul was willing to cooperate, not even local hospitals. One scene required Fonda to walk out of a hospital...."We asked for permission at two hospitals, Massachusetts General and Beth Israel," Fryer complained, "Both turned us down."

Historical accuracy

The film posits Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis) as the Boston Strangler, and depicts him as suffering from a dissociative identity disorder (DID), confessing to the murders only after John S. Bottomly (Henry Fonda) induces his alternate personality. Although DeSalvo's real attorney, F. Lee Bailey, did attempt to mount an insanity defense, it was never suggested by him nor the prosecution that DeSalvo suffered from DID, and he was never diagnosed with it. DeSalvo confessed to the murders while under hypnosis (without Bottomly) and without hypnosis (with Bottomly), and was incarcerated at a mental hospital after his conviction. DeSalvo would later recant both confessions.

DeSalvo's actual guilt remains a source of controversy. He was never prosecuted for the Strangler murders, but he was tried on separate charges of sexual assault and robbery. A 2013 DNA test definitively linked him to at least one of the Stranger's victims, Mary Ann Sullivan.

Dianne Cluny (Sally Kellerman) is a composite character, based partly on the "Green Man" victim who identified DeSalvo to authorities.

Reception

Box office

According to 20th Century Fox records, the film required $8,625,000 in rentals to break even, and by December 11, 1970, it had made $11,125,000, earning a profit to the studio.

Critical response

Film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, but criticized its content:

In the same vein, The New York Times film critic Renata Adler wrote:

In 2004, film critic Dennis Schwartz of the Vermont-based Ozus's World Movie Reviews discussed the film's style:

Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa called The Boston Strangler one of his favorite films. "There is no other work that so vividly shows how accurate cinematic expression is. Maybe it has something to do with how fast it moves. I learned a lot from this film. But I think this can only be done by a genius."

Accolades

Home media

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2004. Twilight Time released a limited-edition Blu-ray on November 15, 2016.

References

Sources

References

1. "The Boston Strangler". [[The Numbers (website).
2. "The Boston Strangler". [[Turner Classic Movies]].
3. Lewis, Dan. (March 3, 1968). "'Strangler' film company meets opposition in Boston". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
4. Ferrarin, Elena. "Did an Abusive Childhood Turn Albert DeSalvo Into the 'Boston Strangler' Serial Killer?".
5. DNA confirms Albert DeSalvo's link to 'Boston Strangler' killing of Mary Sullivan: authorities. [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dna-confirms-albert-desalvo-link-boston-strangler-killing-mary-sullivan-authorities-article-1.1403536 ''NY Daily News'' archive], retrieved October 17, 2015.
6. (2016-05-25). "Who was the Boston Strangler?".
7. Ebert, Roger. (October 22, 1968). "The Boston Strangler". [[Chicago Sun-Times]].
8. Adler, Ranata. (October 17, 1968). "Screen: 'The Boston Strangler' Opens:Movie Is Taken From Gerold Frank's Book Curtis in Title Role of Film at 3 Theaters". [[The New York Times]].
9. Schwartz, Dennis. (August 5, 2019). "The Boston Strangler". Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews.
10. "In the Cinéma Club of... Kiyoshi Kurosawa".
11. "Tony Curtis". [[Golden Globe Awards]].
12. Erickson, Glenn. (September 17, 2004). "DVD Savant Review: The Boston Strangler". [[DVD Talk]].
13. "The Boston Strangler Blu-ray (Limited Edition to 3000)". Blu-ray.com.