Boston Strangler

Boston, 1962. Several elderly women are strangled, apparently by the same unknown assailant. An investigation ensues, but clues lead nowhere. Then the strangler starts to attack younger women. John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) is assigned to direct a more intense investigation, interviewing even the remotest suspects. Meanwhile, the murders continue. Dianne Cluny (Sally Kellerman) survives an attack but remembers only that she bit her attacker's hand. When Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis) is caught breaking into an apartment, his mental capabilities are questioned. He goes to the hospital for observation, and there someone notices a bite mark on his hand... Director Richard Fleischer forgoes his usual flexible but unobtrusive style in THE BOSTON STRANGLER. Shooting in Cinemascope, he makes flamboyant use of the wide screen--splitting it to show multiple images and multiple action as the police pursue leads and hunt for suspects. As a suspect recounts events in a long interrogation sequence, Fleischer imaginatively shows the suspect and his interrogator in flashbacks. With a fine and uncharacteristic performance by Curtis and vivid appearances by Hurd Hatfield and William Hickey, THE BOSTON STRANGLER is a fine addition to Fleischer's series of movies based on real-life murders, following THE GIRL IN THE RED VELVET SWING and COMPULSION.