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The Boston Strangler, a review by Jimmy

Title: The Boston Strangler
Year: 1968
Director: Richard Fleischer
Rating: R
Length: 1h56
Video:  Wide Screen
Audio:  English, French and Spanish
Subtitles: English and Spanish

Stars:
Tony Curtis - Albert DeSalvo
Henry Fonda - John S. Bottomly
George Kennedy - Phil DiNatale 
Mike Kellin - Julian Soshnick
Hurd Hatfield - Terence Huntley

Plot:
One by one, the victims fell, each death more gruesome than the last. The actual murders that rocked Boston in the '60s are the gripping subject matter of this unforgettable police thriller. Henry Fonda stars as the investigating police detective. Tony Curtis delivers a stunning performance as the psychopath Fonda must conquer. Filmed in a documentary style that makes the horrifying events all the more real, 'THE BOSTON STRANGLER' is one of the most powerful films in its genre.

Extras:
Fox Movietone News : Boston Strangler
Backstory : The Boston Strangler
Theatrical Teaser
Theatrical Trailer

With this one I'm not on unknown territory since I've read the book by Gerold Frank who is the inspiration of the movie and like almost everyone I've read a lot of documentation about this case and some others like it.

This movie is an Hollywood production so it's evident that it will be more mainstream. The first good thing to mention is the cast of the movie, all the principal actors are well cast (It's hard to understand why Curtis and Fonda didn't get a nomination for the Oscar, but maybe the subject was too dark for the members of the Academy) and the majority of the others (Kellerman in particullar) does a good job too. The utilisation of the split screen (sometimes there are 4 different at the same times) is an imaginative way to show the different point of view and it give a way to move the movie faster. But there are a lot of fact from the book that are not mention and some of those are not really important (some of the suspect), but some of those omission are hard to forgive. By exemple the fact that Desalvo was in the army for 8 years, the fact that his girl had an handicap, the fact that he had an anormal level of sexual need, the complete omission of the role of George Nassar for the conection between Desalvo and the strangler, the fact that Desalvo was not prosecuted for the strangler case but for the Green man case (he got a life sentence) and the worst case of volountary omited fact : Desalvo was found mentally competent to stand a trial.

That's doesn't means that the movie is bad, but if you know about the case the agenda by the director is very easy to spot : the mental disease are responsible of the crime in the society.   

Rating : 3.5/5

More information about the case

(From My review - unseen and unwatched january marathon on January 22nd, 2008)

The Crazies, a review by addicted2dvd

The Crazies (2010/United States) Trailer |IMDb |Wikipedia | Anchor Bay Home Entertainment Director: Breck Eisner Writing: Scott Kosar (Screenwriter), Ray Wright (Screenwriter) Length: 101 min. Rating: Rated R : Bloody Violence and Language Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, English: PCM: 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo Subtitles: English, Spanish

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Stars:
Timothy Olyphant as David
Radha Mitchell as Judy
Joe Anderson as Russell
Danielle Panabaker as Becca
Christie Lynn Smith as Deardra Farnum
Brett Rickaby as Bill Farnum

Plot:Extras:

• Scene Access
• Audio Commentary
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Gallery
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Digital Copy
• The Crazies Motion Comic Episodes 1 + 2

I been wanting to check this one out for a while now. I must say... I enjoyed it quite a bit. It kept my interest from the start. It has a good story and likable characters. I know this is a remake of an older film... and I have heard that it isn't really that similar... but I must admit... despite that I am curious about the original after seeing this one. If for no other reason then to see just how much it differs. This is worth checking out if you haven't yet.



(From Weekend Movie Marathon: The Blu-ray Experience on July 6th, 2013)

"Due South" marathon, a review by Tom

2.14 All The Queen's Horses (1996-04-11)
Writer: Paul Haggis (Created By), Paul Gross (Story By), John Krizanc (Story By), Paul Quarrington (Story By), Paul Gross (Screenwriter)
Director: George Bloomfield
Cast: Paul Gross (Constable Benton Fraser), David Marciano (Detective Ray Vecchio), Beau Starr (Lt. Harding Welsh), Tony Craig (Detective Jack Huey), Catherine Bruhier (Elaine), Camilla Scott (Inspector Margaret Thatcher), Leslie Nielsen (Buck Frobisher), Kenneth Welsh (Randal Bolt), Dean McDermott (Constable Turnbull), Alex Carter (Agent Ford), Paul Soles (Creeve), Gordon Pinsent (Fraser Sr.), Kirsten Kieferle (Cameraman/Racine), Mark Melymick (Deeter), Falconer Abraham (Team Leader), Scott Wickware (Terrorist/Albee), Kenneth Wickes (Train Conductor), Neil Foster (Computer Guy)

This has always been one of my favorite episodes. It was written by Paul Gross who is playing Fraser. It is almost like a fanfiction. It combines everything a typical fanfiction would do. Integrating fan-favorite guest characters (Leslie Nielsen as Buck Forbisher, Fraser's ghost dad, the incompetent FBI agents from season 1). Acting out the sexual tension between Fraser and his boss by having them bound together. Sadly this episode marks the high-point of their relationship in this series. Paul Gross, who is also a singer/song writer in real life, managed to get one of his songs into the show (he will get another chance in season 3, but on the other hand, he will be the executive producer then). I enjoy both songs he got into the series and have both as mp3 and listen to them from time to time.

Rating:

(From "Due South" marathon on August 23rd, 2009)