A retired nurse is murdered in her apartment. More are murdered in several jurisdictions in Greater Boston, then younger women. There is no rape, but the attacks have a sexual component. Bottomley (Henry Fonda), a law professor, is appointed to lead a task force to find the killer. A failed attack, then a failed break-in, result in the arrest of De Salvo (Tony Curtis). Bottomley interrogates him, his schizophrenia emerges and he begins to confront it.
What I like best about this film is that it demonstrates that a tense thriller need not depend on the pornography of violence and blood. The attacks are substantially either not shown, or are not on screen in the scene, but their impact is described in the reactions and words of those who have to deal with the bodies. The approach is classical and intellectual. The film is interesting visually. The innovative split-screen sequences work well, introducing a kind of simultaneous dramatic irony through showing an event from two points of view at the same time - though the technique was used with greater clarity in The Thomas Crown Affair. The semi-documentary approach works well in keeping the temperature down. As a social-historical document the film is interesting from its neutral, on occasion even sympathetic, portrayal of a series of sexual deviants. The blindingly bare white interrogation room and De Salvo's overall starkly concentrate attention on the murderer's tortured expressions as he discovers the evil that he has done. Curtis delivers a superlative performance that succeeds in reconciling the warm family man with the schizophrenic. For once, a typically wooden performance is just right for the rather dry character that Fonda portrays. The supporting cast delivers uniformly good performances.
What I like best about this film is that it demonstrates that a tense thriller need not depend on the pornography of violence and blood. The attacks are substantially either not shown, or are not on screen in the scene, but their impact is described in the reactions and words of those who have to deal with the bodies. The approach is classical and intellectual. The film is interesting visually. The innovative split-screen sequences work well, introducing a kind of simultaneous dramatic irony through showing an event from two points of view at the same time - though the technique was used with greater clarity in The Thomas Crown Affair. The semi-documentary approach works well in keeping the temperature down. As a social-historical document the film is interesting from its neutral, on occasion even sympathetic, portrayal of a series of sexual deviants. The blindingly bare white interrogation room and De Salvo's overall starkly concentrate attention on the murderer's tortured expressions as he discovers the evil that he has done. Curtis delivers a superlative performance that succeeds in reconciling the warm family man with the schizophrenic. For once, a typically wooden performance is just right for the rather dry character that Fonda portrays. The supporting cast delivers uniformly good performances.