Written & Directed By: Leonard Kastle
Cinematography: Oliver Wood
Editor: Stanley Warnow And Richard Brophy
Cast: Shirley Stoner, Tony Lo Bianco, Doris Roberts, Mary Jane Higby, Kip Mcardle, Barbara Cason, Marilyn Chris, Dora Duckworth
An obese, embittered nurse doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs.
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This is a failure for me personally. As I heard about over the years, but never took the leap to watch it until recently, as I had even seen a more modern retelling of the tale that it is based on. The 2006 film Lonelyhearts, which starred John Travolta, Salma, Hayek, James Gandolfini, and Jared Leto. This is way better
This film is based on a true crime case of a con man who specialized in romancing and marrying women and stealing their money, and then he met a lonely nurse who fell head over heels for him, and then helped him and his cons but soon they turned deadly as they would begin to kill their victims rather than Just abandon them and run away
What is surprising for this film is that you feel like an accomplice as you watch it you still have an overview, but you’re always there with them and all points of this time and it just has a gritty realism in it that is so believable so that even when eventually, the film turns violet it feels more realistic and you feel sorry for the victims as we have gotten to know them a bit
So at no part, do we root for these killers but we somewhat find ourselves repost, but also a little bit emotional when the nurse part who is seems to be the most cold hearted as she seems to be the one who does the killing most of the time just continuously keeps finding out that her partner has slept with these women that he promised he would never do
He seems to be the one more in charge at first shocked at her behavior, but soon giving the orders and she seems to become his henchman of sorts, as well as as his partner
This film was originally supposed to be directed by a young Martin Scorsese, but he ended up not making it past pre-production and was taken over by another director Donald Volkman, who then was fired and finished with another director
This is one of those treasure cast of films that at first seems like it’s gonna be a cheap bee movie that you would see at a drive-in though it’s so surprisingly well made and the fact that it also takes you off guard when you were expecting, maybe a more harmless, exploiter film and you find this film, surprisingly dramatically resident and more of a thriller than an out and out horror film
It also works again by us, getting to know the victims, even as we know they’re fate and know it’s coming up if personalizes their deaths a little more, and makes it more gruesome and sad than originally intended, especially one victim that you don’t expect them to really carry out and while it happens off screen. You feel like they have reached a new low.
As violence is introduced slowly in the sub at first the killings, though torturous, we don’t really see the handiwork though soon we’re pretty much in the same room as the violence is happening it seems like with each victim, the film and the killers up the game and the violence.
No, this film is definitely a gem not only for true crime aficionados. It truly stands out in the field and sets itself apart. That feels more truthful than a lot of them out there.
As even the 2006 film Lonelyhearts, based on this case focuses more on the cops in a bit on the killers, this film, we only truly see the killers point of view and a bit of the victims point of view.
This is one of those films that packs such a punch you want to learn all about the true crime case right after you watch it.
Grade: A -
