The Boston Strangler Page #2

Synopsis: Boston is being terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders of women. Based on the true story, the film follows the investigators path through several leads before introducing the Strangler as a character. It is seen almost exclusively from the point of view of the investigators who have very few clues to build a case upon.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Director(s): Richard Fleischer
Production: 20th Century Fox Film Corp.
  Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Rotten Tomatoes:
86%
APPROVED
Year:
1968
116 min
816 Views


We're not interested

in misdemeanor convictions...

...only homicide suspects.

Now, let's get with this.

If we don't find this man, I'm afraid

this is going to keep happening.

That's it.

- MAN 1:
All right. Everybody out!

- MAN 2:
Get out of here!

Make a straight line. Get over there.

- Come on. Get out of there.

- MAN 3:
Come on. Let's go.

Go on. Get out of here.

Get out of here!

Line up over here! Come on!

- All right, everybody out.

- MAN 4:
Let's go.

Make a straight line. Come on, get out.

All right, baby. Come on.

NURSE:
I called you 15 minutes ago

and they still aren't here.

I told you before, I'm a nurse.

Three of those women were nurses.

This man has been here

three nights in a row, peeking.

Please. Thank you.

[BUS HORN HONKS]

[GASPS]

[YELLING AND SHOOTING]

MCAFEE:
At it again.

All right, pal, let's go.

I love you.

[PHONE RINGS]

Hello?

Is this Mae?

- This is she.

- How are you tonight, Mae?

Oh, it's you. Uh, I'm fine.

- I didn't recognize your voice.

- Why not?

Sergeant, this is Grace Lockwood

at 73 Grove.

We have him on the phone again.

She'll try and hold him

as long as she can.

You'll sit on a chair,

and I'll sit across the room.

You wear panties, Mae?

Sometimes.

What color?

Black.

Knit or solid?

Knit.

Then we'll have a drink, Mae.

What do you drink?

MAE:
Martinis.

It's on group two, terminal 94.

I like a sweet drink. Maybe Kahla.

Do you know why, Mae?

MAE:
No, why?

Because I got a special way of...

[SIREN WAILS]

I'd rather not say at this time.

There certainly seems to be

a little similarity.

Do the similarities appear to be striking?

Are there more than just one?

Yes. There are several factors involved...

...which appear to be similar

in all of the cases.

NEWSMAN:

This is the Cambridge police chief now.

Chief... Chief, could we talk with you

for a moment? Chief?

- Can you give us anything more on this?

- What else is there?

A 67-year-old nurse has been

sexually assaulted and strangled...

...by a Boston maniac.

Let's pass it around, Dave.

It's the fifth victim.

Two belong to Lawrence and Lynn.

I stand corrected.

This two-fifths Boston maniac.

Anne Nealy is another nurse.

Think it's someone working in a hospital?

Or someone who worked in an

old people's home. They're all old.

Or working in an orchestra.

They all liked music.

Someone in a laundry. They were all clean.

How did he tie the knot? Like the others?

Corroborative evidence.

We're holding it back.

- How did he tie it?

- Double half hitch.

Same as the others?

If there is more than one man operating,

they sure went to the same school.

This is the fifth strangling...

...and the fourth police department

to become involved.

And many of us wonder...

...if perhaps a split in jurisdiction

is less than helpful.

Is there a central file where

all investigating offices can consult?

And can detectives from one city

cross into the lines of another at will...

...to pursue investigations?

The answers to these

and other relevant questions...

...is an unhappy no.

[BELL RINGING]

NEWSCASTER:
How do you feel

about the Boston Strangler?

WOMAN 1:
I feel a little bit nervous.

I've been reading the papers and...

- NEWSCASTER:
A lot of apprehension?

- WOMAN 1:
A little. Yes.

- NEWSCASTER:
How about the evening?

- WOMAN 1:
I take every precaution.

No, after 9:
00, I'm pretty close to home.

WOMAN 2:
Well, I really think

that we should be well protected...

...and have our doors locked, everyone.

WOMAN 3:
I make sure that I'm home

early, you know. So I close the doors.

- NEWSCASTER:
If the doorbell rings?

- WOMAN 3:
I won't answer it.

NEWSCASTER:
You won't answer it?

WOMAN 3:

I answer it, but don't open the door.

Just what they told us to do

about the locks...

...not going out alone at night.

NEWSCASTER:

What is your personal feeling about it?

WOMAN 4:
Well, of course I think

he's a sick man in the first place.

I mean, anybody in their right mind

wouldn't do anything like that.

NEWSCASTER:

What precautions are you taking?

WOMAN 4:
I don't go out at night.

WOMAN 5:

I think it's a very, very sad situation.

- NEWSCASTER:
How about the evening?

- WOMAN 5:
I don't go out by myself.

NEWSCASTER:

Are you taking any precautions?

WOMAN 5:
Yes, I am.

NEWSCASTER:
It's a situation that

makes one very uneasy, is it not?

WOMAN 5:
It certainly is.

- NEWSCASTER:
We hope they find him.

- WOMAN 5:
I hope so.

NEWSCASTER:

The police, are they doing their utmost?

- WOMAN 6:
Oh, yeah.

- NEWSCASTER:
Thank you very much.

It looks like she's been dead

for at least 24 hours.

Any rape?

KRAMER:
No, but she's been mauled

just like the others.

And mutilated with this,

stabbed through the heart.

- I don't think she let him in this time.

- How do you know?

Burglar's tool.

He must have used it to slip the lock.

We found it under the body.

You know, that was beginning

to get to me...

...the way they let him in.

They're all scared,

but they still open their doors.

- Nobody thinks it'll happen to them.

- They don't want to get strangled.

KRAMER:
That's not exactly

what they have in mind.

Old ladies in Boston?

In Boston.

Think what it must be like in New York.

BOTTOMLY:

"Taxation through payroll deduction...

...compulsory arbitration

of labor disputes...

...confiscatory taxation itself.

Yet, in the area of condemnation

of private property for public use...

...in the egalitarian tradition...

...of the greatest good

for the greatest number...

...the present administration

found widespread public resistance...

...vindictive and sometimes violent.

Today, under the leadership

of Attorney General Brooke...

...the very mention of eminent domain

no longer produces sentiments...

...in the most conservative citizens

verging on anarchy.

As his captain,

I've had the honor of working with him...

...to break the backlog in the courts

of land-damage cases...

...and to help persuade..."

- BROOKE:
You're doing this on radio?

- Yes. What's wrong with it?

- Well, it's scholarly.

- I was trying to popularize it.

- What time do you go on, Jack?

- 8 a.m.

BROOKE:
8 a.m.?

Well, it might make

a nice valedictory address for you.

- Am I going somewhere?

- No, I want you right here.

Just an added bit to your duties,

that's all.

What added bit? I like eminent domain.

I know you do.

It's legal and technical

and orderly and remote.

- What have you got in mind for me?

- The stranglings.

- I beg your pardon?

- Oh, come on, Jack.

You must have some contact

with the everyday world.

- You do read the newspapers.

- Only the editorial pages.

- Don't you look at television?

- BOTTOMLY:
Can't. It hurts my eyes.

Do you know I actually see that

electronic beam scanning the tube?

- What about the stranglings?

- They keep happening.

Of course, compulsive homicide,

inner-motivated.

- You only catch them by fluke.

- Not good enough.

Fortunately, you have four police

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Edward Anhalt

Edward Anhalt (March 28, 1914 in New York City – September 3, 2000 in Pacific Palisades, California) was a noted screenwriter, producer, and documentary film-maker. After working as a journalist and documentary filmmaker for Pathé and CBS-TV he teamed with his wife Edna Anhalt during World War II to write pulp fiction. (Edna was one of his five wives.) more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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