The Boston Strangler
Short description
The Boston Strangler dramatizes the investigation into a string of murders that terrified Boston in the early 1960s. Women were found strangled in their homes, and the killer left behind almost nothing that could identify him. John S. Bottomly, an assistant attorney general, takes charge of the case and works alongside detectives who have little more than inconsistencies and false leads to work with. The film stays close to the investigators as they try to build a case, and a break comes when a man named Albert DeSalvo is arrested on an unrelated charge.
Richard Fleischer directed the film, the eleventh of the twenty-three features he made, between Doctor Dolittle and Che! Edward Anhalt wrote the screenplay, and Robert Fryer produced it for 20th Century Fox. Tony Curtis plays DeSalvo, a departure from the lighter roles he was known for, while Henry Fonda plays Bottomly and George Kennedy appears as Detective Phil DiNatale. The large supporting cast and crew reflect the film's procedural scale.
On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 6.9 out of 10 from 17 reviews, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.6 out of 10 from 258 votes, indicating a modest but durable reputation among viewers.
What's left behind the scenes
- In reality, Alberto De Salvo was declared insane, and his trial never took place. He was sentenced to confinement in a psychiatric hospital until fully recovered. A total of 13 deaths are attributed to the killer, two more than in the official version. In 1973, De Salvo was placed in a psychiatric hospital, where he was soon killed by other patients.
- During the filming of the chase scene, Tony Curtis broke his nose.
- At that time, Tony Curtis' career was on the decline, and the actor pleaded with Richard D. Zanuck (1934-2012) of 20th Century-Fox to give him the role of Albert DeSalvo (1931-1973). However, Zanuck consistently refused, as Curtis was known primarily as a comedic actor who also appeared in romantic films. Eventually, Curtis hired a makeup artist and photographer, had himself made up, and took several photos as if they were mugshots, which he sent to Zanuck, who completely failed to recognize him. This is how he landed the role of DeSalvo.
- The choice of Tony Curtis for the role of the strangler was due to the fact that at the end of the film, the killer was supposed to look like a martyr and evoke compassion, suggesting he could be pardoned.
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