This is the film that really established character actor Ross Martin as a superb performer. Up to 1962 he had become a face on television shows, such as a couple of episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But he was possibly best known for appearances on PANTOMINE QUIZ, which showed his own wit and talents - but very lightly. He had not been given a sizable acting part in a film, and Blake Edwards cast him here as "Red" Lynch, the asthmatic criminal mastermind, who uses and abuses women across the country, leaving their bodies as his calling card.
In 1962 there had been several cases of spree killers in recent years, such as Starkweather in Nebraska only five years earlier. But the last serial killers of note were probably the "Lonely Hearts Killers" Beck and Fernandez in the late 1940s. But to find one like Lynch, who criss-crosses the country and leaves victims, one would have to go back to the 1920s or so, with figures like Charles Pazram, Albert Fish, and Earle Nelson. But (except for Pazram, who occasionally committed burglaries), most of the serial killers concentrated on depraved sexual killings of one type or another. One would have to go back to H.H.Holmes to find one like the fictional Lynch, forcing his victims to assist him in thefts or robberies. As for the concept of these special multiple killers as "serial killers", the title had not become popular with the public in 1962. It really was not until the 1980s, with figures like De Salvo, Corona, Dahmer, Gacy, and Bundy that people started to discuss killers who moved about and killed over several states over a long period of time as in a special category.
Lynch also has two other characteristics. One is that he is asthmatic. The idea of any villain having a physical condition that might gain him or her sympathy was a new one (but Blake Edwards always has a habit of thinking ahead on his movie characters). Secondly, Lynch turns out to be a hero to at least one little family. Despite his propensity to murderous rage and violence, he actually cares for a young sickly boy and his mother. This too, by the way, is not unusual among serial killers. They can pick out somebody to be domestic with - a kind of oasis of quiet and apparent normality in their world of violence.
From the start of the picture, the villain is shown and not shown. We see Martin's lips moving in their threatening manner when he confronts Lee Remick in her suburban garage, informing her how easy it is for him to get at her and her sister Stephanie Powers, unless she agrees to help rob her business for Lynch's/Martin's sake. The scene is mostly in the dark - like evil snatching at Remick (which it really is). Martin's features are only revealed later in the film, as Glenn Ford slowly pulls the clues together. But he gets real mileage with the little we occasionally see - watch him on the phone, accusing Remick of talking to a cop. He makes the word "cop" sound like a slang term for a venereal disease.
Remick is a woman who is very reluctant to get police help, especially as this unknown fiend has threatened her sister as well as herself. She goes to Ford (the local FBI man) and almost is lost to further openness about her danger, but Ford is soon aware of a second woman who also was trying to contact him - one that he was too slow to respond to - whom he finds as a corpse. Soon he is openly seeking out Remick, and gradually getting her to trust him and the Bureau to assist her and Powers.
All of the leads are fine in this, as well as Ned Glass in another one of his off-beat supporting roles. Here, as "Popcorn" he is an informant who has to be treated like he is a detective if you would get information from him - and he is prickly about this.
The suspense never lets up, as "Lynch"/ Martin seems to keep one step ahead of the authorities up to the conclusion at a baseball game. It is an exciting climax for a good thriller. And afterward, while Martin never had the full movie stardom his talents deserved, he was more than just an interesting "face". Artemus Gordon was around the corner, and television fame beckoned.
In 1962 there had been several cases of spree killers in recent years, such as Starkweather in Nebraska only five years earlier. But the last serial killers of note were probably the "Lonely Hearts Killers" Beck and Fernandez in the late 1940s. But to find one like Lynch, who criss-crosses the country and leaves victims, one would have to go back to the 1920s or so, with figures like Charles Pazram, Albert Fish, and Earle Nelson. But (except for Pazram, who occasionally committed burglaries), most of the serial killers concentrated on depraved sexual killings of one type or another. One would have to go back to H.H.Holmes to find one like the fictional Lynch, forcing his victims to assist him in thefts or robberies. As for the concept of these special multiple killers as "serial killers", the title had not become popular with the public in 1962. It really was not until the 1980s, with figures like De Salvo, Corona, Dahmer, Gacy, and Bundy that people started to discuss killers who moved about and killed over several states over a long period of time as in a special category.
Lynch also has two other characteristics. One is that he is asthmatic. The idea of any villain having a physical condition that might gain him or her sympathy was a new one (but Blake Edwards always has a habit of thinking ahead on his movie characters). Secondly, Lynch turns out to be a hero to at least one little family. Despite his propensity to murderous rage and violence, he actually cares for a young sickly boy and his mother. This too, by the way, is not unusual among serial killers. They can pick out somebody to be domestic with - a kind of oasis of quiet and apparent normality in their world of violence.
From the start of the picture, the villain is shown and not shown. We see Martin's lips moving in their threatening manner when he confronts Lee Remick in her suburban garage, informing her how easy it is for him to get at her and her sister Stephanie Powers, unless she agrees to help rob her business for Lynch's/Martin's sake. The scene is mostly in the dark - like evil snatching at Remick (which it really is). Martin's features are only revealed later in the film, as Glenn Ford slowly pulls the clues together. But he gets real mileage with the little we occasionally see - watch him on the phone, accusing Remick of talking to a cop. He makes the word "cop" sound like a slang term for a venereal disease.
Remick is a woman who is very reluctant to get police help, especially as this unknown fiend has threatened her sister as well as herself. She goes to Ford (the local FBI man) and almost is lost to further openness about her danger, but Ford is soon aware of a second woman who also was trying to contact him - one that he was too slow to respond to - whom he finds as a corpse. Soon he is openly seeking out Remick, and gradually getting her to trust him and the Bureau to assist her and Powers.
All of the leads are fine in this, as well as Ned Glass in another one of his off-beat supporting roles. Here, as "Popcorn" he is an informant who has to be treated like he is a detective if you would get information from him - and he is prickly about this.
The suspense never lets up, as "Lynch"/ Martin seems to keep one step ahead of the authorities up to the conclusion at a baseball game. It is an exciting climax for a good thriller. And afterward, while Martin never had the full movie stardom his talents deserved, he was more than just an interesting "face". Artemus Gordon was around the corner, and television fame beckoned.