Plot: What’s it about?
For a long time, Tony Curtis was a well known leading man that had handsome good looks, a wonderful personality and a great sense of humor. Those fine qualities had translated into hit films such as Some Like It Hot and The Great Race. He also attained some great dramatic roles in the late fifties (The Defiant Ones) and the early sixties (Spartacus, The Vikings). Around the end of that decade, he was typecast in comedic roles and never got a chance to break out more dramatically. This all changed after an offer by director Richard Fleischer and some willing roll of the dice by Twentieth Century Fox giving Curtis a role of a lifetime based on a true story in the early part of the decade. It’s about a crime in the east, an investigation in New England and the case of The Boston Strangler.
One day when the United States celebrated in it’s advance in space exploration, another tale was going on in Boston, Massachusetts This being a sinister individual who’s prey happens to be women. He beats them, he sexually assaults them and he kills him. He’s a routine serial killer with one scary connection. He murders women by strangling them with a special kind of fabric and a unique tied knot. The Boston police had fallen short on leads until the attorney general hires John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) to head up the case. He’s reluctant at first but manages to be game for this investigation. What he finds out are connections that lead to a bigger suspect to coincidence that will lead him to the most unexpected suspect of them all, a family man named Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis). With this surprising discovery, Bottomly gets more than he bargains for.
With it’s amazing use of multi-panel filmmaking and a wide assortment of character actors (see how many you notice without looking at the credits) spread out amongst the piece, The Boston Strangler from beginning to end is one of the best films to come out of that decade known as the sixties. It’s slow buildup from investigation to capture to aftermath revelation manages to hook even the skeptical viewer.
The performances by both leads are outstanding. Tony Curtis shows that there is more to him in drama than there is to him in comedy. His Albert DeSalvo is a man full of complications and a transformation from family man to suspect that is both chilling and quietly sinister. His transformation is still one of the best of any film and one that set the tone for other transformations into character. This viewer compares his performance to that of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs in that they both are killers of different tastes and they are not in the entire movie but their presence is felt across the entire piece even when the character is off screen and the scenes between accused and interrogator are extremely well done. Henry Fonda gives another in a long list of great performances as John Bottomly. His character takes a case and will go through any means to catch the killer while maintaining a calm reserve despite the gruesome details and to where his trail will lead in any part of town.
The structure of this film, along with the excellent choice of shooting the film in Panavision, makes a great touch for a great movie. This film also set the standard for many other films whether based on fact or fiction dealing with a serial killer (Se7en, Copycat, Citizen X). The Boston Strangler might not be as well known as some other films of that time period but it is one that deserves to be in classic status with some of the great films in the last four decades.
Video: How does it look?
The Boston Strangler makes it’s DVD debut in the 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and the results are amazing. I have a widescreen copy of this film recorded from the American Movie Classics channel and there are many differences. The framing and the transfer both on the VHS version look overly hazy and the end credits don’t fill the entire scope. The DVD corrects the majority of these flaws. The film does have it’s share of haze, which is common amongst copies of the film Oklahoma, but it’s does not overly take away from the otherwise gorgeous transfer that Fox has put out on the DVD. The print is clear and free of many print flaws that plagued many films of that time period. There is not an overabundance of color or oversaturation and the transfer gives a nice balance making for a very good result.
Audio: How does it sound?
With the impressive video transfer given to this title, the Dolby Digital Stereo track has it’s share of surrounds and some of the scenes come out lower than expected, but the Digital Mono track makes up for most of it correcting some of the problems that the stereo track has and keeps most of the activity in the middle and spreads nicely throughout while the stereo track has the same but with undermining results. With those two tracks, it’s a good but not a great track. This disc also has French and Spanish mono track along with English and Spanish subtitles.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Once again, Fox gives solid treatment to an older title when it comes to extras. The first of which is an episode from AMC’s Backstory (when will this show come out in seasons???) focusing on the film. It’s a little over twenty minutes and has some solid information from Tony Curtis, Richard Zanuck and director Richard Fleischer along with a few other surprises here and there. Overall, another great episode to a great show that should get it’s due on DVD. It’s inclusion alone is more worthy than a commentary can provide that could result in redundancy if there was one. I think the Backstory episode covered everything nicely.
After is a Fox Movietone Newsreel featuring The Boston Strangler when it was a news story in the early sixties. Because of the condition of the source, there is not much audio amongst the piece. The audio portions are mostly heard through the interviews with the Boston townspeople. Despite the majority of silence, this is a nice addition.
There is a chilling teaser trailer along with a theatrical trailer for The Boston Strangler that is “routine Fox” but effective and does a nice job selling the movie without giving too much away.
Finally, there is a Fox Flix section featuring trailers of the films Joy Ride, My Darling Clementine, Don’t Say A Word, From Hell, The Grapes of Wrath and One Hour Photo. A solid collection of worthy trailers indeed.
In conclusion, with it’s affordable price and it’s stellar treatment, Fox gives The Boston Strangler a solid transfer along with an overall solid DVD that comes highly recommended.
