The movie Woman of the Hour doesn't look all that good, although I could be wrong. I just found out about it today from a Quillette review that's since been paywalled. Again, not eager about the movie, but I can't judge it either.
The case Rodney Alcala is very weird, though. A serial killer, among other nasty things, going on The Dating Game? That show was huge in the seventies. I can only imagine that he wanted to get caught. Maybe all the evasions he had to do not to get caught wore him down. Maybe he figured on getting some kind of celebrity out of the trial. But it's definitely a "come and get me" kind of move.
2 comments:
Cereal killer? Choked on cornflakes or fruit loops, perhaps?
Oh no, you mean somebody who took pleasure in killing people.
They don't know how many.
Nasty stuff - you can find clips of their meeting on the Dating Game.
She was weird enough but when she met him to arrange a date he was
menacing. She refused to go anywhere with him. Good move.
Jer read your post too (as always) and was reminded of Chuck Barris - who invented The Gong Show and The Dating Game.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind was the very good biographical movie made about him in 2002.
https://youtu.be/0EkARnq7XRE?si=9KyjiJpRuRcjVUfX
Here's a tv interview done much later (low recorded volume so adjust accordingly):
https://youtu.be/cqX2eqmePI0?si=akX_s9GvM1OcV0O4
Serial killers burst into public consciousness in the latter half--mostly the last quarter--of the twentieth century. There had been some historical antecedents, like Gilles de Rais and Jack the Ripper. The odds of actually running across one were never all that high but they made for a good lightning rod for anxiety. As for cereal killers, well, there's the count in some tales.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind looks interesting. From the trailer it appears to have a distinctive overall look. I'm also curious to see if Julia Roberts can pull off the femme fatale thing.
Even at full volume Barris was very difficult to make out in that interview. But near the end the interviewer asks him if he's ever told anyone about his work as an assassin and he says no. Okay, so why is it in his memoirs, and the movie version thereof? Not to spoil the fun but I think if what he's saying were true he would have had his throat cut before he could say it.
Post a Comment