The Boston Strangler is a 1968 film based on the true story of the Boston Strangler and the book by Gerold Frank. It stars Tony Curtis as Albert DeSalvo, the strangler, and Henry Fonda as John S. Bottomly, the chief detective now famed for obtaining DeSalvo's confession.
Boston, 1962. Several elderly women are strangled, apparently by the same unknown assailant. An investigation ensues, but clues lead nowhere.Then the strangler starts to attack younger women. John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) is assigned to direct a more intense investigation, interviewing even the remotest suspects.
Meanwhile, the murders continue. Dianne Cluny (Sally Kellerman) survives an attack but remembers only that she bit her attackers hand. When Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis) is caught breaking into an apartment, his mental capabilities are questioned. He goes to the hospital for observation, and there someone notices a bite mark on his hand…
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.
Awards
- Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1969 – Nominated Edgar – Best Motion Picture
- Golden Globes 1969 – Nominated Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama Tony Curtis
Review by Variety
"The Boston Strangler, based on Gerold Frank’s book, emerges as a triumph of taste and restraint with a telling, low-key semi-documentary style. Adaptation is topnotch not only in structure but also in the incisive, spare dialog which defines neatly over 100 speaking parts. Among other things it makes a very strong, but implicit, comment on police sleuthing. The screenplay suggests the irony that instinctive police methods remain the rounding up of pitiable segments of society which do harm only to themselves. As told here, police got onto the prime suspect only via the fluke of an elevator ride.
Action cross-cuts between police work and off-screen depictions of the
earlier murders.
Henry Fonda’s performance as rep of Massachusetts Attorney-General is
excellent, from his initial dislike of the task assigned through a quiet, dogged
determination to break down Tony Curtis’ mental barriers."