Todesschreie

Loosely based upon the appalling Kitty Genovese murder in 1964, wherein young Kitty was slain in front of her Queens apartment building as 38 onlookers refused involvement, this made for television movie, originally a back door pilot for ABC that failed to achieve high enough ratings deemed necessary for further production, shifts the action to Brooklyn and lowers the crime witness count to 15, a more manageable number for a film in which primary emphasis is placed upon casting of "guest stars" in lieu of attempting a measured approach into socio-cultural connotations of the tragedy. Originally titled HOMICIDE, and a year later THE WOMAN WHO CRIED MURDER for its second television showing, this work was heavily publicized but its meretricious courting of an audience ratings advantage brought negative reaction from most viewers, especially those still mindful of the original dreadful crime, and it quickly disappeared from distribution lists, effectively excising an initial top billing appearance for Raul Julia, as a New York City homicide detective. From among the celebrity packed cast emerge noteworthy cameo performances, including those of Art Carney, Tina Louise, Cloris Leachman, and Lucie Arnaz who chose a plot climactic role rather than one offered her that involved more screen time, and there is a polished turn from 12 year old Helen Hunt, as well as a poor one from Diahann Carroll, with solid acting from Julia and, as his detective partner, John P. Ryan. Breezily generic dialogue is composed for the detectives in a script that is full of bromides, as is the jazz-flavoured score. The film is capably directed, but the shade of Kitty Genovese trivializes this effort, baring its failure to explore a crucial event in modern U.S. urban history.

A murder is committed in front of witnesses and none would lift a hand to help the victim. Fearful of becoming involved, they would give no assistance to the police in their investigation. Although the authorities launched a large manhunt for the criminal, he continued his crime spree terrorizing the entire neighborhood. Good police drama with an exciting but somewhat unbelievable ending.

...because this film was made early enough that watchable VHS copies do not exist, and apparently it was a ratings failure and had negative ratings reaction for a reason I didn't even know - that it was knowingly capitalizing on a real case in New York City from eleven years before - the Kitty Genovese case - where a woman is killed in the street outside of her apartment and despite her screams nobody comes to help. I didn't know about this case, being in kindergarten when the crime occurred in another part of the country, so I simply judged the movie on its own merits.

The film does open with exactly what happened to Kitty Genovese happening to a young woman walking home one night. She is killed in the street, and although many people hear her screams nobody comes to help. Only Nancy Walker's character calls the police. And she is ID'd by investigating detective Nick Rodriguez (Raul Julia) because she uses the word "reside", and this is unusual. He takes the investigation from there.

It was rather ground breaking in that it had a Hispanic detective in charge of the investigation, and not everybody in the cast is a who's who of 70s TV and movies. Raul Julia, the lead character, was not that well known at the time. And Nick Braeden, who is way down the list of billing, is now famous as being the lead for years on the soap opera "Young and the Restless".

The scene I remember most? Julia's character is coming home from a hard day of looking into this seemingly random killing, and he is unnerved by seeing his apartment front door ajar. He runs panicked into the apartment, calling his daughter's name, and is relieved to find that she is fine and there is not a nefarious reason for the door being open. He then gives her a stern warning about closing and locking the door. The age of innocence is over. This case has brought home to him that in the big city people will kill for apparently no reason, and that you should not expect anybody - even your neighbors - to intercede.

I remember it being a tense two hour journey and would recommend it if you can ever find a copy.

This film was one of the typical seventies crisis-of-the-week type dramas. However, I have always suspected it was at least loosely based on the infamous murder of Catherine (Kitty) Genovese, which occurred in March 1964 in Queens, New York. Ms. Genovese was murdered in an almost identical fashion to the victim in this film -- attacked in the courtyard of her apartment building in Kew Gardens, screaming in vain for help while "thirty-eight witnesses" ignored her. Since this movie was filmed a scant decade or so after the actual case, perhaps there hadn't been sufficient time for reflection on the proper way to tell the story for the ages; perhaps Ms. Genovese's family refused to allow any association; or perhaps the filmmakers were just looking for a quick buck.

What they did to "spice up" the story was to add into the plotline the fact that the murder victim, "Jenny," was a lesbian; that her former girlfriend (played by Tina Louise -- imagine "the movie star" chasing Mary Ann all over Gilligan's island with perverse intentions! say it ain't so! LOL) has a history of violent and threatening behavior; and that among the neighbors who heard Jenny's dying screams are an immigrant couple from an unspecified Eastern European country who fear deportation; a sleazy housewife played by Cloris Leachman who is carrying on an affair behind her husband's back; and a married couple with Nancy Walker playing the wife, apparently having gotten lost on the way to the Bounty commercial shoot. Also look for a very young Helen Hunt, playing hotshot detective Raul Julia's daughter.

It was the seventies; what can I say?

Above average movie based on the Kitty Genovese murder case of 1964. Kitty Genovese was a lesbian and so is the first murdered victim in this movie. Movie shows how callous people can be by ignoring a poor girl's murder. It is an all star cast, which has Dinahann Carroll as a potential suicide victim, Tina Louise as a lesbian, Ed Asner as a jealous husband, Cloris Leachman as nymphomaniac wife, Lucie Arnaz, Lucille Ball's daughter, as a potential murder victim, Art Carney and Nancy Walker play an older couple who ignore the murder. Kate Jackson has a nice cameo but this is clearly Raul Julia's movie. It is also nice to see Helen Hunt as a child actress and Tony Dow, Wally on Leave it to Beaver, in a scene as well. Sadly, this was a true case. Of all the cameos, Tina Lousie gives the best performance as the lesbian, ex-girlfriend of the victim, who is taking in to be questioned. What would Ginger Grant say? Enjoy this fun movie.