Le meurtrier de l'Illinois

Excellent suspense for about 3 hours starting from minute 1. Seldom have I seen a movie that hooked me so much as this one, even after watching it over and over again. Brian Dennehy has shown the best performance in his lifetime. You just sense the evil inside and his performance as an actor should have had a lot more attention, because it's one of the best acting performances I've ever seen.

I mean, I love Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy and I think they're one of the best actors the world has seen, but sometimes a second ranked actor shows a performance that equals top actors like Spencer and Tom; Brian Dennehy is one of them in this movie.

All the actors play very convincing and the movie has dozens of moments that I will never forget. 3 hours of suspense without a drop of blood and compelling from start to end; I find that a major achievement. Not one single moment the movie is slow or boring. What I also really like about the movie is its pace; it's going faster and faster towards the end and this has partly to with the actual story and it makes you so eager to look forward to how it ends.

The movie doesn't have any famous actors, director, story writers and never got any major attention, but it sure is a classic in my opinion.

There are only 3-5 movies (and I'm an older person who's addicted to movies since the day he was born) that really stand out in the history of film-making and this is one of them and the only one in my top 50 list without the famous cast, director or all the major publicity.

A must see!

Sorry, your time is up.

The answer, their popularity or connection factor with the viewer was off the charts. Producers knew this and often cast one or the other in the most obscure projects, knowing full well that, when push came to shove, the viewers would watch regardless.

With this film, a funny thing happened on the way to what was supposed to be a "casting of convenience." Brian Dennehy gave the performance of his life, at the same time engaging and yet creepy, friendly but dangerous, and the result was that a simple movie became a TV classic almost overnight.

Kid you not. The quality of this film is so good it will, I am guessing, hold its own against any subsequent attempts to biopic Gacey.

Watch it.

This is a top-flight procedural, based on how one persistent cop finally captured John Wayne Gacy, but what really makes it stand out from the crowd is Brian Dennehy's outstanding portrayal of Gacy. Dennehy has immense charm, but here he shows he can turn on a dime an convert it instantly into stomach-churning menace. There is one scene in which Dennehy shows Gacy's dark side starting to come out at an inappropriate moment, and then catching himself -- it is one of the finest pieces of acting I have ever seen anywhere. The look of repressed, murderous lust appearing on his fact and then being put back in the box is something I'll never forget. Neither Brando nor Olivier could have topped it. Watch it; you'll enjoy it a lot.

As the IMDb says, this is a true story, but gruesome does not begin to describe it. John Wayne Gacy - the killer clown - was responsible for the deaths of over thirty young men and boys, most of whom were buried under his house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, which like not a few other houses of horror, was later demolished. "To Catch A Killer" was released while Gacy was still under sentence of death; he was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994. The film does not cover his trial but focuses on the investigation into the disappearance of his last victim, Rob Piest, who herein is called Chris Gant, presumably to protect the family.

The name of the detective who brought Gacy to book is not so disguised, but there is one criticism that can be made of the film in that it panders to the usual film-flam of psychics. Herein, Detective Kozenczak consults a psychic, who gives him in retrospect startlingly accurate information about both the crimes of Gacy and his own personal health. In reality, he did consult a psychic, and as might be expected she provided no meaningful information at all. Kozenczak's unwarranted faith in psychics is a little surprising because in reality he was the one who exhibited not psychic powers but the classic policeman's hunch, in this case that there was something not quite right about Gacy, who had been seen talking to the teenager shortly before he disappeared, never to be seen alive again.

The role of Gacy was alloted to Brian Dennehy, who is no stranger to sinister roles, and here he plays the Jekyll & Hyde Gacy to a tee. We see Kozenczak and his team applying psychological pressure to Gacy that in the end leads to him cracking up partly under the strain and perhaps because what little conscience the man had, finally caught up with him.

This is not a film for thrill seekers but a semi-documentary that apart from the psychic non-incident adheres closely to the facts of the case. This and its length meant it was never likely to win any awards, but this was a film that was clearly made as an historical document rather than for either plaudits or profit.

The film depicts the hunt for and final capture of John Wayne Gacy and Dennehy, in my opinion one of Americas great actors, is truly, truly FRIGHTENING in the main part. Your blood almost freezes and you grab someone´s arm, when he succeeds in luring yet another bait. Also Kidder does a memorable performance as the clairvoyant and never goes over the top.

Definitely worth watching - but don´t watch it alone......