No Way to Treat a Lady

There have been many serial killer films over the years but this was one of the earliest and one of the best. It manages to be witty, suspenseful, funny and shocking in separate portions. Rod Steiger is very good in a role made for him but George Segal takes the acting honours because it's a much harder role and he does it so well. Lee Remick is fine also.

The best scene is the opening pre-credit sequence. It may look rather mundane at first but.....

I turned this gem of a film on one afternoon having no idea what it was about. The opening scenes with Rod Steiger as an Irish priest calling on unsuspecting, soon-to-be victim Marline Bartlett was truly startling in its viciousness. Why have I never heard of this movie before and why has it been shelved all these years? This movie is definitely a cut above the rest in the genre of thrillers featuring serial killers. Rod Steiger is brilliant in a tour-de-force as he assumes various identities-- i.e., an Irish Priest, plumber and effeminate hair stylist--as a psycho on the loose who targets middle aged women and whose calling card is to draw a pair of lips in red lipstick on each victim's forehead. Steiger is pitted against underdog detective George Segal, who plays an overworked cop who gets no recognition for his work. Lee Remick plays the love interest who adds spice to the movie and supporting actress Eileen Heckart plays detective Segal's overbearing mother who bureates him for being a cop (and Jewish) every opportunity she gets. Heckart as the overbearing stereotypical Jewish mama is annoying, to say the least. Remick's character is a free spirit who gives museum tours and she is HIP! In fact, her dialogue suffers in part from an effort to be *too hip* and contemporary: in one scene she tells Segal, "I swinged, and I swang until I swung", in explaining a previous relationship. The most interesting victim plays a drag queen in a bar who is scorned by the other bar patrons and met with homophobic comments, but this was, after all 1968. All the acting is good, though the best scenes are those involving Steiger and his unsuspecting victims. One slight flaw is that the idea that the police department could control what the media prints and use it to manipulate the killer is a little too contrived, and the movie's ending is mediocre, doesn't satisfy and wraps it up too quickly. The scene involving Remick and Steiger is also contrived, and it's a little inconsistent with Remick's character that she would let a total stranger into her apartment, especially since she's dating a cop.

In spite of the mediocre ending, this is an excellent movie.

ROD STEIGER has an actor's field day assuming many different disguises when he decides to play a cat-and-mouse game with detective GEORGE SEGAL who is hot on his trail to capture a serial killer. That about sums up the plot contrivances of NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, which has Steiger donning various make-up disguises so that he can gain entry into unsuspecting female's apartments and promptly strangle them.

The dark humor is always on the surface of this comic showcase for actor Steiger, who dons each disguise with relish and gives a performance you're not likely to forget.

EILEEN HECKART is his overbearing (ultra so) Jewish mother who has unwittingly driven her son to the brink of madness. She's so good at "overbearing" that she almost drives the audience mad too, but LEE REMICK is rather wasted in a colorless role as a dame who's been around the block a few times and likes to spout smart talk. It's not a well developed role and Remick can do little with it but look good in plenty of make-up and mascara.

For pure titillation and subject matter, this is way ahead of its time, a comic thriller that is largely forgotten and deserves some attention, if only for Rod Steiger's tour de force role, all played in tongue-in-cheek manner.

Rod Steiger is excellent as Christopher Gill, a hammy theater manager and psychotic master of disguise. Gill stalks and kills various women all due to his love/hate relationship with his dead mother, who was a respected stage actress. He uses his talents of disguise as a plumber; a priest; and policeman to gain the confidence of his victims. He starts a cat-and-mouse game with a NYPD detective Morris Brummel(George Segal),who himself is quite the "mama's boy" still living with his mother. At every chance she tries to shame him for being a Jewish cop. Gill begins calling in tips of his crimes to Brummel, who is slowly putting together the clues to the serial killings; and on the back burner trying to figure out his feelings for his new girlfriend(Lee Remick). The Segal/Remick relationship seems no more than a silly teen-aged romance. Steiger is perfect for the role. Segal's character needs a backbone. Remick works effortlessly and is so easy to look at. In supporting roles are:Murray Hamilton and Eileen Heckart. Very interesting to say the least.

This has got Rod Stieger playing a psycho mom obsessed killer in the big city and George Segal plays the young cop who is taken off the case and then put back on by request of the killer. He thinks Segal understands him. In one good part the killer rings an apartment dressed as a cop and you only hear his voice because he has his back to the camera but the voice is George Segal's not Rod Stieger's. When the camera comes around to him it's Rod Stieger. It would have been more interesting if the killer could actually mimic Segal's voice and have him do it while he's talking to Segal. But it was only thrown in to add to the suspense. The movie is pretty good, well written, well acted, but dated. Which to me is not a bad thing I would give it a 7.5 only because the ending was too quick and neatly packaged.