Le Refroidisseur de dames

Original title: No Way to Treat a Lady

1968
13
1h 48m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Dark Comedy Psychological Thriller Comedy Crime Drama Mystery Thriller

A crafty serial killer plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a harried police detective trying to track him down.A crafty serial killer plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a harried police detective trying to track him down.A crafty serial killer plays a game of cat-and-mouse with a harried police detective trying to track him down.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

2.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 1 win & 1 nomination total

Photos67

+ 61

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The film was playing in Vallejo, California in April 1969, just after the Zodiac Killer murdered his first known victims, also in Vallejo. Many criminologists believe that the Zodiac Killer was a movie buff or was influenced by motion pictures, and that he took ideas and phrases from movies for his taunting missives to the police and to area newspapers, which began in August 1969. Others believe that he was from Vallejo. The fact that "No Way To Treat a Lady" was about a serial killer who enjoys taunting the policeman on his trail makes it an interesting footnote to the Zodiac Killer case.

Goofs
The first victim is identified both in a line of dialogue and in the end credits as "Alma Mulloy;" however, when the killer reads about the murder in the paper, the news article lists her name as "Alice Mulloy."

While correct, when the killer calls the newspaper that features the article, he rages both against the lack of headlines and the lack of details pertaining to the death. The newspaperman then informs the killer that the murder occurred too close to printing for them to properly collect the information on the crime. This would explain the inaccuracy in canon, given it was the first murder and even the police didn't see the killing to be too noteworthy at the time.

Quotes
Mrs. Brummel: I am sickened at heart when my own son goes looking at dead women's naked bodies. I tell you Morris, it is no way to treat a lady.

Connections
Featured in 74th Annual Academy Awards (2002)

Soundtracks
The Miller Of Dee
Written by Stanley Myers
Performed by Stanley Myers and His Orchestra

User reviews42

Featured review

6/10

Uneasy mixture of crime drama and comedy

This is an odd film. Rod Steiger plays a failed actor who tries to live up to the memory of his theatrical mother by 'performing' a series of stranglings in Manhattan. The murders, while hardly graphic, are nonetheless troubling to watch. Meanwhile, George Segal (the policeman in charge of the murder investigation) and Lee Remick are engaged in a frothy romance typical of 60s cinema. Taken as a whole, it's hard to say what this film is, or who it would appeal to. While a reasonable entertainment, it's uncertain balancing act between urban grit and uptown romance leaves one with a strange queasy feeling after the credits role.