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Silent sentence

Original title: A Knife for the Ladies
  • 1974
  • R
  • 1h 26m
IMDb RATING
4.6/10
436
YOUR RATING
Silent sentence (1974)
A Knife For The Ladies: Goodnight
Play clip2:31
Watch A Knife For The Ladies: Goodnight
1 Video
26 Photos
Slasher HorrorSpaghetti WesternDramaHorrorMysteryThrillerWestern

A private detective travels out west to investigate the murders of several prostitutes, facing off against the reluctance of the town's grizzled sheriff, and several suspicious characters, e... Read allA private detective travels out west to investigate the murders of several prostitutes, facing off against the reluctance of the town's grizzled sheriff, and several suspicious characters, each with something to hide.A private detective travels out west to investigate the murders of several prostitutes, facing off against the reluctance of the town's grizzled sheriff, and several suspicious characters, each with something to hide.

  • Director
    • Larry G. Spangler
  • Writers
    • George Arthur Bloom
    • Seton I. Miller
    • Robert Shelton
  • Stars
    • Jack Elam
    • Ruth Roman
    • Jeff Cooper
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    4.6/10
    436
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Larry G. Spangler
    • Writers
      • George Arthur Bloom
      • Seton I. Miller
      • Robert Shelton
    • Stars
      • Jack Elam
      • Ruth Roman
      • Jeff Cooper
    • 13User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    A Knife For The Ladies: Goodnight
    Clip 2:31
    A Knife For The Ladies: Goodnight

    Photos26

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    Top cast23

    Edit
    Jack Elam
    Jack Elam
    • Sheriff Jarrod Colcord
    Ruth Roman
    Ruth Roman
    • Elizabeth Mescal
    Jeff Cooper
    Jeff Cooper
    • Edward Burns
    John Kellogg
    John Kellogg
    • Simeon Hollyfield
    Gene Evans
    Gene Evans
    • Virgil Hooker
    Richard Schaal
    Richard Schaal
    • Orville Ainslie
    Diana Ewing
    Diana Ewing
    • Jenny Colcord
    Jon Spangler
    • Seth McGee
    Derek Sanderson
    • Lute Dooland
    Fred Biletnikoff
    • Horace
    Peter Athas
    Peter Athas
    • Travis Mescal
    Henry Kendrick
    Henry Kendrick
    • Doctor Fairchild
    • (as Hank Kendrick)
    Pat Herrerra
    • Nina Torres
    Phillip Avenetti
    • Ramon
    Brooke Tucker
    • Myra Lynne
    Rob Lien
    • J. B. Mullin
    Kit Kendrick
    • Cora
    Al Hassan
    • Riley
    • Director
      • Larry G. Spangler
    • Writers
      • George Arthur Bloom
      • Seton I. Miller
      • Robert Shelton
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews13

    4.6436
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    Featured reviews

    3bensonmum2

    A weird mix of genres

    A Knife for the Ladies (or Jack the Ripper Goes West) is a weird mix of genres. It's a Western with a slasher storyline running through it. A mad killer is slashing the necks of prostitutes in the town of Mescal. The sheriff, Jarrod (Jack Elam) seems incapable of finding the killer, so the town's leaders bring in a private detective named Burns (Jeff Cooper). Can Burns find the killer before Mescal's brothel is left vacant?

    Overall, A Knife for the Ladies is one lousy movie. Neither the horror nor the Western elements work. Until the final scene, it's a total failure. Much of the problem comes from the fact that nothing looks real. The town is obviously a set - it doesn't feel "real". The people are obviously actors playing parts. They're not "real" either. Jack Elam's old grizzled hard-drinking sheriff is so over-the-top that he's ridiculous. And Jeff Cooper's Burns is too 1970s to be authentic. A Knife for the Ladies' lone highlight comes in its finale. It's actually a nice twist that I honestly didn't see coming. I could have never guessed the killer's identity. But as nice as the ending may have been, I still can't bring myself to rate A Knife for the Ladies any higher than a 3/10 - and that's being generous.

    Finally, one especially annoying aspect A Knife for the Ladies is the way it tries to play the old-school sheriff against the more modern detective. But it's all talk. There's no evidence presented of any real clash between the old vs. new law enforcement techniques. It's as if someone involved with the movie's production thought this conflict would make a good storyline so they threw it into the movie without really adding it (if that makes any sense). Predictably, the old and new get into a completely unnecessary fistfight before they can work together. It's so forced it's painful.
    6Coventry

    The Good detective, the Bad killer and the Ugly Sheriff

    Now here's something you don't encounter every day... "A Knife for the Ladies" is a genre hybrid between western and horror. No wait, let me specify that even more, it's a western mixed with strong and typical giallo trademarks! Of course, you can't really be sure if this was intentional. Was director Larry G. Sprangler even aware that overseas, in contemporary Italy, the giallo existed or was it just a lucky but coincidental choice to provide this film's killer with black leather gloves and make him/her hunt down lurid women with a sharp knife? It also doesn't matter that much, as the combo works quite effectively! "A Knife for the Ladies" is a heavily flawed film, mostly suffering from a pacing that is far too slow and a very poor use of western decors and set-pieces, but the plot is still an engaging whodunit and the murders are reasonably grisly. The town of Mescal is plagued by vicious murders and, so far, the bodies of three women have been discovered with their throats slit. The town council decides to hire private detective Burns to find the culprit, since Sheriff Jarrod is too incompetent to solve anything except for wrongly parked horses. Burns runs into a few suspects, including a morbid undertaker and the nasty saloon-owner who secretly aspires to become sheriff, but meanwhile the murders continue. "A Knife for the Ladies" is a recommendable effort, especially if you're into obscure and experimental 70s horror, but you'll have to accept the snail-pace, the lack of directorial style and the poorly created western setting. On the bright side, crazy-eyed Jack Elam is always a pleasure to watch and the denouement is vile and twisted in good old-fashioned Giallo tradition (albeit somewhat predictable if you look at the poster images)
    5Clay-10

    Unwashed Elam...

    A bizarre yet watchable cross between a typical oater and a slasher film, KNIFE FOR THE LADIES (or better known as "Jack The Ripper Goes West" on DVD) is actually a fairly entertaining jumble of genres, aided by the one and only Jack "One-Eye" Elam as the town sheriff, a drunken, unwashed, temperamental SOB who loves his rotgut and loves to fight, all of which is exacerbated when a clean-cut private eye comes in from the big city to help the townsfolk stop an unknown murderer bumping off the women. Although the DVD version is obviously edited of some scenes, causing the story to leave gaps as big as the one in Terry-Thomas's smile,the film moves along at a good gallop until the somewhat predictable conclusion.
    5FightingWesterner

    Bringing A Knife To A Gunfight

    City private investigator Jeff Cooper travels to frontier backwater in order to investigate the slasher murders of town matriarch Ruth Roman's son and a gaggle of local prostitutes. Things are complicated by the vigilante murder of a Mexican cowboy and brutish, old-school sheriff Jack Elam.

    Mildly entertaining drive-in trash, this benefits from the old low-rent sets and ancient costumes that were pretty much a sign of the times in the early seventies. You can practically smell the mothballs, though they (the set-pieces not the mothballs) make this low, low-budget western/horror flick almost look like a million bucks. The weird, very exploitative climax is fun too, as are the presences of Elam and Roman.

    For a better Jack-the-ripper-goes-west story, watch the Episode of Dead Man's Gun aptly titled "The Ripper".
    7BA_Harrison

    Stabbing westward.

    A giallo-style murder mystery with a wild West setting, Knife For The Ladies stars Jeff Cooper as private detective Burns, who is hired to investigate the murder of several prostitutes in the once prosperous mining town of Mescal. Wild-eyed Jack Elam plays the town's gruff sheriff Jarrod, who initially isn't best pleased with Burn's appointment, but who eventually teams up with the private eye to find out who has been slicing up the working girls.

    Knife For The Ladies has received some fairly scathing reviews here on IMDb, but I fail to understand why: fans of gialli should find plenty to enjoy about this murder mystery, the unseen killer wearing regulatory black gloves to kill the victims, with several deaths, and a suitably macabre revelation (I love the lurid ending!). The western setting is refreshingly different from the usual giallo Euro locale, and allows for a fun sub-plot with Burns and Jarrod having to contend with a lynch mob who wrongfully hanged a man for the murders.

    Admittedly, the film isn't as stylish as many a giallo, director Larry G. Spangler failing to wow with the visuals, but on the whole I think this is a pretty entertaining movie with a decent plot and well-drawn characters - far better than the other reviews would have you believe.

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    Western

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Connections
      Featured in The Cinema Snob: Jack the Ripper Goes West (2013)
    • Soundtracks
      Evil Lady
      by Bobby Hart, Danny Janssen and Dominic Frontiere

      Sung by Michael Stull

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    FAQ13

    • How long is A Knife for the Ladies?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 1974 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • A Knife for the Ladies
    • Filming locations
      • Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA
    • Production companies
      • Bryanston Pictures
      • Spangler / Jolley Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 26m(86 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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