evanston_dad A stark and upsetting film about a serial sniper driven to shoot women because of suggested but never explicitly explained interactions with female figures in his past. There's something ahead of its time about this film, partially because of its frank mingling of violence and sexuality, but also because of the way it depicts what happens to a human body when it's gunned down. In other movies from the same time period, if someone were to get shot, they would freeze and pose dramatically for the camera before slowly crumpling to the floor in a bloodless swoon. In this film, shot bodies get thrown into walls and drop like lead. It's disturbing because it looks very real.Also notable is this film's plea to its audience to have sympathy with its tortured killer, and the suggestion that murderers might be sick rather than evil. The end shot in particular left me chilled and heartbroken at the same time.The story won screen writing couple Edward and Edna Anhalt their second Oscar nomination, though that year's winner was "The Greatest Show on Earth." Grade: A

museumofdave Decades ago, I used to hang out in San Francisco's North Beach at a little bar called the Paper Doll, long-gone. I thought I'd never see it again in any form and here it is used as a central murder location along with unusual shots of Chinatown, Telegraph Hill and Russian Hill, all gritty location shots for this tight little noir about a unhappy killer driven by a loathing of women; it's a fast-paced 88 minute "B" movie with some "A" credentials including an aging Adolphe Menjou, barely recognizable without mustache and a tux, and director Edward Dmytryk, both working with a script that rushes the viewer along with the ruthlessly driven dry-cleaner delivery man, unhappy with the world and with his sickness.Keeping in mind this was a low-budget film made quickly on-site with minimum studio interference, it's a riveting, if occasionally dated, thriller. A note: although set in San Francisco, the film goes out of its way NOT to identify the city, a fact pointed out in the casually excellent feature commentary by Eddie Muller, one of my personal faves.

moonspinner55 Beginning with sexual assault statistics by men against women (as if only females fell prey to sexual assault!)--which really don't have much to do with the story that follows--"The Sniper" is irrevocably dated, and often so over-heated that it is occasionally funny unintentionally. Co-producers Edward and Edna Anhalt also concocted this melodrama about a disturbed young man (Arthur Franz) in San Francisco, released too soon from the prison mental ward while serving jail time, who gets hostile when he sees displays of sweetheart-affection in public. Worse, he makes women defensive in one-on-one conversation, eventually pegging them as targets to be eliminated; he isn't sexually aggressive, he's a people-hater (though the scenarists curiously lump these two types together). A crack shot with his rifle, Franz secretly pleads for someone to take notice of him, yet bodies begin piling up before police lieutenant Adolphe Menjou puts two and two together. Exceptionally well-made low-budget item has gleaming Burnett Guffey cinematography and some effective moments. The script doesn't do the production justice however, and Franz isn't directed properly (he looks continually unsure of himself). The snippets of chit-chat we hear on the street are amusingly jaded, cynical, and woefully theatrical. Still, the violence depicted was ahead of its time, and is carried off without too much exploitive fervor. ** from ****

sandra small Like The Man With The Golden Arm (1955) The Sniper is ahead of its time, and in many respects is defiant of the Hays Code (1930 - 1968). While the former mentioned film deals with intravenous heroin addiction the latter deals with the misogyny of a sexual predator who has psychological issues about women. His urges overlap into necrophilia when as the film suggests, his sexual gratification is gained via murdering women. Althgough The Sniper's Eddie Miller played adeptly by Arthur Franz has shades of Robert Di Niro's character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) he plays the psychotic role with more emotion. As such he bursts asunder any notion of the stereotypical psychopath devoid of emotion and makes him a deeply complex character whose mental condition and its causes becomes the centre of a psychiatric guessing game for professional psychiatrists. In this film, the psychiatrist's lofty abstract views on the psychopath's mental condition play at odds with ideas of common sense policing. In the end the psychiatrist's lofty views illustrates that common sense can become staid and inappropriate as seen in The Sniper. In this respect the psychiatrist endeavours on a narcissistic personal quest to usurp police powers and to that end undermine their competency while allowing the viewer to question theories of common sense.Among all this are the politicians who are concerned about what damage The Sniper on the loose will do to their political reputation. They want him caught to save their political reputations and positions, as opposed to saving women from Miller's sniping. This theme was extrapolated for the film Jaws (1975), where politicians put their reputation before the welfare of the people. Negative representation of the film star is also at stake here which Auther Franz bravely challenges by tackling the role of the psychotic misogynist Eddie Miller. Miller is a misogynist who starts off killing a woman who is a sub-conscious stereotype within his own head, i'e. brunette, confident, and sexually aware of herself. His murderous spree progresses towards the urban conservative woman; a homemaker, philanthropist and archetypal pillar of the community. The latter naively gives out her home address live on television thereby illustrating how innocent the average person was during the '50s era.Due to San Fransisco's world famous progressive liberal attitudes, the city seems an apt location to deal with the sexual issues of the film's subject matter. Moreover, it permits open debate on the issues The Sniper raises. Conversly, the city of San Francisco is here stained by a psychotic killer with a hatred of women and thereby gives it a negative image. Moreover liberalism by its association with San Fransico's misogynist psychopath; The Sniper, is blemished by controversial subject matter in this film.Liberal attitudes which bestow authority on women as illustrated in Miller's boss at the dry cleaning firm give way to an interesting subtext. It suggests that women who are given authority are malicious. In many respects Eddie's manager becomes the female gender counterpart of the misogynist. This is illustrated in the treatment she gives out to her male subordinates. In this respect Eddie's superior is a representation of the changing role of women which becomes a threat to masculinity. And though Eddie does not endeavour to murder his superior there is a possibility that he sees her within other women who become his victims. Moreover, Eddie is less likely to murder his superior with such a close working relationship that could quite easily lead to him being caught, which contradicts his anonymous pleas for to be arrested. Another fascinating aspect of The Sniper is when it asks the viewer to deal with the issue of who should be saved; the steeplejack on the chimney stack or the women for whom he risks his life for with his caveat blaring alert. On a deeper level this is asking the viewer to decide whether they have the same tendencies as The Sniper, i'e. save the somewhat annoying steeplejack whose foghorn voice disturbs the psychotic slayer, or murder the women who are threatening to the latter and his actions? While the acting, directing and cinematography (the latter makes San Francisco easily recognisable)are well accomplished in this film it is its screenplay writers Edna Anhalt and Edward Anhalt who deserve extra credit for daring to raise sensitive and controversial issues that challenges the lay person's values and lifestyle. In all an excellent film, especially for students of the humanity subjects that still has relevance today.