The Todd Killings

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The Todd Killings
The Todd Killings.jpg
film poster
Directed by Barry Shear
Written byDennis Murphy
Joel Oliansky
Produced byBarry Shear
Starring Robert F. Lyons
Richard Thomas
Belinda Montgomery
James Broderick
Gloria Grahame
Holly Near
Edward Asner
Barbara Bel Geddes
Cinematography Harold E. Stine
Edited byWalter Thompson
Music by Leonard Rosenman
Production
company
Distributed byNational General Pictures
Release date
  • October 20, 1971 (1971-10-20)(U.S.)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Todd Killings is a 1971 psychological thriller directed by Barry Shear and starring Robert F. Lyons, Richard Thomas, Belinda Montgomery, and Barbara Bel Geddes. It is based on the true crimes of serial killer Charles Schmid in the 1960s.

Contents

Plot

The film is based on the real-life murders committed by Charles E. "Smitty" Schmid, Jr. in Tucson, AZ. Schmid, a would-be musician, murdered one teenage girl in May 1964 and two others in August 1965. Two of Schmid's friends helped him bury his first victim. Billy Roy a friend of Schmid, helped lead police to Schmid as the killer. In August 1966, Schmid was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. His May 1967 trial for an additional murder was terminated when he pled guilty to second-degree murder, even though the girl's body had not been recovered. Schmid led police to her body in June 1967, but always maintained that he was innocent of the murders. His case became famous nationwide and was highly publicized due to his popularity with and influence over a large number of local teenagers. Schmid died in March 1975 after being attacked by two other inmates in the Arizona State Penitentiary. [1]

Cast

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States by National General Pictures on October 20, 1971. The film was banned in Thailand, due to the film depicting "a lifestyle of young American men and women in which they seek happiness through illegal methods, including drugs and the use of drugs to arouse illicit sexual feelings, that violate the beautiful morality and culture of the Thai." [2]

Home media

The film was released on VHS by Warner Home Video in December 1988. [3] It was released on DVD in 2010. [4]

Reception

Amy Longsdorf wrote in The Record that "for an exploitation quickie from the early '70s, this grubby crime thriller casts a strange spell. Skipper Todd, a drug dealer and small-town lothario takes the notion of lady-killing a bit too literally; the film pulses to a very menacing beat." [5]

Film critic Howard Thompson said that the "brilliance of producer Shear's direction and Stine's photography, and the subtle meshing of the incidents make for an engrossing, often gripping eyeful; horror and sex are actually soft-pedaled; nonetheless, the film is anything but dull." [6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ AFI. "The Todd Killings (1971)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films .
  2. ↑ Townsend, Rebecca (2019). "The Adulterer: Censorship, Morality, and Foreign Films in Thailand". Journal of Women's History . 31 (1): 86–108. doi:10.1353/jowh.2019.0004.
  3. ↑ Blowen, Michael (December 9, 1988). "Thin Blue Line Case Reopened". Boston Globe . p. 38. Coming Attractions: December 14, The Todd Killings (Warner, $59.95)
  4. ↑ Rapold, Nicolas (November–December 2010). "Top 5 On Demand". Film Comment . Vol. 46, no. 6. p. 75.
  5. ↑ Longsdorf, Amy (November 13, 2010). "New on DVD". The Record . p. G13.
  6. ↑ Thompson, Howard (October 21, 1971). "Robert F. Lyons Stars in 'Todd Killings'". The New York Times . p. 56.
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