Product Description

A psychotic master of disguise who kills dowdy matrons and gets kicks by phoning in clues to the police detective goes after the detective's girlfriend.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 19-AUG-2003
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26957 in DVD
• Brand: STEIGER,ROD
• Released on: 2002-09-03
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .24 pounds
• Running time: 108 minutes

From the Back Cover
Suspense-master William Goldman ("Marathon Man") wrote the novel from which this bizarre black comedy was adapted. It's the extraordinary account of a plumber who kills a dowdy matron, a priest who kills a dowdy matron and a policeman who kills a dowdy matron. Actually they're the same man, a psychotic master of disguise brilliantly played by versatile Rod Steiger. The killer also gets his kicks phoning in clues to detective George Segal. All of New York trembles as a sixth strangling is reported in the papers. And the man with the makeup kit stalks another victim... the detective's girlfriend (Lee REmick). A suspenseful, macabre game of cat and mouse.

Customer Reviews

Steiger Overacts To Utter Perfection!
No one could ever accuse the indomitable Rod Steiger of being dull. His flamboyant portrayals are perhaps borne out of his real life highly strung, emotional state, where his characterizations are often used as a release valve (take his Napoleon in Waterloo, made shortly after his separation after ten years from Claire Bloom). Here too his performance is galvanized through his emotions into an unforgettable roller coaster ride you'll just want to repeat over and over. He plays a middle aged theater owner, who through a warped obsession with his mother, turns to killing women in the locality of a similar age. His theatrical background means he has access to a veritable Aladdin's cave of disguises, a different one for each murder. Here Mr. Steiger excels himself, it is all pretty nasty really, but done with such comedic brilliance and relish as to become compulsive viewing. Lee Remick, looking utterly gorgeous and radiant (and pretty self assured for a 1967 movie, a little ahead of it's time despite the fact she ultimately becomes an intended victim) is a witness saught after by George Segal's detective on the case Mo Brummel. The bi-play between these two characters is also superb, as they become romantically linked, and as an extra bonus, Eileen Heckart is hysterical as George's henpecking Jewish mother. This is Steiger's film though, he is just awesome in every scene, in disguise or out, especially as the gay wig seller, and in his fixated post-murder phone calls to Segal's detective, where he tries to create a relationship of sorts, much to Segal's chagrin! A masterful performance in a wholly entertaining and extremely black comedy: delicious!

Seriously overlooked
Nowadays, when it seems that a successful film has to be either a big holiday or summer special-effects blockbuster, or a cheap independent circuit success, it makes one long for the days when good films with good stories were made for modest budgets and provided a decent piece of entertainment without overloading the senses. This dying breed of the movies is still around, however, and although often under appreciated, should be sought out. One case in point is No Way to Treat a Lady, a black comedy that combines a crime drama with the often humorous relationships men have with their mothers.

In spite of the film being a thriller, we know from the beginning who the bad guy is. It's Rod Steiger, who gets to really stretch and ham it up as a theater manager/serial killer who murders each of his victims in some outlandish disguise to win their trust. George Segal is the cop who must crack the case and, at the same time, fend off his wonderfully annoying mother, Eileen Heckart (whose running gag line, "Who ever heard of a Jewish cop?" gets repeated over and over again throughout). Steiger's character is one of those vain killers who checks the newspaper for reports of his exploits and who takes to calling Segal when the facts are reported wrong or when he wants to taunt the authorities. Segal is rather bland, although it's not really his fault since the role doesn't give him much to do other than to react to the other characters, particularly his mother, Steiger, and Lee Remick, as his love interest and would-be victim of the murderer. Steiger goes way, way over the top, but it works because the film has set him up to be not only flamboyant, but overreactive to mother issues of his own. His various disguises get odder and odder as the film moves along, and when it shifts from comedy into resolution of the crime mode, his character becomes that much more menacing, not because he's funny but because we learn, as Segal puts the pieces together, that he is honestly and truly deranged.

Remick serves as the breath of fresh air, only because her character is the only one who isn't dealing with some sort of emotional crisis. The scene where she meets and charms Heckart is an overlooked comedic gem.

"DISREMEMBERING MAMA.......!
A TOUR-DE-FORCE for Rod Steiger. Utter Joy! Now, it was originally said this IF this movie was an attempt to bring some humor to [and cash in on] the very, very contemporary Boston Strangler series of murders - then it was quite sick - not so! The situations are purely coincidental. STEIGER is brilliant as the "deranged person" in various and often hilarious guises [including drag]! There is THAT special telephone call towards the end - spectacular! [Steiger stunned the entire crew with this take]. Still does!

George Segal is the detective - hot on the trail [Jewish mother Eileen Heckart in tow] with the cool, lovely Lee Remick as the love interest, and possible victim....

It's a dark, dark comedy about a serious subject - an unmarried Jewish detective! No, the murders intertwine the romance, and with this cast - who can possibly go wrong!

Great double-bill? This one with "Where's Poppa?"