So much average

Sick Product of a Sick System

A lot of fun.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

"The Sniper" is an unusual noir from director Edward Dmytryk in his first film after being on the blacklist. It's unusual in that it's the story of a man's violence against women - multiple women, and he's seen shooting them.Filmed in San Francisco, though the city isn't mentioned, the film stars Arthur Franz, a familiar face to TV audiences and a man who rarely had a lead in films -- in fact, this may be his only lead. Nevertheless, he does a compelling job as a disturbed man who wants to be stopped.The chase scene at the end is particularly good. Another familiar face, the wonderful Richard Kiley, plays a psychiatrist.Violence against women certainly became a big subject later on, but there wasn't much about it back in the'40s and '50s. There was, however, during and post-war, a good deal about the psychological trauma of returning soldiers. This is one of them, and it's excellent.

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.

Almost twenty years before San Francisco was terrorized by another sniper in Dirty Harry, this well received B film from Columbia Pictures painted a far less glamorous picture of a mentally ill individual taking his problems out on the world. Arthur Franz got his career role in The Sniper and a pity it didn't elevate him to stardom although he certainly had a distinguished and long career.Franz paints us a portrayal of a socially challenged man who just can't get anywhere with the opposite sex. He conceives a pathological hatred of all women and an innocent encounter with a nightclub performer played by Marie Windsor finally triggers him off. After that Franz is on a rampage, killing women almost at random from various San Francisco rooftops. The film was shot on location in San Francisco and The Sniper bears a whole lot of resemblance to The Naked City where Jules Dassin made New York's mean streets as much a star as the human players. Director Edward Dmytryk does the same for San Francisco.And the cops here are much like Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor from that film. Watching the film I wonder how much persuasion it took to get Adolphe Menjou to shave off that famous wax mustache of his, a remnant of fashion from a bygone era. It certainly wouldn't have gone with his role as a homicide cop. But the voice is distinctive and Menjou put it over. Acting as his younger sidekick is Gerald Mohr.What's ironic in The Sniper is that the whole thing is a desperate cry for help to a world to busy to care. The minor key ending of The Sniper brings that point home quite vividly.The Sniper is a noir classic, not as glamorous as Dirty Harry Callahan's pursuit of another twisted individual through San Francisco, but a whole lot more realistic.

A serial killer stalks brunettes in San Francisco. It is a rare film of the period in that it is told mostly from the perspective of the killer. Why he kills is explained within the first few minutes with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. His mama was mean to him when he was a child. The reason for his hatred of women is further magnified in exaggerated vignettes where women are mean to him. Typical of producer Kramer, the film is rather preachy in espousing its views on crime and punishment. The gritty San Francisco locales are good, but not enough to overcome the contrived plot. The acting is uneven, with Menjou and Kiley (his second film) coming off best.