I saw this long ago and I highly recommend that you seek this out for viewing. Please excuse any lapses of memory. This interesting study of a loner(B Movie actor Arthur Franz gives the performance of his career!) who hates women and is compelled to shoot them. As a manhunt ensues in the city (San Francisco I recall), the victims begin to mount until there is a suspenseful climax. A young Richard Kiley and venerable Adolphe Menjou(who ironically played in some daring dramas like Paths of Glory-yet testified before the House UnAmericans Committee for the blacklists)play the lead detectives.
Suffice it to say that this film not only deals intelligently with a serious subject matter, it ends in such a believable and non-cliched way that I loved this film!
Fritz Lang's M was probably the best of this genre and Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer was pretty impressive for a modern audience. Somewhere in between, The Sniper has its place from a fifties sensibility as a sleeper to be studied by today's more discerning audiences. Indeed, as Marnie is being rediscovered for its merits, The Sniper is a film ahead of its time.
Suffice it to say that this film not only deals intelligently with a serious subject matter, it ends in such a believable and non-cliched way that I loved this film!
Fritz Lang's M was probably the best of this genre and Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer was pretty impressive for a modern audience. Somewhere in between, The Sniper has its place from a fifties sensibility as a sleeper to be studied by today's more discerning audiences. Indeed, as Marnie is being rediscovered for its merits, The Sniper is a film ahead of its time.