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 ****