The Movie Murderer (1970)
An experienced arson investigator takes along his young associate as they try to find an arsonist who is burning down movie sets.
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At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
There's an intriguing mystery at work in this TV-movie. An arsonist is burning down film studios and movie theaters, not to destroy buildings but to get rid of prints of a particular movie stored in these buildings. What is contained in this movie which would prompt someone to go to so much trouble to get rid of it?Alas, the unraveling of this mystery is not handled especially well and the final revelation is neither satisfying nor plausible. The occasional use of a split-screen technique, (fashionable in 1970), is more irritating than illuminating, and the attempts to conjure up the hippie world of an Andy Warhol type are downright laughable. However, the movie benefits from good casting. Even small, throwaway parts are filled by old pros such as Jeff Corey, Elisha Cook jr, Robert Webber, Henry Jones, Frank Campanella, etc. And, of course, this marks the debut of Tom Selleck who looks incredibly young in this movie. How young does he look? He looks so young that he probably hasn't grown any hair on his chest yet! Not that we find out because Tom doesn't once remove his shirt. What were the film-makers thinking? That we'd be drawn to Tom Selleck because of his mind?
Warren Oates is superb as an arsonist with a purpose in this B-movie gem (in TV-movie form). So obscure it has no Maltin summary and is unavailable on VHS or DVD. Used to be shown more regularly on the tube, haven't seen it listed for years. Watch for Tom Selleck in a very early role for him; Arthur Kennedy is solid as one half of the police team trying to nab Oates.