IMDb RATING
7.1/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
A sniper kills young brunettes as the police attempt to grapple with the psychology of the unknown assailant.A sniper kills young brunettes as the police attempt to grapple with the psychology of the unknown assailant.A sniper kills young brunettes as the police attempt to grapple with the psychology of the unknown assailant.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total
Fred Aldrich
- Man at Line-Up
- (uncredited)
John H. Algate
- Man
- (uncredited)
Jessie Arnold
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Walter Bacon
- Passerby On Sidewalk
- (uncredited)
Alice Bartlett
- Woman
- (uncredited)
Harry Bechtel
- Man
- (uncredited)
Lilian Bond
- Mrs. Fitzpatrick
- (uncredited)
Gail Bonney
- Woman at Darr Murder Scene
- (uncredited)
John Bradley
- Rookie Cop
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAfter making this film, Adolphe Menjou, a very vocal anti-communist, was asked why he agreed to work with director Edward Dmytryk, who had been blacklisted for his communist sympathies. Menjou replied, "Because I'm a whore".
- GoofsLate in the film, Eddie is seen crouched and aiming for a kill shot on a smokestack painter. The painter throws his pail of white paint onto the street below to get the attention of the people below who could not hear him and the pail and its contents splatter on the ground. After Eddie shoots the man and the camera returns to the street, the pavement is unmarked.
- Quotes
E.R. doctor: [talking to the duty nurse] You know how much coffee I've had today? 17 cups. The Brazilians ought to give me a medal.
- Crazy creditsA word about the picture which follows: High among police problems is that of the sex criminal, responsible last year alone for offenses which victimized 31,175 women. Adequate and understanding laws do not exist. Law enforcement is helpless. Here, in terms of one case, is the story of a man whose enemy was womankind.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Green Fog (2017)
- SoundtracksPennies from Heaven
(uncredited)
Music by Arthur Johnston
Words by Johnny Burke (1936)
Played by Marie Windsor in piano bar
Featured review
Interesting noir from veteran director Dmytryk. Arthur Franz gives a good twitchy, sweaty performance as a sex criminal released from prison for assaulting women, only to be compelled to kill them with a stolen military rifle once free, and silent star Adolphe Menjou is the police officer in charge of stopping Franz's crime spree. As lurid as the subject matter is, the film's approach to it is admirably serious and even-handed, especially when contrasted to that taken by other films about serial killers. For example, Fritz Lang's noir "While the City Sleeps", made around the same time, features a character similar to Franz's as its villian (a disturbed young killer with a mother fixation, who leaves messages for the police urging them to catch him), but its portrayal of the murderer is comically overwrought in comparison. Some of the psychological shorthand used to illustrate Franz's fractured psyche may appear naive to contemporary audiences (stroking his phallic rifle in anticipation to his murders, wincing in pain when he passes a mother slapping her child on the street), but he's a much more realistic and credible criminal than the overheated creations that populate recent films about the same subject (Seven, Hannibal Lecter trilogy, etc). The film's sober and non-sensational tone can be attributed partly to producer Stanley Kramer; the redeeming social message that is commonly found in his films creeps into this one through the character of a police psychologist, who gives a speech about the need to change the laws that deal with sex criminals (not a lot has changed since the time this movie was released - so much for the redeeming social message). Dmytryk's direction is typically stylish (why did it become so turgid later on?), and he makes excellent use of San Francisco locations. The finale, where the police finally close in on the sniper is particularly well done, with one sequence standing out as especially memorable and effective: a construction worker gives the sniper away as he's about to claim another victim, and discovers too late that its a bad idea to cross a psychopath with a long distance rifle, especially when in the not very convenient position of dangling from a smokestack. The cast is strong, and includes a welcome appearance by B-movie fave Marie Windsor, as a bar pianist who ends up as the sniper's first victim. Nominated for an Oscar for best screenplay, "The Sniper" is fairly obscure compared to other noirs and is unavailable on video - it's really worth catching during one of its occaisonal appearances on cable TV.
- How long is The Sniper?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime1 hour 28 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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