No Way to Treat a Lady

During a hot Summer day in New York City, in the Theatre District around 44th Street, I noticed a large crowd and decided to find out what was going on. I noticed a man getting his hair brushed and make-up being applied to his face and it was Rod Steiger who was getting ready to walk into a theatre as (Christoper Gill),"W.C.Fields & Me",'76. Steiger played a very mentally disturbed actor who was abused by his mother and decided to perform perfect murders, playing roles as Priest, Plumber and many other roles, using plenty of lipstick. Lee Remick,(Kate Palmer)," Days of Wine & Roses",'62, looked very charming and sexy. Kate meets up with detective Morris Brummel,(George Segal),"For the Boys",'91, who is investigating all these murders. This film has comedy between Kate and Morris and it is a great entertaining film.

A serial killer sitcom. George Segal is affable as 'Mo Brummel', a detective in New York City tracking down a killer of elderly woman. The disguise-laden murderer is Rod Steiger, playing a hambone actor with a mommy complex. It's a fashionable, minor offering with a bit too much emphasis on the carnage (Steiger dolling up the corpses and so forth). The intentional laughs are there, and Lee Remick is spunky as a love-interest for Segal, but in the end it's rather slight. Steiger, wily and cruelly charming, does a lot of showing off at the finale; he's quite colorful when he needs to be, and that beguiling Irish priest imitation of his would have me fooled! **1/2 from ****

This is an odd film. Rod Steiger plays a failed actor who tries to live up to the memory of his theatrical mother by 'performing' a series of stranglings in Manhattan. The murders, while hardly graphic, are nonetheless troubling to watch. Meanwhile, George Segal (the policeman in charge of the murder investigation) and Lee Remick are engaged in a frothy romance typical of 60s cinema. Taken as a whole, it's hard to say what this film is, or who it would appeal to. While a reasonable entertainment, it's uncertain balancing act between urban grit and uptown romance leaves one with a strange queasy feeling after the credits role.

There have been many serial killer films over the years but this was one of the earliest and one of the best. It manages to be witty, suspenseful, funny and shocking in separate portions. Rod Steiger is very good in a role made for him but George Segal takes the acting honours because it's a much harder role and he does it so well. Lee Remick is fine also. The best scene is the opening pre-credit sequence. It may look rather mundane at first but.....

Rod Steiger was sensational in this 1968 film. His ability to disguise himself and play so many different parts as an insane killer was just fabulous to watch. Yes, the film was definitely an eerie one but you never know what's coming next. Eileen Heckart was just fabulous as the Jewish mother of her son-the police officer, played so well by George Segal. You just wonder when Heckart, Segal and girlfriend, Lee Remick, will be drawn into the web of this serial killer who seems to strike without reason. Who can ever forget his first venture into killing disguised as a priest? Rod Steiger had a definite field day with this film. Dealing with the macabre, it was truly a memorable film.

Rod Steiger plays a psycho who likes to strangle women to death. George Segal plays a Jewish cop after him. Lovely, young Lee Remick plays Segal's love interest. Unfortunately Steiger is interested in her too. Very odd movie. The dialogue is crisp, sharp and handled expertly by the cast. It just sounds different--I mean this in a good way. Steiger chews the scenery again & again & again & AGAIN as the killer. Segal is just fine, but he (understandably) pales next to Steiger. Remick is astonishingly beautiful and having a whale of a time in her role. Also Eileen Heckart is a scream as Segal's very Jewish mother. The sequence between her and Remick is a definite highlight. All in all, a strange, but enjoyable, mix of suspense, humor and romance. Not for everybody but worth a look. Only debit--more than a few homophobic comments are thrown about as jokes. But then this was made in 1968.

Coming hot off the heels of his Oscar winning role in 1967's "In the Heat of the Night" Steiger gives an acting tour-de-force in this tale of a demented serial killer tormenting a police officer. Steiger pulls out all the plugs as he slips into the persona of a Catholic priest, German plumber, simpering hair stylist...and all with great flare and comic over tones. Segal and Remick provide the love interest in a rather kooky way, and it all makes for great fun, in a serial killer movie!..Gotta see it!