The Fool Killer (1965)

12-year-old George Mellish, tired of beatings for both real and fancied misdeeds at the hands of his foster parents,runs away from home by hopping a freight train and lands somewhere east ... See full summary »

Director:

Servando González

Writers:

Helen Eustis (novel), Morton S. Fine (screenplay),

Stars:

Anthony Perkins, Dana Elcar, Henry Hull

Cast

Credited cast:
Anthony Perkins	...	Milo Bogardus
Dana Elcar	...	Mr. Dodd
Henry Hull	...	Dirty Jim Jelliman
Salome Jens	...	Mrs. Dodd
Yvonne Gilbert	...	Janet
Charlotte Jones	...	Mrs. Ova Fanshawe
Arnold Moss	...	Reverend Spotts
Sindee Ann Richards	...	Blessing Angeline Fanshawe
Edward Albert	...	George Mellish
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Curtis Haymore	...	Various (voice)
Lana Wood	...	Alice

Storyline

12-year-old George Mellish, tired of beatings for both real and fancied misdeeds at the hands of his foster parents,runs away from home by hopping a freight train and lands somewhere east of the Mississippi River. The first person he meets is Dirty Jim Helliman who lives in a fantastically filthy hovel and with whom George feels a kindred spirit, both having "suffered" at the hands of a clean woman. It is (really dirty) Dirty Jim that tells George of the mythical, eight-foot bogey man called "The Fool Killer." George gets sick and Dirty Jim takes him to town where Mrs.Ova Faversham takes charge of the feverish boy. When Blessing Angeline, Mrs. Faversham's 10-year-old daughter, tells George that her mother intends to return him to his foster parents, George hits the road again. He meets Milo Bogardus, a young Civil War veteran, who has been robbed of his memory by a war wound, and is as lost in his own way as George. THey come upon a camp meeting, where the fanatical Reverend Spotts is...

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Plot Keywords:

male nudity | skinny dipping | based on novel | independent film

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Taglines:

For Adults. For Children.

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Mexico USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Violent Journey

Filming Locations:

Louisville, Tennessee, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Landau

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of Edward Albert, Eddie Albert's son.

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Connections

Version of Kraft Theatre: The Fool Killer (1956)

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Soundtracks

"The Ballad of the Fool Killer"
Written by Tillman B. Franks & Mike Phillips
Sung by David Houston

User Reviews

beautiful and haunting images

As a child, this film had an enormous impact on me. It's a wonderful piece of Americana, a folks tale enriched by beautiful and haunting images thanks to the great B&W photography, and though it is not on the same level as Night of the Hunter, it still has an interesting way of dealing with psychological archetypes. I would go as far as saying that in the portrayal of the way reality is transfigured by a child's imagination, this film is just as good - if not better - than this year's Pan's Labyrinth.

And then there is the immense Anthony Perkins. How sad and annoying that people to this day still use his Norman Bates as a milestone against which they measure the rest of his haunting work. They seem to forget that he had played some seriously tormented characters long before that one and just as well: Josh Birdwell in "Friendly Persuasion", Jim Piersall in "Fear Strikes Out" etc... His unique talents have often been wasted, but here he shines. I never saw any resemblance in his way of playing Milo to that other more celebrated character. Rather, it's a variation on his work in Friendly Persuasion, as if his Josh had gone terribly wrong - a portrait of broken youth, broken dreams, broken beauty. The scene by the river still haunts me to this day. As a child I envied Edward Albert Jr and thought he was very lucky, I wished I had an older brother like him.

I have seen it again when I was finally able to get my hands on a VHS copy. I had to concede that the screenwriters should have worked a lot harder, but I still found it haunting and beautiful, just like its unique star.