The Todd Killings (1971)

Director:

Barry Shear

Writers:

Dennis Murphy (writer)
Joel Oliansky (writer)

Release Date:

4 August 1972 (Finland)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Skipper Todd digs girls. It's his idea of killing time...

Plot:

Based on the true story of '60s thrill-killer Charles Schmidt ("The Pied Piper of Tucson"), Skipper Todd (Robert F...

Plot Keywords:

High School | Splatter | Repressed Homosexual | Serial Killer | Teenkill

Cast

Robert F. Lyons	...	Skipper Todd
Richard Thomas	...	Billy Roy
Belinda Montgomery	...	Roberta
Sherry Miles	...	Amata
Joyce Ames	...	Haddie
Holly Near	...	Norma
James Broderick	...	Sam Goodwin
Gloria Grahame	...	Mrs. Roy
Fay Spain	...	Mrs. Mack
Edward Asner	...	Fred Reardon
Barbara Bel Geddes	...	Mrs. Todd
Michael Conrad	...	Detective Shaw
Frank Webb
William Lucking
Sandy Brown Wyeth

Also Known As:

A Dangerous Friend
Skipper

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Finland:(Banned) (1972) | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Australia:MA (cable rating)

Movie Connections:

References A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

Interesting Time Capsule from the Early '70's

This is an interesting little time capsule from the early 1970's. I watched it because the video box claimed it was similar to River's Edge (1987), one of my favorite movies. It turned out to be the fictionalized story of a real-life serial killer nicknamed the "Pied Piper of Tucson" who partially inspired the famous Joyce Carol Oates short story "Where Are You Going? Where Have You Been?" (which in turn inspired the movie Smooth Talk with Laura Dern and Treat Williams). While it is a long way from being a classic, it does capture the restlessness and malaise of the period, and like River's Edge is a pretty honest, if extreme, story of wayward youth. As other reviews have noted, the movie contains some surprising nude scenes, especially considering the female lead looks to be pretty underage. (I wouldn't be surprised if these scenes were trimmed when the movie went to video since times are a little less permissive than they used to be). The characters are pretty good, although the Skipper Todd character doesn't really seem to be too much of a genius when he dumb says things like, "But wasn't Herman Melville a fag?", and Robert Lyon doesn't really have the charisma to play a young Charlie Manson type. Still it's nice to see a movie that despite its extreme subject matter honestly portrays the period, and it wasn't all that idealized peace and love crap some aging Baby Boomers would have you believe.