The Zebra Killer (1974)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

William Girdler

Writers:

William Girdler (writer)
Gordon Cornell Layne (story)

Release Date:

July 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

the Zebra Killer Has The City In Panic

Plot:

A police officer becomes obsessed with a satistic killer called "The Zebra Killer" who has kidnapped his girlfriend and discoveries many murders along the way while tracking him down.

Plot Keywords:

Police Officer | City | Murder | Rape | Disguise

Cast

Juanita Moore
Austin Stoker	...	Lt. Frank Savage
James Carroll Pickett	...	Mac, The Zebra Killer (as James Pickett)
Hugh Smith	...	Det. Marty Williams
Charles Kissinger	...	Robert Creason
Valerie Rogers	...	Frank's woman
Tom Brooks	...	Police captain
D'Urville Martin	...	The Pimp
Ruby Brown	...	Liza
Harriet Knox	...	The cleaning lady
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Madelyn Buzzard	...	Hooker
Mike Clifford	...	Det. Waldo
Mike Henry	...	Man killed in car explosion
Diane Lander	...	Hooker
Gordon Cornell Layne
David Roster	...	Sniper
Carla Rueckert	...	Dead body

Also Known As:

Combat Cops (UK) (USA) (reissue title)
Panic City
The Get-Man (USA) (new title)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:(Banned) (1976) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Kentucky, USA

Company:

Mid-America Pictures

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

William Girdler's Best Movie?

Although this is classified as a "blaxploitation" film, it manages to be much more race-baiting than usual by having a white sniper (obviously modeled after Scorpio from "Dirty Harry" and thus indirectly modeled after the real-life Zodiac Killer)who disguises himself in black-face as he commits incendiary crimes against middle-class whites (which his why he is called "the zebra killer"--not because he kills any zebras). The good guy cop meanwhile is a black guy, thus giving the title its blaxploitation credentials. Still the plot was apparently pretty controversial which is no doubt why this film is pretty hard to find today even though it is probably cult director William "Grizzly" Girdler's best film.

It is obviously the kind of film that couldn't be made today, and that alone in my book makes it worth a look. Unfortunately, the version I saw looked awful suffering from both bad original film elements and tracking problems from one of the few remaining videotapes that is still circulating around. I'd like to see this film resurrected on DVD. Fat chance though probably since many of Girdler's early films (like the vastly inferior, but much less controversial "Three on a Meathook")have yet to see the light of a DVD player. Still they released the even more racially-insensitive "Fight for Your Live" (although that film had the advantage of actually having been banned in Britain)so maybe there is hope.