Kill Me If You Can (1977) (TV)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Buzz Kulik

Writer:

John Gay (writer)

Release Date:

25 September 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The story of Caryl Chessman, a convicted California rapist who spent 12 years on death row before finally being executed. |

Plot Keywords:

Rapist | Capital Punishment | Rape | Execution | Serial Killer

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Alan Alda	...	Caryl W. Chessman
Talia Shire	...	Rosalie Asher
John Hillerman	...	George Davis
Barnard Hughes	...	Judge Fricke
Virginia Kiser	...	Virginia Gibbons
Edward Mallory
Walter McGinn	...	J. Miller Leavy
Ben Piazza	...	Bill Edmunds
John Randolph	...	Judge Lewis Goodman
John P. Ryan	...	Johnson
Rose Portillo	...	Sarah Loper
Maxine Stuart	...	Mrs. Asher
Brian Byers	...	Harris
James Sikking	...	Mr. Lea
George Sperdakos	...	Court Clerk

Also Known As:

The Caryl Chessman Story (USA)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Television

As bad as "Birdman of Alcatraz"

This film is just as bad as "The Birdman of Alcatraz". I do not refer to the acting but rather the premise of both films, which try to portray psychopathic criminals as heroic figures. Moreover it disturbs me when well respected, revered actors like Alan Alda (and Burt Lancaster) play such roles, because their status tends to lend credibility to the director's intent to elevate the film's subject, a societal outcast.

I was in junior high school during the last years of Caryl Chessman's life and his death penalty appeals and books were very much in the news. I remember the groundswell of opinion that the death penalty was wrong and Chessman was the victim.

Get a grip people. Read the history. Chessman was a criminal and sexual predator. He drove around the LA streets at night with a stolen police light in his vehicle. He stopped cars with attractive women inside under the ruse of making a traffic arrest; then abducted and raped the women. Rape is the worst trauma a woman can experience and many victims say they would prefer death to its horror and humiliation.

Chessman got exactly what he deserved, it just took a decade too long. No sympathy for the devil here.