A Killing Affair (1977)

A white female detective is partnered with a black male detective to find the person who is committing a series of particularly vicious murders. During the course of the investigation the ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard C. Sarafian

Writer:

E. Arthur Kean

Stars:

Elizabeth Montgomery, O.J. Simpson, Rosalind Cash

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Elizabeth Montgomery	...	Vikki Eaton
O.J. Simpson	...	Woodrow York
Rosalind Cash	...	Beverly York
John Mahon	...	Det, Shoup
Priscilla Pointer	...	Judge Cudahy
Allan Rich	...	Capt. Bullis
Charles Robinson	...	Buck Fryman (as Charlie Robinson)
John P. Ryan	...	Flagler
Dean Stockwell	...	Kenneth Switzer
Dolph Sweet	...	Scotty Neilson
Todd Bridges	...	Todd York
Fred Stuthman	...	Lukens Switzer
John Steadman	...	Cooks
Michael Durrell	...	Cabrillo
Stephen Parr	...	Sgt. Boyle

Storyline

A white female detective is partnered with a black male detective to find the person who is committing a series of particularly vicious murders. During the course of the investigation the two begin to develop an attraction to each other, but the situation is complicated by the fact that he is married.

---

Plot Keywords:

detective | interracial relationship | adultery | interracial romance | sexual attraction | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Crime

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

Behind the Badge

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Television, David Gerber Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

You haven't even got the guts to shoot me in the back!

**SPOILERS** Tailor-made for O.J Simpson "A Killing Affair" has the Juice playing a "Dirty Harry" like L.A cop who's not too fond of the law that he's sworn to enforce. Because of his quick temper and trigger finger Officer Woody York, O.J Simpson, was taken off the beat and put behind a desk. We see Woodys contempt for the law earlier in the film as he shoots a suspected rapist in the back as he's fleeing from the police killing him.

You would have expected Woody to be canned from the police department and not just put on desk duty but put on trial for manslaughter but things like that just don't happen to Woody in the film. Woody instead is given a raise in rank to homicide detective and also given sexy and some ten years older then him Vikki Eaton ,Elizabeth Montgomery, as his partner! And they say crime, or police brutality, doesn't pay!

The film "A Killing affair" has at least three stories running through it all at the same time which makes it very hard to follow and digest; a trigger happy African-American cop, Woody, who's married to Bev, Rosalind Cash,his pretty African-American wife and involved in an interracial affair with his white and sexy woman detective partner, Vikki. Added to all that there's a homicidal lunatic Kenneth Switzer, Dean Stockwell, who's also very hip with the law which he uses to get him off from at least three murders charges. On top of everything else Switzer has a vendetta against woody for running him in and threatening to put him behind bars, or in his grave, for life or even longer.

The romantic relationship between Woody and Vikki comes across a bit strained with the fact that the two coming from totally different and racial backgrounds are paired together. Yet the stations police Captain Bullis, Allan Rich,is shocked when he hears rumors, which turn out to be true, that Woody and Vikki are having an affair? What did he expect?

Woody and Vikki are called into their chief's Let. Scotty Neilson,Dolph Sweet, office and told in no uncertain terms that their no longer partners and not to have anything to do with each other, on or off duty. Yet we see almost in the very next scene, right in the police stations parking lot, the two together talking to each other about their "secret" affair!

The movie picks up a bit when Woody is on the trail of serial killer Kenneth Switzer and finds out later that he and his accomplice junkie girlfriend Olive, Valentina Quinn, had been captured in San Francisco. Woody takes off on a flight to SF to bring Kenneth back to L.A but has Vikki go along with him! Weren't the two told not to have anything to do with each other by their police bosses? We even see Woody & Vikki later, semi-nude, later share a hotel room together!

Switzer who knows the law inside and out has his arrest for murder thrown out of court. Instead of counting his blessings and having nothing to do with the outraged and almost uncontrollable Woody he attempts to murder him, with a couple of his hoodlum friends, later at a bar & Grill parking lot. This has Switzer get shot and killed together with his fellow hoods, by both Woody and his detective partner Flager, John P. Ryan, who both ended up in the hospital with bullet wounds.

Everything straightens out at the end of the movie with Woody & Bev back together again, after they just were divorced. As for Vikki she's happily transfered out of the police station never to tempt Woody again in leaving his wife and young 12 year-old son Todd, Todd Bridges.

Only worth watching to see how bad an actor O.J Simpson really was back then in 1977 and how his acting may have gotten even worse, if thats at all possible, in the next 15 or so years. This after he made over a dozen or more cheesy and mindless motion pictures until his illustrious career came to a screeching end in his arrest, though not conviction, for the murders of his wife Nicole and young Ron Goldman on June 12, 1994.

P.S Who knows what more precious cinematic gems we would have gotten from O.J had he been able to make motion pictures over the last ten years. But unfortunately his personal life, and deeds, not only interrupted but put an end to his meteoric rise in the world of bad, and utterly ridicules, movies like "A Killing Affair".