Lonely Hearts (2006)

Based on the true story, two homicide detectives track Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, a murderous pair known as the "Lonely Hearts Killers" who lured their victims through the personals.

Director:

Todd Robinson

Writer:

Todd Robinson

Stars:

John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Det. Elmer Robinson
James Gandolfini	...	Det. Charles Hilderbrandt
Jared Leto	...	Ray Fernandez
Salma Hayek	...	Martha Beck
Scott Caan	...	Det. Reilly
Laura Dern	...	Rene Fodie
Michael Gaston	...	D.A. Hunt
Bruce MacVittie	...	Det. Eastman
Dan Byrd	...	Eddie Robinson
Andrew Wheeler	...	Det. Tooley
Alice Krige	...	Janet Long
Dagmara Dominczyk	...	Delphine Downing
John Doman	...	Chief MacSwain
Bailee Madison	...	Rainelle Downing
Ellen Travolta	...	Ida

Storyline

In the late 1940's, Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez were America's notorious "Lonely Hearts Killers". Their lethal scam was simple; they would swindle and then viciously murder lovelorn war widows who would answer their personal ads in which Ray would describe himself as a sexy Latin Lover. Ironically, Ray's initial introduction to Martha was as a prospective mark. But when they met, it was love at first sight, perhaps as a result of their penchant for kinky sex and their mutual love for duplicity and easy money. With Martha posing as Ray's sister, they bilked elderly spinsters and widows of their savings and then viciously murdered them in a bloodbath of sexual frenzy. When they were arrested, Martha and Ray confessed to 12 killings, although it is believed the actual number is closer to 20. At their sensational trial, Martha and Ray cooed, held hands and seemed as though they could not get enough of each other. Their plea of not guilty by reason of insanity was rejected, and on ...

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Plot Keywords:

detective | death | murder | sexual attraction | stabbed during sex | 

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Taglines:

Some people would kill to be in love.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and sexual content, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

3L Filmverleih [de] Metropolitan Films [fr]

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 2006 (Taiwan)

Also Known As:

Lonely Hearts Killers

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$80,423 (USA) (13 April 2007)

Gross:

$187,389 (USA) (4 May 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Emmett/Furla Films, Equity Pictures Medienfonds GmbH & Co. KG III

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The highly polished airliner is a Lockheed Model 10 Electra.

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Goofs

After the police find the blood under the floor boards in Fernandez's house, we hear Hildebrandt's voice-over that the cops just missed the couple as they were 5 miles away in Seaford, NY buying a flop top car. Fernandez's home was in Valley Stream which is close to 20 miles away from Seaford, not 5 miles.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Det. Eastman: [to Robinson] Hey, we're all proud of you buster... Charlie... Small town cop dropping a pair like this. You wait a a lifetime never even sniffling this guy.
[chuckle]
Det. Eastman: You want to make a move to the burbs, you let me know. It's a phone call. Hey, maybe you wanna through the switch, I can fix that too.
[laughs]
Charles Hilderbrandt: You're such an asshole.

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Connections

Version of Deep Crimson (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Hot Club Swing"
Written and Performed by John Hawksworth (as Johnny Hawksworth)
Published by Rouge Music (PRS)
By Arrangement with Media Creature Music

User Reviews

All the elements are there, including a great cast, but it doesn't click, doesn't tear into you

Lonely Hearts (2006)

A steady, interesting, colorful crime movie packed with both great old tropes from the film noir days and lots of familiar tricks. Amazingly, it's based on a true story from post-war America that goes way way way beyond the slimmed up version here.

The result is good, yes, but never mesmerizing, never a complete surprise, and never up to the potential of the either the source material or the talented cast. The very dependence of well known formulas for a kind of classic look and feel is what holds it back, because we know those formulas so well. The one aspect to the movie that is forcibly modern is the one that feels so forced it's almost pandering to a contemporary audience--lots of open swearing and sexual references in a manner not really "right" for a 1951 America.

Several lead actors are terrific. Salma Hayek, once she arrives, is an edgy bad girl, a woman with little moral code and a comfort level with blood and manipulation that makes an old school femme fatale look like schoolroom stuff. Her bad boy companion, Jared Leto, at first comes off as a Robert Downey Jr. wannabe, but he gradually hardens up his edges and by the end is pretty believable as a cocksure murderous idiot. The two cops, John Travolta and James Gandolfini, are a great pair, the one restrained and more in tune with the criminals, the other the sidekick with a good heart. (They might be modeled after, say, Glenn Ford and William Bendix, as two 1951 actors who could have pulled off the same roles with more conviction.)

The filming, the editing, the pace, the sets, the old cars, the interior and exterior location shoots, all of the nuts and bolts are in place here for a good movie. (Of these, the photography is the most routine, partly because of how it's directed, as in the last scene when the cops swarm the house--it could have been really exciting.) But overall it's the script--the script, not the story--that holds it all back. The parallel plots of the two criminals in their love affair crime spree and the cops on their trail is clear and fine, but unrevealing. The events happen, and we sort of know how it will end. And it does (not to give away anything!). If you want the true facts, go to the really long but readable account at trutv.com and type in the Lonely Hearts.

As a quick and hopefully helpful movie comparison, you can look at recent films like "Road to Perdition" or "Shutter Island" and see how a period piece film can brim with originality and better filming. A movie comes closer to this kind of familiar quality, based on older classic Hollywood models, is "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, though that one had some really beautiful moments in the photography. And what about that title? It is derived from the male killer's original tactic for getting money, which is given a comic treatment at the beginning of the movie--he writes to lonely women, gets them to fall in love with him, and steals their assets.

A final revealing note: the director is the grandson of the cop who led the original investigation into the crimes. That means he's really well placed emotionally, but as a director he's really incomplete. It's amazing, in fact, that he got the budget and talent he did with such a short track record. Opportunity squandered? Partially. Give it a chance.