Stone Cold Dead (1979)

Sergeant Boyd's police search to find a sniper who has been shooting hookers.

Director:

George Mendeluk

Writers:

Hugh Garner (novel), George Mendeluk

Stars:

Richard Crenna, Paul Williams, Linda Sorensen

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Crenna	...	Sgt. Boyd
Paul Williams	...	Julius Kurtz
Linda Sorensen	...	Monica Page
Belinda Montgomery	...	Sandy MacAuley (as Belinda J. Montgomery)
Chuck Shamata	...	Sgt. Tony Colabre (as Charles Shamata)
Alberta Watson	...	Olivia Page
Andrée Cousineau	...	Bernice Carnival
Monique Mercure	...	Dr. Bouvier
George Chuvalo	...	Frank
Jennifer Dale	...	Claudia Grissom
Frank Moore	...	Teddy Mann
George Touliatos	...	Insp. Webb
Dennis Strong	...	Danny De Lion
Miles Potter
Marie Clark

Storyline

Sergeant Boyd's police search to find a sniper who has been shooting hookers.

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Plot Keywords:

murder of a nude woman | murder of a policewoman | female nudity | policewoman | murder | 

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Taglines:

A lady of the night can sell anything...even her life.

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Genres:

Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot in November and December of 1978.

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Goofs

When Danny uses an M16 rifle in semi-automatic mode to shoot Sandy and the other man in the red Fiat, the sounds of a manual reload/cocking can be heard between shots, even though the M16 wouldn't do that, nor do his hands move.

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Quotes

Julius Kurtz: Oh, hello, officers. I see the Mayor's annual clean up campaign is in full swing. I must commend him in the morning.
Sgt. Boyd: [the other officer starts to frisk him] Alright, take it easy, take it easy.
Julius Kurtz: [the officer finds a gun] Voila! Magique - ze gun permit. Signed by the Mayor.
Sgt. Boyd: Pimp!
Julius Kurtz: No, no, not really, more of a traffic cop. I mean I direct people to things that they're looking for. For this, they love me. Mason, here, he prays for me. Would you like Mason to pray for you? He'd do that you know - if I ask...

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Alternate Versions

The 1980 Dimension Pictures U.S. release added an opening sequence in which a prostitute, played by a young Linnea Quigley, is shot to death in her shower. This is also intact on the original VHS release by Media Home Entertainment, but not the original Canadian version.

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Connections

References Wanda, the Wicked Warden (1977)

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Soundtracks

About Lies
performed by Belinda Montgomery (as Belinda J. Montgomery)
composed by Alexis Radlin

User Reviews

Canadian Police Drama

Contains Spoiler!!! Just to see Paul Williams, Julius Kurtz, playing a big time city pimp should make "Stone Cold Dead" worth watching. With the always reliable Richard Crenna, Sgt. Boyd as the Toronto cop with an obsession for putting Kurtz away and off the streets to make the city safe.

Some deranged sniper has been offing prostitutes and at the same time photographing them and sending the photos to the police to taunt them and make them feel helpless in catching him. Sgt. Boyd thinks that it's Kurtz that's the killer and is out to get the goods on him. You would wonder why Kurtz would kill his own employees and hurt his prostitution business? Does Boyd know something?

Fairly good whodunit with a surprising performance on the part of Paul Williams as the cool pimp with a heart of gold when it comes to taking good care of his "ladies" even though he can be rough some times but as everyone watching the movie knows Julie doesn't really mean it.

A very effective and sympathetic scene in the film is when Kurtz is at a funeral of one of his murdered "ladies" and Sgt. Boyd arrives uninvited hassling him. Kurtz then quietly tell him "Can't you see that I'm here to pay my respects". It just made me wonder who was the good guy and who was the bad guy in the movie.

Sgt. Boyd gets really involved in the murder case when one of the hookers murdered by the sniper turns out to be a woman undercover detective who's also a good friend of his and it all becomes very personal with him. The ending of the movie is made to shock and surprise and it does very convincingly with the audience not seeing it coming.

"Stone Cold Dead" has that rough and gritty look to it more because of it's small budget then it's filmmakers artistic talents in movie realism with better then average acting from it's supporting cast of Linda Sorenson, Monica Page, and Alberta Watson, Olivia Page, then you would usually see in a B-Movie.

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Stone Cold Dead

Filming Locations:

Times Square, 42nd Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

CAD900,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Ko-Zak Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Bellevue Pathe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1