This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Taunted by phone calls from a serial killer who dons a different disguise every time he kills, a New York detective struggles to get an upper hand in this odd 'Boston Strangler' variant with comedic touches. As the murderer in question, Rod Steiger delivers a terrific performance, preying on the insecurities of his female victims whilst remaining completing in character until he has won their trust and has the opportunity to strike. George Segal is also fine as the baffled detective and the film gets very riveting in the final quarter as Segal finds ways himself to play mind games with Steiger and prod him into inadvertently revealing personal details. While solid as a thriller, the movie is uneven as a comedy. Eileen Heckart is irritatingly shrill as Segal's henpecking mother, and while there is something to be said for how her pestering is just as annoying for Segal as the killer's taunts, the exchanges between Heckart and Segal are generally unfunny and feel like a distraction from the Steiger main plot. Lee Remick only fares slightly better than Heckart as Segal's love interest and her subplot feels like a distraction too. The film consistently works though when Steiger is in focus with a lot of delicious dark comedy derived from how he manages to constantly con all his victims. His exchanges with Segal (each time affecting a different accent) sparkle too and he has one surefire memorable final scene. The title also has a curious double meaning here; Heckart says in disapproval of Segal inspecting female corpses, but it applies equally to Steiger's take on female companionship.

A very stylish thriller directed by Jack Smight from a novel by William Goldman. Rod Steiger (in many many guises) is a strangler preying on elderly women and taunting NYC cop George Segal. Though clearly no mama's boy, Segal lives with his mom (Eileen Heckart, who redefines gumption with her smothering Jewish mother routine) and is smitten with Lee Remick, an enigmatic witness and potential victim. Both Steiger & Segal are perfect. Steiger's performance is staggering as he plays, at various times, an Irish priest, a fop wig salesman, a German plumber (who actually uses the word wonderbar!) and a cop. Shockingly for Steiger he does not ham it up as he would in many future roles (Napoleon, Mussolini). Shot on location with great cinematography by Jack Priestley and exceptional art direction by George Jenkins (note Remick's "mod" apartment). The large supporting cast includes David Doyle, Murray Hamilton, Doris Roberts, Barbara Baxley, Ruth White, Val Bisoglio and Michael Dunn, who claims to be the strangler despite some very obvious limitations. The very effective music score is by Stanley Myers.

When Jewish Detective Mo Brummel (George Segal) isn't hunting down a serial killer (Rod Steiger), Mo's momus mother (the talented Eileen Heckart) is shoving food across the table to him whining, "Eat!"Well-scripted for its time, the story still holds up even today. Nothing is contrived. From the manipulating the newspapers so the police can smoke out their man to the verbal snipe at a homosexual. This was life in the 60s! If you grew up in New York you'll applaud writers Gay and Goldman for capturing the Jewish-ness of their characters. Either you had relatives like the Brummels, or they lived as neighbors in the same building you did, but live they did! New Yorkers will love the city street scenes and recognize many establishments like Sardi's and Merv Griffin's studio next door to it. And Lee Remick's funky 60s pad brings back memories of jaunty women caught up in the "new scene." A little disappointing is Lee Remick's character. Perhaps her character development got left on the cutting-room floor? Mrs. Brummel's conniption's over her son's dating a shiksa is right on, and funny.Steiger is a true master of mental disguise.Segal is the perfect mamma's boy, as well as a hard-working sleuth.A nice balance of humor and drama.A clever way to show off New York.Steiger probably would have won an Oscar for his role in NWtTaL if he hadn't received the Oscar the year before for his role in In the Heat of the Night.

This movie wound up being a vehicle for Rod Steiger to show off is acting talents, which were at their peak at this time. Now, he's a cartoon of himself with mostly overacted roles.In this story, Steiger does his Boston Strangler imitation pretending he is different people to gain entrance into their homes and strangle them. Unlike the real-life strangler, Steiger's character disguises himself as different people (and kills half as many as the real life killer in Boston). He's interesting to watch through the entire story.The other main characters weren't as fascinating. This was the beginning of the big change in Hollywood where morals went out the window. I was disappointed to hear Lee Remick announce how she was kicking out her live-in boyfriend of three years. Remick, someone I've always liked watching, was a major disappointment in this. She looked bad and her character was classless and trashy with stupid dialog. I had always seen Remick play classier roles, but then again the restrictions were now lifted. Eileen Heckert also was annoying as the overly-doting Jewish mother. Her act grew tiresome in a hurry, but fortunately, she exited soon anyway.George Segal, meanwhile, plays a good guy cop and is a lot more enjoyable to watch than the two ladies.In all, an interesting film that really started showing how Hollywood was going to be changing in content.