Product Description
Suspense-master Willam Golman (Marathon Man) wrote the novel from which this bizarre black comedy was adapted.
Product Details
| Theatrical Release Date | 1968-03-20 |
| Creator | Sol C. Siegel |
| Format | Video On Demand |
| Directed By | Jack Smight |
| Compatible Devices | TiVo |
| Running Time | 109 minutes |
| Synopsis | Suspense-master Willam Golman (Marathon Man) wrote the novel from which this bizarre black comedy was adapted. It's the extraordinary account of a plumber who kills a dowdy matron, a priest who kills a dowdy matron, and a policeman who kills a dowdy matron. Actually they're all the same man, a psychotic master of disguise brilliantly played by versatile Rod Steiger. The killer also gets his kicks phoning in clues to detective George Segal. All of New York trembles as a sixth strangling is reported in the papers. And the man with the makeup kit stalks another victim... the detective's girlfriend (Lee Remick). A suspenseful, macabre game of cat and mouse. |
| Title | No Way To Treat A Lady |
| Studio | Paramount |
| Starring | Rod Steiger,Lee Remick,George Segal,Eileen Heckart,Murray Hamilton |
| Genre | Comedy |
| MPAA Rating | Unrated |
| Release Date | 2009-08-26 |
Customer Reviews
An obscenely misogynistic film disguised as "entertainment"Review by L. Spain, 2009-08-08
Many Americans criticize and protest vehemently against the way women and girls are treated in various cultures outside of the United States, particularly in nations with predominantly Muslim populations. Many of us vent considerable outrage to call attention to the religiously sanctioned suppression of women's rights, the murder, the public floggings and beatings, the stoning, burning and disfigurement of women and girls in places as diverse and different from each other as India, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, and elsewhere.
And yet, here, in the land of the free, in the allegedly most democratic and religiously enlightened nation in the world, our movie industry routinely conjures up and drags out of the pit a big-budgeted, all-star cast "snuff" film such as "No Way to Treat A Lady". If there ever could be a cinematic reference point to what constitutes pornographic content in filmed, fictional violence, then this film would be the superior example. It presents the disgustingly irrational aberration of misogyny - the male hatred of women -- as it metastasizes in the hopelessly diseased mind of a repugnant, mentally ill character, escalating in intensity until it manifests itself as a full-blown, stark, raving, and uncontrollable homicidal rage to destroy individual members of the female species. To kill them. Murder them. To end their lives by asphyxiating them. To crush their windpipes. And all this only three years after the Boston Strangler. Great timing.
These murders are filmed with a feverish, ferocious attentiveness to mood, setting, and editing. The director deliberately prolongs the suspense leading up to each of the stranglings by giving Rod Steiger enough time to work himself up to bellowing like Godzilla before he chokes the breath out of the women with his bare hands.
Why is this considered entertainment??? I had a mother, and still have sisters that I love, respect, and would protect and defend until I died doing it, you understand?. I don't see anything funny, or interesting, or entertaining, or diverting, or profound, or clever, or ingenious about watching any fictional character/s direct so much festering, gleefully violent hatred towards females. I don't care how talented the performers are. This is culturally sanctioned violent pornography designed to remind women everywhere that the bogeyman's after you and is gonna get you no matter what. So, run, girl, run! Scream a little, too. That makes bogeyman get sooo excited. Oh, and by the way, don't forget to trip and fall, so it'll be easy for the bogeyman to GET YOU. Don't fight back, either. That makes the bogeyman MAD enough to go after your daughter, usually while she's standing naked in the shower.
It would be easy to regard and describe films like this as "sick", but I won't take that bait, because to be "sick" implies that you can get better, if you can get the help you need to treat what ails you. Well, Hollywood ain't getting any better. From Alfred Hitchcock's film of Robert Bloch's novel "Psycho", to Joseph Ruben's "The Stepfather", to Jonathan Demme's recreation of Thomas Harris' "The Silence of the Lambs", the male "id" of the American film industry has strutted, preened and pranced around rubbing our faces in some seriously depraved images of women and girls enduring the worst sadism, the most humiliating suffering, both psychic and physical, that male egos could imagine. Newspapers on a daily basis are full of stories about men (who probably "get-off" on this kind of "entertainment") going out into the real world and acting out their misogynistic nightmares on women in the invaded privacy of their homes, girls' school dormitories and, as recently as yesterday, women's fitness clubs.
All I can say is, you better check yourselves, all you men, fathers, brothers, husbands and lovers. You better be ultra-watchful of your reactions and your thoughts while you watch these cinematic instruction manuals on how to bring out your dark side and unleash it on women only.
No Way to Treat a Lady is a late 1960s beauty.
Review by PS Coleman, 2009-07-14
The plot, direction etc. don't really have a chance, because they are totally overshadowed by the acting. This is a showcase for Steiger, Segal, and Remick, but is just crammed full of great character actors as well (esp. Eileen Heckart).
Lost Classic
Review by EddieLove, 2008-12-13
The first (and only?) romantic-comedy-serial-killer-thriller still holds up, a relief as this was one of my favorite movies growing up. The filmmaking isn't particularly cutting edge, but it strikes the perfect tone. Everything is believable, but not so much so that we take the crimes seriously and our enjoyment is diminished. Steiger is terrific and while he clearly enjoys hamming it up, he still manages to be compellingly realistic. Lee Remick does her patented routine of the promiscuous Manhattanite. She looks great, but does her cloying sing-song delivery at times. (I used to watch this whenever it came on local TV as a kid, and I don't think I ever saw the scene of her describing her sexual history until the DVD.) Great stuff.
A great New Yorker's film from the 70's
Review by Carp E. Diem, 2008-09-29
An excellent cast with an opportunity to see Eileen Heckart as George Segal's Jewish mother. Rod Steiger is in top form as is beauty Lee Remick. The scene between Segal and Michael Dunn, as the improbable killer, alone, is worth the discounted price I paid for the DVD. This is also a treat for New Yorkers, born and raised, who would like a glimpse of familiar times and places not so long ago.
The classic "serial" murder mystery
Review by Stephen P. Sullivan, 2008-08-25
Rod Steiger, Lee Remick and George Segal are at their best in this film. One of Steiger's career highlights. Witty and suspensful - they Don't make them like this anymore.
