The Honeymoon Killers (1970)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Leonard Kastle

Writer:

Leonard Kastle (writer)

Release Date:

4 February 1970 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

(A True Story)

Plot:

Based on the true story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, who met through a lonely-hearts correspondence club...

Plot Keywords:

Lonely Hearts | Murder | Correspondence Club | Doomed Romance | Drugging

Cast

Shirley Stoler	...	Martha Beck
Tony Lo Bianco	...	Raymond Fernandez
Mary Jane Higby	...	Janet Fay
Doris Roberts	...	Bunny
Kip McArdle	...	Delphine Downing
Marilyn Chris	...	Myrtle Young
Dortha Duckworth	...	Mother
Barbara Cason	...	Evelyn Long
Ann Harris	...	Doris
Mary Breen	...	Rainelle Downing
Elsa Raven	...	Matron
Mary Engel	...	Lucy
Guy Sorel	...	Mr. Dranoff
Michael Haley	...	Jackson (as Mike Haley)
Diane Asselin	...	Severns

Also Known As:

Dear Martha (USA) (working title)
The Lonely Hearts Killers

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) (uncut) | Finland:K-18 (re-rating) (cut) | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2005) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:M (re-rating) (2004) | France:-16 | Norway:16 (1971) | UK:18 | USA:R | Singapore:PG

Company:

Roxanne

Trivia:

Originally to be directed by Martin Scorsese, but he was replaced after a week of shooting due to creative differences by Donald Volkman who was subsequently replaced by Leonard Kastle. Scorsese was fired because he was filming every scene in master shots and not shooting close-ups or other coverage, making the film impossible to edit.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene on the bus with the dead victim of Martha and Ray, there is a long shot of the woman's face with her eyes somewhat googly and her tongue sticking out, as you hear the bus driver exclaiming her death, etc. Towards the end of the shot, if you watch the woman's face, you can see her tongue move.

Quotes:

Martha Beck: You promised! You promised!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "TCM Underground: The Honeymoon Killers (#1.9)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Symphonies Nos. 5, 6 & 9

Shocking Degeneracy

I went downtown to see some widescreen extravaganza at a Duplex Cinema and when I bought my ticket realized I'd been standing in the wrong line. (The story of my life.) Instead of seeing some technicolorama epic I wound up seeing this, a cheap black-and-white true crime story. Well, felix culpa! I emerged shocked. At the time of its release there was nothing quite like it. Two small-time murdering cons deeply in love with one another in some twisted kind of way. Balding, overacting Tony Lo Bianco. Plumply menacing battleaxe of a nurse, Shirley Stoler. The photography is grainy and primitive. Indoor lamps don't simply cast light -- they glare. The movie's idea of a proper family home looks like something that might be owned by a worker in the Pabst Brewery in Newark. Lo Bianco as Ray is a minor Latin con type, adroit with lonely women, while Stoler, as Martha Beck (great name) is the passionate one, filled with jealousy and rage. I don't know if the victims were supposed to be seen as somehow contemptible, what with their obtuseness and whining, but we never forget that we're dealing with human beings here. The first murder is relatively genteel. Death on a bus follows a poisoning. The next is bone-chilling. To appreciate the shock value of the violence a viewer needs to remember that this was filmed before all the extended gore and homicides we see now in movies like "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer," "Atlantic City," and "Torn Curtain." Previously, when the victim was whacked hard on the head with a claw hammer, he or she slumped forward, decorously dead. Not here. As in "The Assassination of Trotsky," the victim is momentarily stunned, then recovers screaming. The second homicide involves the only use of a directorial touch unusual enough to draw attention to itself. The victim is lying on her back in bed while her two attackers discuss the best way to murder her. The camera concentrates on her uncomprehending and frightened eyes flicking from side to side, then a sharp pan to a pistol pressed against her head, and the sound of a shot. (A contemporary review of the film criticized one of the scenes because we could hear Ray urinating into the toilet bowl offscreen.) The last duet of murders exceeds the limits of any sympathy we might have felt towards the lovers. Ray has promised Martha that he's not going to boff the last victim, whereas, it is revealed, he's been unfaithful -- to Martha, that is. Well, that's enough for Martha. After disposing of both her last rival and child she drops the dime on the two of them. If she can't own Ray exclusively then no one's going to have a piece of him. Ray writes her a love letter in jail. His ability to forgive is almost religious in its magnitude. Either that or he just can't stop telling lies.

This is a true story, and it has the digressions and non sequiturs we find in a real-life script. People get into unexpected and awkward arguments that are accidentally heard offscreen. Ray's sleep is constantly interrupted by Martha arguing with a victim in the next bedroom. The fact that this is based on real events make it all the more scary. Skip Freddy and the rest if you want to be scared out of your wits. Catch this instead.