Based on Gerold Frank's book, this could have been a salacious, grisly affair about the man who murdered 13 women and terrorised a city between 1962 and 1964, but instead it's a triumph of taste and restraint, made in a low-key semi-documentary style by director Richard Fleischer. Henry Fonda as the criminologist working for the attorney-general is excellent, from his initial dislike of the job assigned to him, to the way he becomes fascinated and determined to break down the mental barriers of Tony Curtis, who plays the killer. As for Curtis, his performance is alarmingly well-played and often terrifying.

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