The Sadist

1963 HorrorThriller 95 minutes Directed by James Landis

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About The Sadist

Teachers Ed Stiles, Doris Page, and Carl Oliver break down at a junkyard in California's Antelope Valley on the way to a Dodgers game. Charlie Tibbs and his girlfriend Judy Bradshaw hold them with a Colt .45 and make Ed repair a car. Charlie shoots Carl after making him beg, then kills two policemen who stop. Ed sprays gasoline into Charlie's eyes and runs. Charlie, half blind, shoots Judy by mistake, then kills Ed with a policeman's gun. He drives after Doris until the car stalls in sand, chases her with a knife, and falls into a pit of rattlesnakes. Doris walks up the trail into the desert.

Cast & crew

More about The Sadist

James Landis wrote and directed it. L. Steven Snyder produced it. Fairway International Pictures released it in the United States on April 25, 1963. Wikipedia says the budget was $69,000 and that it was shot for $33,000 in two weeks. It runs 95 minutes. It was also called Profile of Terror and Sweet Baby Charlie.

Themes

  • A junkyard stop on the way to a ballgame
  • A couple with a gun
  • A chase that ends in a snake pit
  • Charlie Tibbs
  • Judy Bradshaw
  • junkyard
  • Antelope Valley
  • Colt .45
  • rattlesnakes

Background

Starkweather was executed. Fugate, who was 14 at the time of the killings, was sentenced to life and paroled in 1976. The film uses that spree as the model for Charlie and Judy.

Making

Vilmos Zsigmond, credited as William Zsigmond, shot his first feature here after Arch Hall Jr. saw his work on Wild Guitar. The job let him leave a photo-lab job. He had left Hungary in 1956.

Reviews

In a 2008 Guardian piece on Badlands, Ryan Gilbey noted The Sadist as an earlier film of the Starkweather and Fugate story.

Look

Vilmos Zsigmond, billed as William Zsigmond, shot the junkyard in handheld 35mm, which was uncommon at the time.

Music

Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter are credited with library music, without an on-screen credit.

Preservation

Joe Dante's 35mm print was the source for the 2007 Apprehensive Films DVD. Copies are also on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.

Notes

  • Arch Hall Jr. plays Charlie A. Tibbs. Marilyn Manning plays Judy Bradshaw. Richard Alden plays Ed Stiles. Helen Hovey plays Doris Page. Don Russell plays Carl Oliver.
  • Landis patterned Charlie and Judy on Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate, who killed 11 people in Nebraska and Wyoming from November 1957 to January 1958.
  • Ammunition in the gunplay was live, to save money.
  • The snake-pit shots used live rattlesnakes with their mouths sewn shut. A crew mistake put unsewn snakes in the pit, and Hall was pulled out before he was bitten.
  • Don Russell also worked as production manager. Anthony M. Lanza edited.
  • Joe Dante owns the 35mm print used for the 2007 DVD from Apprehensive Films.

Scenes

  • Charlie makes Carl kneel in the sand until a soda is finished, then shoots him.
  • Ed sprays gasoline into Charlie's eyes.
  • Charlie falls into the rattlesnake pit while chasing Doris.

Influenced by

  • The 1957–58 Starkweather and Fugate killings

Also available

  • Internet Archive (The_Sadist)
  • Wikimedia Commons (THE SADIST.webm)
  • Apprehensive Films DVD (2007)