No Way to Treat a Lady **** (1968, Rod Steiger, Lee Remick, George Segal) – Classic Movie Review 2734

Lee Remick plays Kate Palmer, Segal’s bewildered gentile girlfriend, who unfortunately attracts a serial killer (Rod Steiger)’s evil attentions, in director Jack Smight’s tense, clever and extremely creepy 1968 black comedy thriller.

Remick had everything – looks, class and talent – but alas still didn’t quite make it to the top of the Hollywood tree. Her best opportunities were all as co-stars, and this film sees her making the most of playing third fiddle to Steiger, as Christopher Gill, a theatre manager and ingenious serial killer who uses inventive disguises to trick his victims, and George Segal, as Morris Brummel, the dogged Jewish police detective on his trail.

Steiger and Segal are both seen at their absolute best, and Eileen Heckart scores as Segal’s mom, Mrs Brummel. With a screenplay by John Gay based on the novel by William Goldman, this is dated material, with what now seem like some dodgy attitudes, but the film’s power and the stars’ performances haven’t faded at all.

Also in the cast are Murray Hamilton (as Inspector Haines), Michael Dunn, Barbara Baxley, Ruth White, David Doyle, Martine Bartlett, Irene Dailey and Doris Roberts.

The somewhat odd idea of turning No Way to Treat a Lady into a stage musical version resulted in a flop show in London’s West End in 1998.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2734

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