He Went That Way ** (2023, Zachary Quinto, Jacob Elordi) – Classic Movie Review 13,694

The crazily oddball 2023 American crime drama film He Went That Way is based on real-life 1960s serial killer Larry Ranes’s encounter with animal trainer Dave Pitts, and stars Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto.

Debut director Jeffrey Darling’s oddball 2023 American crime drama film He Went That Way is based on real-life serial killer Larry Ranes’s encounter with animal trainer Dave Pitts, and stars Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto.

The film is described as ‘A journey of curious tensions and bonds between two and at times three interesting characters all on their own path.’ Let me tell you more.

[Spoiler alert] He Went That Way is truly weird but not in a good way. It’s a true one-off, which is great, because we sure don’t want another. No He Went That Way Too then, thank you. I’m guessing there’ll be no call for a sequel anyway, unless it is actually the chimp’s story, though it turns out this one is exactly that all along, but we didn’t know that. That could be a spoiler alert with any other film, but not here. In any case there’s not much to spoil.

He Went That Way is a watchable but fairly disagreeable true-life tall story about how one guy and his performing chimp Spanky pick up an attractive hitch-hiker, who turns out to be a serial killer. The black comedy tone is uncertain, and the whole thing doesn’t quite work out very well, with some inherent ugly violence in the way of entertainment (well it is a serial killer movie). It is watchable, a bit like a car wreck is watchable.

Jim (Zachary Quinto) picks up Bobby (Jacob Elordi) on a desolate stretch of Route 66. Perhaps Jim is looking for his kicks on Route 66. 

The hard-stretched actors are fully engaged but don’t manage to make you believe a word of it. It is all just play acting. Sneakily, it is kind of amusing in places though, and somehow you do want to like it and be on its side. Elordi suggests sex appeal OK as mysterious stranger Bobby, but doesn’t seem much like a serial killer or an American, though Quinto is a bit more persuasive as an oddball middle-aged middle American, animal trainer Jim.

Why would he pick this man up? Why would he not get the hell out of Dodge at the earliest possible moment, or just call the cops? Who knows. The film sure doesn’t even try to explain the curious tensions and bonds between the two men, though there they are, those curious tensions and bonds, up on screen for all to see should anyone so wish.

The screenplay is by Evan M Wiener, based on Luke Karamazov by Conrad Hilberry, based on the actual events of the serial killer Larry Ranes.

The film premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 9, 2023 and was released by Vertical Entertainment in the US on January 5, 2024.

Runtime: 95 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,694

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