A KNIFE FOR THE LADIES (1974)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny* 
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

*SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS*

I saw a cut-down version of this film, running about sixty minutes, under the title JACK THE RIPPER GOES WEST. The version under this title runs a little under 90 minutes, and until I saw that, I couldn't be sure if there was any justification for the "Ripper" allusion-- which indeed there is none. Yet, going by the above poster, the lack of a genuine "Saucy Jack" in the story didn't prevent someone from claiming that the psycho-killer in the story was "The Ripper." The hyperbolic ad even attributes a Jason-like invulnerability to the lady-killer, and it highlights his alleged "blood lust for ladies naked and dead." All of this ballyhoo proves very ironic when one finds out the true nature of the character whose pustule-covered face is implied to be the referenced "Ripper."

There had been a small number of movies or TV shows about psycho-killers in the Old West before KNIFE. However, neither the three credited writers nor the director had any facility with the horror-genre, and KNIFE spotlights those limitations. Of the three writers, one has no other IMDB credits, the second went on mostly to cartoons and variety shows, and the third, Seton Miller, had distinguished himself in Hollywood Classic films, not least a favorite of mine, THE BLACK SWAN-- but Miller passed right around the time of KNIFE's release. Director Larry Spangler never worked on another horror film before or after this one, and one can see that he barely knows how to build suspense or display gory effects. In fact, at its heart KNIFE is a revisionist western, not unlike the two "Nigger Charley" films Spangler completed before it. The horror-plot is just an excuse to present a conflict of "the old generation and the new"-- though the film's handling of the theme is jejune at best.  

 

The mining-town of Mescal (named for its long-dead founder) was once prosperous, but with the mine's failure Mescal is a dying burg. Out of this poverty a serial killer arises, knocking off three ladies of the evening, one of whom is slain for an opening scene. In contrast to the governmental indifference to the fate of prostitutes in many Ripper-films, Mescal's banker wants the killer caught right away. Having no confidence in Jarrod (Jack Elam), the town's old, drunken sheriff, the banker hires a big-city detective, Burns (a big-haired Jeff Cooper). Burns never really does much detecting. He does interview a few people, notably the widow of the founder, Elizabeth Mescal (Ruth Roman), who provides the tossed-off info that she also had an adult son, Travis, by her late husband, and that he too has recently died. But Jarrod hates Burns at first sight, and eventually the two end up proving their mutual manhood with a fistfight. But because there aren't that many more murders during the film's second act, Spangler makes up the difference with a side-plot about finding the men who lynched an innocent suspect.

Both the main plot and the side-plots are dull and poorly acted, but these were apparently what grabbed Spangler and the writers, because when it comes time to deliver on the premise, they rush through it. The big reveal is that Travis Mescal-- who's been mentioned as having been a big man with the ladies in life-- never died. Elizabeth faked the story of his death and kept him in a cage within her mansion, allowing him to become both physically and mentally disfigured by a "social disease." So Travis hasn't actually been lurching around displaying his blood lust for dead, naked ladies; his momma done did it all. Elizabeth, then, is really the centric icon whom the two dull crime-solvers pursue. But the script doesn't have the stones to explore Elizaeth's maternal version of the Oedipus complex. One can guess that she resented Travis's dalliances with prostitutes, and that resentment, as well as community reputation, led her to fake her son's death and deny him whatever care might have been available in the 1880s. Yet she also blamed the whores for her son's decay and started killing them-- only to decide at the last moment to give Travis a "virgin bride," Jarrod's niece. A better script could have subtly alluded to Elizabeth's incestuous nature, as was done in the 1962 MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. But as I said, it looks like none of the principals cared about getting the horror-story right. Once the crazy mother and her spawn are both dead, the film ends with Burns, Jarrod and Jarrod's niece leaving Mescal to its decaying fate-- which doesn't seem like a very happy ending for the townsfolk.