Ripped from the headlines! : the shocking true stories behind the movies' most memorable crimes

Format:

Book

Title:

Ripped from the headlines! : the shocking true stories behind the movies' most memorable crimes

Author:

Schechter, Harold author

ISBN:

9781542041805

9781542041829

Edition:

First edition.

Publication:

New York : Little A, [2020]

Physical Description:

xix, 352 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

General Note:

"Author of Hell's Princess"--Dust jacket.

Contents:

Alpha dog -- Anatomy of a murder -- Arsenic and old lace -- Badlands -- Blood & orchids -- The body snatcher -- Butterfield 8 -- Chicago and Roxie Hart -- Child 44 -- Dirty Harry -- Double indemnity -- Eaten alive! -- Elephant -- Five star final -- Frenzy -- The fugitive -- Fury -- High Sierra -- The hills have eyes -- The hitch-hiker -- The honeymoon killers -- Looking for Mr. Goodbar -- M -- Monsieur Verdoux -- Murder on the Orient Express -- The night of the hunter -- The Phenix City story -- A place in the sun -- Psycho -- Rope -- Scream -- Shadow of a doubt -- The strangers -- Targets -- 10 to midnight -- To die for -- While the city sleeps -- A woman's vengeance -- You only live once -- The young savages.

Summary:

In this collection of essays, true-crime historian Schechter reveals the real-life stories behind classic movies.

Chicago's Jazz Age crime of passion; the fatal hookup in Looking for Mr. Goodbar; the high school horrors committed by the costumed slasher in Scream. These and other cinematic crimes have become part of pop-culture history-- but found inspiration in true events. Schechter explores the real-life headline-making psychos, serial murderers, thrill-hungry couples, and lady-killers who inspired a century of classic films. Take a trip down the crossroads of fact and fiction, and discover the sensational real-life stories that are more shocking, taboo, and fantastic than even the most imaginative screenwriter can dream up. -- Adapted from jacket.

Subject(s):

Motion picture authorship -- History.

Motion pictures -- History.

True crime stories -- History.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Silver Falls Library	364 SCHECHTER	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Salem Main Library	364 Schechter 2020	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter explores the real-life headline-making psychos, serial murderers, thrill-hungry couples, and lady-killers who inspired a century of classic films.

The necktie murders in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy ; Chicago 's Jazz Age crime of passion; the fatal hookup in Looking for Mr. Goodbar ; the high school horrors committed by the costumed slasher in Scream . These and other cinematic crimes have become part of pop-culture history. And each found inspiration in true events that provided the raw material for our greatest blockbusters, indie art films, black comedies, Hollywood classics, and grindhouse horrors.

So what's the reality behind Psycho , Badlands , The Hills Have Eyes , A Place in the Sun , Arsenic and Old Lace , and Dirty Harry ? How did such tabloid-ready killers as Bonnie and Clyde, body snatchers Burke and Hare, Texas sniper Charles Whitman Jr., nurse-slayer Richard Speck, and Leopold and Loeb exert their power on the public imagination and become the stuff of movie lore?

In this collection of revelatory essays, true-crime historian Harold Schechter takes a fascinating trip down the crossroads of fact and fiction to reveal the sensational real-life stories that are more shocking, taboo, and fantastic than even the most imaginative screenwriter can dream up.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this fascinating survey, Schechter (Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men) details the links between more than 40 movies and the real-life crimes that inspired them. Many of Alfred Hitchcock's films were based on real incidents, in particular 1960's Psycho, which drew on the hideous crimes of Ed Gein, who, after his mother's death, robbed graves and murdered two women and kept their body parts in his farmhouse. (Hitchcock's Frenzy and Rope also merit chapters.) The author brings his erudition to bear on other classics including Arsenic and Old Lace (a late 19th-century female series poisoner), Dirty Harry (San Francisco's Zodiac killer), and Murder on the Orient Express (the Lindbergh baby kidnapping case). Lesser known films get fair treatment, such as 1976's cheesy Eaten Alive! about a man who kills women and feeds their bodies to his pet alligator, which was based on the story of Texan Joe Ball, who kept alligators in a pond behind his tavern and murdered women. True crime fans and movie trivia buffs will devour this one like popcorn. (July)

Booklist Review

Educational and engrossing, true-crime author Schechter's latest (after Hell's Princess, 2018) is a collection of essays that pull back the curtain on Hollywood to explain the real stories that inspired movies such as Chicago, Dirty Harry, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Each essay begins with a brief synopsis of the movie before delving into details from the real-life events that inspired it. Schechter also includes an assessment of how well the movie stayed true to the story, and images of movie posters are sprinkled throughout. Several movie genres are represented, but the focus is mostly on horror or crime movies that span decades, from pre-code Hollywood to the 1990s. Schechter also includes previous versions of movies in his write-ups, which may net those older movies some new fans. In many cases, as readers will see, the true stories eclipse the movies in terms of how bizarre, scandalous, and in some ways unbelievable they were. Fascinating, intriguing, and difficult to put down, Ripped from the Headlines! is a must for movie buffs and true-crime fans alike.

Library Journal Review

True crime aficionados and movie buffs know that murderers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948) and that Elephant (2003) was informed by the Columbine shootings, but they might be surprised to learn that the killers in Scream and The Hills Have Eyes have real-world counterparts, too. With this riveting compendium, true crime guru Schechter (Hell's Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men) provides the ghoulish details behind 40 films, from classics such as Arsenic and Old Lace to grindhouse fare including Eaten Alive! Every entry summarizes the movie (beware spoilers) and offers Schechter's account of the crime. He also expands his discussion when a killer has inspired several movies--Ed Gein, the basis for Psycho's Norman Bates, also influenced The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991). VERDICT Schechter's expertise is such that three of his previous titles appear as works cited in this well-researched and gripping read. This fascinating look at the intersection of true crime and pop culture is a must.--Terry Bosky, Madison, WI