TO CATCH A KILLER

US, 1992, 135 minutes, Colour.
Brian Dennehy, Michael Riley, Margot Kidder, Meg Foster, Scott Hylands.
Directed by Eric Till.

To Catch a Killer is based on the investigation into the serial killer John Gacy. The film is in many ways a case study and the film at the end says that the methods used for the investigation have become texts for trainees a study in a work of painstaking detection and the building up of sufficient evidence to bring a prosecution.

John Gacy, portrayed by Brian Dennehy with some intensity, especially towards the latter part of the film, murdered over thirty young men and buried their bodies. He also abused them sexually. Though he had a criminal record, he became a respected member of the community as a construction manager. He also taught Sunday School and was on many committees for society.

The film focuses on the disappearance of a young man, the concern of his parents, the investigation by Joe Kosenczak and his driving his team of investigators until he got absolute proof against Gacy. The group used certain harassment techniques to put Gacy off guard. However, he maintained his innocence and played himself against the police, even picking up a young man and taking him to his home. However, he ultimately collapsed and evidence was found of the corpses buried under his house. The film also shows the use of a psychic, played by Margot Kidder.

The film is not a psychological case study of Gacy, though Dennehy gives his interpretation sufficient grounds for audiences to try to understand the mad mentality of such a killer.

Direction is by Eric Till, Canadian director who made such films as Hot Millions and telemovies over a quarter of a century, including Mary and Joseph.

1. A telemovie: case in detection work, detailed police work, preparation for a prosecution case, gathering evidence?

2. The film as a case study of John Gacy in the context of his society, crimes, psychology, investigation by the police? Sufficient material in the film to understand his psychological profile?

3. The title and its emphasis on the work of detection?

4. The Illinois settings, the town, the seasons? Homes? Police precincts? The surveillance work on Gacy, outside his home, the bars, at work, his home? Musical score?

5. Gacy and his place amongst American serial killers: his character, position in society, prison sentence, charges of sodomy, release, attitudes of the police and their helplessness, his working with young boys and offering them better wages, the abuse, the killings, burials? His lies? The latter sequence of his picking up Billy and taking him to his home to play pool and the effect on the young man? This scene (seen??) at the end of the film to give audiences some idea of Gacy's approach? Kozlo and his working with Gacy, buying the car, helping bury the bodies by digging the graves?

6. Kozlo and the police, the interrogations, his gradually revealing the truth, pressure on him? Gacy's pressure?

7. The use of the psychic, her experience, what she saw, the diagrams? Contribution? Police scepticism?

8. The legal officer and her scepticism, wanting a sound case, being offhand in her treatment but finally confronted by Kosenczak and his giving her the evidence? The permission for home searches?

9. The young man and his birthday gift for his mother, his girlfriend, wanting the new job, his disappearance? His parents' concern and their collaboration? The ticket for the developing of the films? His not being amongst the bodies? Kosenczak's later finding him as a finish to the promise to his parents?

10. The range of police, personalities, collaboration, clashes? Surveillance and its demands? Ringing Gacy, watching him, driving him, the car chase on the freeway? Ross and his meeting him in the bar, disturbing him, seeming a friend? The two men going into the house to get the number of the television set? The greater collaboration amongst the group, the interrogations, the research and its detail? The other names, the parents, the interview with the Slavic sounding surnamed man and his feeling that he'd been ignored?

11. America and serial killings, part of the social background, psychological disturbance? The role of the police and of justice?