''Murder a la Mod'' is a 1968 American film directed by

Brian De Palma Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...

in his first feature film as a director and writer. An

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

, low-budget

murder-mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

, it was shot on

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

. Following its limited theatrical release, the film was rarely seen until its reissue on DVD in 2006.

Plot summary

In a prologue shown from the

point of view Point of view or Points of View may refer to: Concept and technique * Point of view (philosophy), an attitude how one sees or thinks of something * Point of view (literature) or narrative mode, the perspective of the narrative voice; the prono ...

of a camera

viewfinder In photography, a viewfinder is what the photographer looks through to compose, and, in many cases, to focus the picture. Most viewfinders are separate, and suffer parallax, while the single-lens reflex camera lets the viewfinder use the main ...

, a series of female models in a studio are asked by an off-screen cameraman to undress for a

screen test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. The performer is generally given a scene, or selected lines and actions, and instructed to perform in front of a came ...

. One model is seemingly stabbed by the unseen man behind the camera. During an afternoon of shopping in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's boutiques, Karen, another model, tells her socialite friend Tracy about her fiancé Christopher, a photographer and widower. Tracy visits her bank to withdraw money and jewelry from her safe deposit box, which she places inside a large envelope. Meanwhile, Karen catches sight of Christopher in the street and follows him to his studio, where she discovers he is shooting a sexploitation film featuring a deranged prankster, Otto. Christopher remorsefully tells Karen that he lied about being a widower, and that he is reluctantly working for the film's producer, Wiley, because he urgently needs money to obtain a divorce from his wife. Karen pleads with Christopher to let her help raise the money. Returning to Tracy's parked car, Karen finds Tracy has gone inside a dress shop, leaving the envelope of valuables under her car seat. Karen impulsively steals the cash from the envelope and hurries back to Christopher's studio, intending to give him the money. Entering the building, she is surprised by Otto, who pretends to stab her with a dummy

ice-pick The ice pick is a pointed metal tool used from the 1800s to the 1900s to break, pick or chip at ice. The design consists of a sharp metal spike attached to a wooden handle. The tool's design has been relatively unchanged since its creation. The ...

prop A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...

from Wiley's film) and squirts her with

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...

. After walking inside the studio and cleaning herself up, Karen is then stabbed to death by a genuine assailant wielding a real ice-pick. The film then shows events from the viewpoints of the three other main characters: Tracy follows Otto, who is wheeling a large trunk apparently containing Karen's corpse to a nearby cemetery; Otto discovers Karen's corpse in the studio and attempts to lure the killer to the cemetery with an empty trunk; while Christopher, who has been spying on Karen and Tracy during their shopping expedition, pursues Otto and Tracy to the cemetery. The killer is revealed to be Christopher, who has secretly filmed his murder of Karen. After a fight in the cemetery, Christopher and Otto both return separately to the studio. Christopher kills Wiley when he finds him watching the footage of Karen's murder. He then turns and is shocked to see Karen's corpse apparently moving towards him and brandishing an ice-pick, with which she fatally stabs him. Otto, who is then revealed to have been holding up Karen's body as another intended prank, realizes he has mistakenly used the real ice-pick to stab Christopher, and laughs at the irony.

Cast

Andra Akers Andra Akers (September 16, 1943 – March 20, 2002) was an American actress and philanthropist. A character actress, she appeared in films, theater and television, usually in tough or brassy roles. Early life and education Akers was born in New ...

as Tracy * William Finley as Otto * Margo Norton as Karen *

Jared Martin Jared Christopher Martin (December 21, 1941 – May 24, 2017) was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his role as Steven "Dusty" Farlow in the 1978 series ''Dallas'' and for roles on two science fiction TV series, ''The ...

as Chris * Ken Burrows as Wiley *

Jennifer Salt Jennifer Salt is an American producer, screenwriter, and former actress known for playing Eunice Tate on ''Soap'' (1977–1981). Life and career Salt was born in Los Angeles, California to screenwriter Waldo Salt and actress Mary Davenport. S ...

as a 'Bird'

Reception

During the film's very limited U.S. theatrical release, it was screened with

Paul Bartel Paul Bartel (August 6, 1938 – May 13, 2000) was an American actor, writer and director. He was perhaps most known for his 1982 hit black comedy '' Eating Raoul'', which he wrote, starred in and directed. Bartel appeared in over 90 movies and ...

's short film ''

The Secret Cinema ''The Secret Cinema'' is a short film, short black-and-white film produced, written, and directed by Paul Bartel, and released in 1966, gaining somewhat wider distribution in 1968. The film is about a woman who is manipulated by people around he ...

''. Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' said both films were "somewhat sophomoric in tone and crude technically", but "imaginative enough to warrant encouragement to their makers." Thomas felt the first half of ''Murder a la Mod'' was "terrible", but that "de Palma then successfully comes to grip with a ''

Rashomon is a 1950 Jidaigeki psychological thriller/crime film directed and written by Akira Kurosawa, working in close collaboration with cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura ...

''-like technique in presenting the murder from the points of view of everyone involved."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' said the film "has a mind and reality of its own. It's completely logical in its use of cinematic tricks — speeded-up action and slow motion, and slapstick humor that is not funny, juxtaposed with mayhem that is. There is a limit as to just how far this sort of playfulness can be carried." David Nusair of ''Reel Film Reviews'' called it "De Palma's first (and worst) feature-length endeavor".

DVD/Blu-ray reissues

''Murder a la Mod'' was reissued on DVD by Something Weird Video in 2006. It was subsequently included as a bonus feature on Criterion's

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

edition of De Palma's ''

Blow Out ''Blow Out'' is a 1981 American neo-noir mystery thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget ...

'' in April 2011.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murder A La Mod 1968 films American black comedy films American crime thriller films Films directed by Brian De Palma Films about pornography 1960s black comedy films 1960s crime thriller films 1968 directorial debut films 1968 comedy films 1968 drama films Films about film directors and producers 1960s English-language films 1960s American films