Who Killed Teddy Bear? (1965)

Memorable, crazy movie

Don't listen to the negative reviews

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Harassed by an obscene phone caller, a young woman begins to wonder if the detective assigned to her case is behind the calls in this strange little mystery thriller starring Juliet Prowse. The film is incredibly well photographed in stark black and white by Joseph C. Brun (of 'Edge of the City' and 'Odds Against Tomorrow' fame) with awesome shots that initially obscure the phone caller's face, dizzy point-of-view shots as he later wanders the streets alone and some excellent tracking shots that walk along with Prowse. The supporting characters are refreshingly different too from those of the typical noir thriller, from Jan Murray's policeman, unhealthily obsessed with perverts, to Elaine Stritch in a terrific turn as Prowse's lesbian boss with designs on her, to Margot Bennett as a brain injured teenager. And then, of course, there is Sal Mineo, whose top billed supporting role is best left undisclosed until one has seen the film (it is really quite an experience). Tension nevertheless fades in and out throughout (an upbeat zoo scene in particular drags on too long) and the ending feels rather protracted, not to mention a little over-the-top, but this remains a surefire interesting motion picture beyond the mysterious title whose meaning eventually becomes clear. It is an aptly offbeat title too considering how daringly different the whole project feels.

Even before you see his face, you can feel the sensuality of Sal Mineo thrusting its way off the screen, wearing nothing but tighty whities as he makes several obscene phone calls at 6 O'clock in the morning. He's only fondling his legs, but the point is made. When you finally see Sal's gorgeous face, he's inside a really swinging nightclub where the customers are rude, crude, long to be nude, and using food to get the girls in the mood. Mineo works busing tables and takes over waiting them when the servers don't show up. "If you're going make it in show biz, you're going to meet some pretty weird types. Of course, that is assuming that you're planning on making it on your feet, so to speak!" That's how you're introduced here to the legendary "Ladies Who Lunch" diva Elaine Stritch, playing an extremely glamorous lesbian who has the hots for D.J. Juliet Prowse. Tough but with a sense of compassion to the underdog, Stritch has a drunk customer kicked out and stands up for one of her deaf employees when the customer attacks him. She reminds me a great deal of Grayson Hall's character in the cult movie "Satan in High Heels", although this was obviously made on a bit of a higher budget even if it's still down the scale on its vision of a lack of polite society.As for Mineo, don't let his polite on the surface nature fool you; He disguises his voice on the phone as you see only his bare chest and the tip of his jockeys, and this is where the perversion takes on a sexual film noir story, pre-dating "Basic Instinct" and "Fatal Attraction" by more than two decades. This is the village, and it is not a polite society. The film turns dirt into art, and it is absolutely fascinating to watch, even though you are praying that circumstances like this never happen to you. But when you work in the bar world of a big metropolis, you never know what type of sociopath is going to come in. Even the police detective interviewing Prowse after she is harassed on the phone has a very verbal way of describing the types of characters he has come in contact with. Don't click your heels together to hope to go back to Kansas; Once you're in the land of Odd, you're stuck there.A jazzy music score aids in the vision of New York's dark side, and there's no turning back when you stay out past happy hour. Nights in New York always bring film noir to life, whether it's on screen or in reality. I have been searching for this dark and disturbing film ever since I became fans of both Mineo's and Stritch's, and in biographies on Mineo's life, Ms. Stritch went into great detail in her remembrances of him as a man and as an actor. Jan Murray is fantastic as the police detective overshadowed by the grittiness in his life, yet still leading the life of perfect father. A lot of detail went into the creation of each of these characters, and every moment is fascinating. Every character (including Murray) has their own elements of darkness, showing the inner anxieties we all carry and which can explode at any minute.The teddy bear reference is an interesting metaphor both psychologically and visually, and in spite of the tacky nature of the theme, it is sensationalism that titillates no matter how much the viewer tries not to admit it. As Jean Simmons' missionary said in "Guys and Dolls", she's supposedly afraid of sin, so naturally, she's attracted to it. But these aren't the friendly colorful gamblers of Damon Runyeon's New York. This is a John Cassavettes/John Waters view of a changing society, filled with a gritty ugliness that the early film noir only dared to touch on.

It's lurid and gritty to the point of exhaustion...unfortunately WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR isn't a very good movie. Sal Mineo, wearing tight pants, a tight shirt and a tight jacket, is a busboy obsessed with record spinner Juliet Prowse. He makes dirty phone calls to her and follows her around NYC. Prowse suspects cop Jan Murray of being the perp and her lesbian boss Elaine Stritch thinks she's just plain crazy. Certainly way ahead of its time, but nevertheless oddly unsatisfying. The direction by Joseph Cates is mightily uneven and the occasional pyrotechnics (swirling cameras, strobe effects) don't go very far. The acting is a real odd mix, with Mineo giving a fine performance and Stritch and Murray offering solid support. Prowse, a dancer with a seemingly unending overbite, is somewhat bland. There's a lot of swinging music on the soundtrack.

**SPOILERS** Sal Mineo lets it all hang out in this psychological thriller as the sex crazed and obsessed busboy Larry Sherman who's fixated on beautiful Norah Dain, played by tall and leggy Juliet Prowse, a disk jockey in the midtown Manhattan disco that he works at.Larry had it rough in his attempts in striking up relationships with women over the years which for the most parts ended up just being one night affairs. Shy and a bit insecure in his ability in trying to make it with the fairer sex Larry opts to just roam the city's red light district sneaking in and out of X-rated book stores and peep shows for his personal and adult entertainment. The only women that Larry feels comfortable with is hookers-who's only interest in him is how much he can pay them-whom he can barley afford due to his meager salary as a minimum wage, who depends on tips for a living, busboy.Larry's second passion in getting himself off is spying on women with his binoculars from his apartment window. It just so happens that Norah lives across the street from Larry's apartment in a walk-up she just recently sublet from a friend of hers!We also get a glimpse of one of the many reasons that makes Larry tick very early in the movie as we see Larry having sex with-what seems to be-a hooker as his little sister Edi,Margot Bennett, catches him in the act. Shocked at what she sees Edi slips and falls down a flight of stairs, with her precious little Teddy Bear in hand, cracking her skull and leaving her brain damaged. Feeling responsible for Edi's condition Larry has completely taken control of her life having Edi locked up in a closet and away from any, other then himself, human contact. Larry feels that Edi, who's now 19, will end up turning tricks like most of the women that he associates with!While not being occupied with Edi and not being that stable of a person himself Larry's obsession with Norah now goes from just spying on her to calling Norah up at all hours of the day and night and terrorizing her with obscene-mostly huffing and puffing-phone calls. It's when Larry starts to get personal with Norah and knowing things about her-like where she works and lives-that makes her feel threatened by his constant and unwanted phone calls. It's then that Norah goes to the police to see what they can do, after finding out just who he is, to stop and arrest the heavy breathing creep.Putting Police Let. Dave Madden, Jan Murray, on the case has Norah feel that he himself is some kind of sex pervert in his obsession of sex crime victims who's conversations he secretly records, without their knowledge, and endlessly plays back and listens to in his apartment! All this while Let. Madden has his 15 year-old daughter Pam, played by Diane Moore who's actually Jan Murray's real life daughter, listening in!One afternoon as Larry is pumping himself up in the local gym he spots Norah in a sexy bathing suit who by inviting him to take a swim with her in the pool makes Larry more crazier then ever and almost unable to control himself! Later we get to see Larry do what he does best by making a B-line to Times Square and immersing himself in all the X-rated books magazines and peep shows available to him. That's Larry's way of cooling off his libido and keeping him from doing anything crazy. But in fact it,the X-rated books magazines and scantly clad women, get Larry even more turned on towards Norah whom he thinks, after the incident at the gym, is hot for him!Shocking and extremely sexually explicit for its time the film "Who Killed Teddy Bear" and its star Sal Mineo are some ten years ahead of the equally shocking psychological thriller "Taxi Driver" with Robert De Niro playing the crazed and sex obsessed cab driver Travis Bickle! A part very similar to Mineo's Larry Sherman!In fact Sal Mineo is far more believable then De Niro in that the film doesn't clean up his acts of violence and depravity like the movie "Taxi Driver" did with Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle! In making him a hero at the conclusion of the film! Even though Robert De Niro/Travis Bickel slaughtered a pimp and John in order to rescue the woman he was obsessed with: The 14 year-old hooker Iris. This action in his mind and in the minds of those who made the movie supposedly proved to the audience that the mentally unstable and criminally driven Bickle was actually fit to live in a civilized society!***SPOILERS*** The films ending has Larry really lose it as Norah, not realizing that he's the person who's been unmercifully harassing her on the phone, invites him to dance with her at the now deserted disco. Larry's insecurities, in feeling that he's not up to it, take over as he viciously attacks and rapes the unsuspecting and terrified Norah. Let. Madden who had his suspicions about Larry's, whom he met with Edi in Central Park, mental state soon realizes, by checking Larry's apartment, that he's making the obscene calls and rushes down to the disco where both Larry and Norah are!Not all that surprise of an ending with Larry paying for his crimes which includes the murder of his and Noarh's boss at the disco lesbian Elaine Stritch, Marian Freeman, who had earlier made an unwanted pass at a totally turned off Noarh. It turned out that Larry's ultimated fate was for him to end up in a place that he's very familiar and at home with: The sleazy and red light Times Square District of New York City.