Massage Parlor Murders! (1973) Noir-ish Manhattan Misfire

A maniac is killing massage parlor girls.

It's all happening around Mid Town Manhattan. The film was featured on Flavorwire's article "50 Films That Capture the Dark Side of New York City.

The film had two directors neither of which ever directed another film. It also has value as a nice archival record of what looks like Tribeca and the Hudson River waterfront just before gentrification.

The film opens with a typical "massage" session. The client comes into the room. The woman suggests he strip down. She takes off his jacket and unbuttons his shirt.

He lays on the table she asks if he'd like her to take off her top. He says yes she tells him it's $20, he pays.



She's down to her panties when he chickens out gets dressed and leaves. It's a quasi humorous sequence.

We get a title card and then an old style Classic Hollywood type introductions to the stars of the film. They are clips, George Spencer is playing a goombah NYPD Detective named Risotti. John Moser plays white bread Detective O'Mara.

After the credits we segue back over to Risotti he's getting dressed, straightening his tie, we see a woman his wife, no, we pull back to reveal that he's a customer at a massage parlor himself. Its the Mad Hatter Massage Parlor.

She's Rosie. She plays with his gun.

Risotti and O'Mara are homicide detectives. They drive around in an unmarked Plymouth Fury. Their next case hits close to home.

Risotti and O'Mara

At the joint where Rosie works a client comes in, He scopes out the three women seated pays his fee to the "manager/bouncer" chooses Rosie and they go off to her cubical.

He likes Rosie

These places spread like fungus in the late 60's early 70s. You didn't need a lot stuff to get the operation up and running. Rent an empty loft space or an office suite, roll in the masseuse tables, then a small table with oils towels etc., etc., put up dividing partitions if you need them, and you had a  massage place of business. You give chump change to a bunch of winos to walk around on the busy avenues handing out brochures advertising the location of the current setup. The finishing touch, stick a sigh up at the buildings entrance showing the floor and suite number. Give a kickback to the precinct cops and you'll make money. There are a lot of horny guys out there.

Rosie (Chris Jordan)

Rosie is found dead in her massage room her face repeatedly smashed into a mirror and strangeled with her bra . Risotti and O'Mara get the squeal.

Risotti is a bit broken up. Rosie was his favorite.

There's no fingerprints, all the witnesses say the guy was an average looking businessman. They need an M.O. They start to question Rosie's friends. O'Mara goes to break the news to Rosie's roommate Gwen.

Gwen (Sandra Peabody)

They both like what the see. Gwen trusts O'Mara. They begin to get involved. Rosie gives them a lead on a guy all the girls named Mr. Creepy (George Dzundza). They locate his address and start tailing him.

They confront Mr Creepy. He runs. Risotti chases. O'Mara follows in the Fury. While they are making the arrest they hear that another massage girl is dead. This time the Everybody's Envy Massage Parlor.  Mr. Creepy isn't the killer.

The second murder is a repeat of the first. An average looking guy comes in nobody pays too much attention to details. He pays his money and picks a victim

He strangles her with his hands then pours acid over her body.

No fingerprints. No real connection between the two murders except for their massage parlor locations. So now they are in a race checking all the nearest known massage parlors. Risotti hits Times Square and it's massage parlors while O'Mara is still working the weirdo angle.

So far the film has been moving along sort of lurching from episode to episode. There is no strong over all guiding path to a finish line. The ideas were good the execution was haphazard. There are some decent sequences particularly the way the budding love affair was depicted between O'Mara and Gwen. But there are others where they throw in a nude pool party which doesn't advance the story and is just there for it's sexploitation value.

Another amusing segment stemming from the pool party has O'Mara chasing after someone who accosted a woman at the pool party. He thinks it may be the murderer. O'Mara just has time to wrap a towel around himself and dash out into the street. The guy jumps in a car and speeds off. O'Mara jumps in front of a taxi and commandeers it. He jumps in and takes off after him.

What follows here a an extremely well staged car chase (talking almost Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups quality) around lower Manhattan. It's a pretty exciting segment of film with the cars careening about warehouses through a junk car wrecking yard and zigzagging around under the support piling of the old West Side Highway.

The West Side Highway was a relic from another time. It was built between 1929 and 1951 and was already obsolete at completion. It was too narrow and its "S" curve exit ramps were too sharp for trucks. The city did not spend much on maintenance. It was more cosmetic than anything. It was a rusting ugly hulk. The end came when a truck and car fell through the deck at 14th Street in 1973. The city shut it down.

The Taxi - Car Chase

O'Mara commandeers a taxi

under the old West Side Highway

It turns out to be a dead end the guy he catches isn't the murderer.

Noirsville

The old green-white-and black NYPD patrol car. The city went to blue and white in 1974. 

Direction was by both Chester Fox and Alex Stevens which could explain the scattershot nature of the film. Cinematography was by Victor Petrashevic. The film has no written by credit (probably from embarrassment), and the music was forgettable.

The cast was George Spencer as Rizotti, John Moser as Detective O'Mara, Sandra Peabody as Gwen, Brother Theodore as Theodore, George Dzundza as Mr. Creepy, Anne Gaybis as Sunny and
Chris Jordan as Rosie.

Lot of potential but its uneven and very poorly executed. At least it has some archival depictions of Manhattan. Worth a watch if you can do it cheaply enough, available streaming or on DVD. 5/10