A Scream in the Streets (1973)

Plain clothes cops Eddie Haskell and Bob Streeker hate freaks. No, not the sideshow kind. The "freaks" they're after are the criminal scum running amok in Los Angeles--like the neighborhood voyeur who peeps on lesbian housewives, and the slimy sadist who goes berserk at a massage parlor. But Number 1 on their hit list is a cheerful serial killer whose hobby is hacking up ladies in a local park. Geared for the seventies drive-in crowd, "A Scream in the Streets" is as gleefully preoccupied with sex as it is with cops and robbers and deftly mixes crime and carnality with an abundance of sizzling starlets!

scream in the streets

Takes me back to 1973 really the main reason I like the movie. March 9, 2007

"You dirty f*@king broad! You stink! I hate you! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha !"

I bet over half of this movie was sex scenes which wouldn't be a bad thing if they weren't so lame. Nobody, nobody in the universe wants to see a flabby guy mediumcore grinding on some hairy 70's chick. Yack!

Outside of the numerous limp sex scenes this movie was kinda entertaining in a low budget, bad acting kind of way. Two cops cruise around Los Angeles busting assorted scumbags (peeping tom, murderer, robber, car thieves) while tracking down a cross-dressing serial rapist/murderer that likes to walk around in broad daylight in the same park everyday all day.
July 22, 2005

sleaze as sleaze can

They don't make them like that anymore. This one is really sleazy. In fact, the sex far outweighs the violence. And the many sex scenes are quite graphic, bordering on hardcore. It also is nasty, most notably in the massage parlor scene, where a sadist beats a woman with his belt.
A SCREAM IN THE STREETS revolves around the fight of two cops against the criminal scum - robbers, a peeping tom and a crossdressing serial killer, who looks HORRIBLE. And his female victims are not too smart, since he approaches them as a very unconvincing "woman", and they (including a plain cloth female detective!) don't even notice!
Like many cop movies of its time, A SCREAM... has an openly self-justice stance. Watch out for the final scene, which also makes good use of the split-screen technique, which was very popular in the early 70ies.
As you have probably guessed by now, this is politically NOT correct and because of this much fun!
Picture quality is very impressive. SWV has done a great job with the transfer. As usual SWV's DVD offers a lot of extra features. There is of course the film's trailer, which includes footage not shown in the film. All in all there is a dozen of trailers, either US exploitation fare or old French crime flicks. My personal favorite among the trailers is THE GODSON starring overbusty Uschi DIGARD (this film will be released on DVD soon). A "play all" option for the trailers would have been helpful.
Also included are five shorts, of which I liked THE PROWLER best. Since I am a true crime buff this early 60ies black and white instruction film for police officers was very compelling viewing for me. Also interesting is CRIME IN THE STREET, an instructional documentary about crime prevention featuring a very young Chuck NORRIS (then karate trainer). The film is entertaining but somehow pointless, because all of the advice given is so wellknown and common sense.
I did not like the other three shorts very much. HARRY NOVAK, CRIME BUSTER is a kind of documentary, where a film crew visits movie producer Harry NOVAK. After fooling around NOVAK (jokingly) suggests that they visit a business partner, who paid with a foul cheque. NOVAK brandishes a samurai sword and a rifle to enhance his arguments. Strange business customs... Another short is an extremely silly sex movie, boring beyond belief and due to horrible print quality almost unwatchable. The last short feature is a black and white burlesque striptease. Boring, and by the way: You don't get to see something.
Far better is the extensive still gallery of Harry NOVAK films.
Buy the DVD but better skip the three last shorts in the extra features. January 30, 2003

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