The Honeymoon Killers - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: Unexpected Emotional Punch in B Movie Classic
Review: Shirley Stoler, (a regular on Pee Wee's Playhouse,) gives a standout performance in this B movie classic. Stoler effectively communicates anguish and disappointment turned to jealous revenge. Her character is conspicuously unashamed about her weight; a refreshingly different portrayal of a large woman. In one scene, she makes a point of indicating that she intends to finish her plate, and perhaps order more food. Her facial expressions at the end of the film are amazing, and give the film an emotional weight that transcends the dark humor and shlocky horror elements of the film. Outstanding.

Rating:
Summary: A fellinian nightmare!
Review: The painful loneliness of a nurse who suffers a little problem of overweight (two hundred pounds) , lives with her senile mother . Martha decides to join a correspondence friendship club . She will receive torrid and voluptuous letters love from a Spanish born immigrant .He will visit her in Alabama and he will be back to NYC. They will rejoin very soon in New York and Ray confess her he is just a gigolo . But as you know sometimes the love is blind and she doesn't matter at all his venerable profession.

In this particular and light and shadow state of things , Ray will start to compose a real horror symphony . Betrayal , suspicion , infidelity , black humor, greed , and sinister fatality will be their fellow partners journey .

But as you know in love the domain relapses in those who love less . Ray hardly will change his previous costumes and Martha will act in consequence .

Those early seventies were impregnated of a gloomy poetry . The collective needed evasion . Those were the first films where the sci fi renewed with new proposals , the racism films , the first denounces about Vietnam War , The French May . In this sense you may remember that filthy cult movie for a great audience - Pink Flamingos - the most famous work of John Waters , Antonioni `s Zabrizskie Point , Kubrick ` s A clockwork orange , Michael Anerson 's If , Perry Henzel `s The harder they come , Dennis Hopper 's Easy Rider , Richard Rush's Hell' s Angels , Strawberry statement or Billy Jack to name the most representative items in this category of outlaw movies , made usually with a low budget but filled with a brutal denounce load and no satisfaction , not only by the teenagers but also the thirties generation who were the first generation post Beatles and Elvis Presley who decided to swim against the current making films which walked in the knife edge .

Curiously all those films were not authentically originals but were born from the French New Wave with two notable films : Breathless and Jules and Jim . In fact you can note a
little homage to Jules and Jim when the camera remains stationary in Ctaherinep's living room .

These characters are based in real events . The real Ray and Martha , the far descendents of Bonnie and Clyde and Gun Crazy were executed in Sing Sing on March 7 1951 .



Rating:
Summary: "DEAR MARTHA"...
Review: The true story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck is sad and depressing. Their arrests, trial and subsequent executions are vividly described through actual newspaper clips and photos in one of the extras on this remarkable DVD. The film itself is a striking b&w drama detailing their exploits as the "Lonely Hearts" killers. They met through a "friendship" club advertised in a sleazy tabloid and embarked on their grisly journey through several states using the same club as their stalking point. Fernandez, a Latin lover type gigolo/con-man, had originally planned to fleece Martha but decided her career as a registered nurse wouldn't yield much profit. Yet Martha went after him instead. She was single, overweight, depressed and felt she had nothing to lose. Plus she was smitten with him. At first, she just got in Fernandez's way. But she soon proved a valuable asset and they became a team posing as brother and sister as they stalked and fleeced needy single women while Fernandez worked his smarmy charms on them. How many women they killed is not actually known but the film depicts three and one's small daughter. Shirley Stoler is chilling (and sad) as Martha, hopelessly and jealously devoted to Fernandez. But Tony Lo Bianco is utterly fantastic as Ray Fernandez right down to the accent and snaky charm. Together, Stoler's and Lo Bianco's on-screen chemistry is totally believable. The photography is stark and low budget giving the story the seedy and creepy feel it needs. One of the murders is depicted so well it seems real. The music is several selections from the work of Gustav Mahler and is disturbingly appropriate. As for the DVD itself, the print is flawless and crisp but the sound is frustrating at times. I kept wanting to turn it up at points. Nevertheless, "Honeymoon Killers" is worth every cent for this excellent and underrated B-film crime drama and all the fascinating extras. What's more unnerving, is how chillingly close Stoler and Lo Bianco resemble the actual Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez in the old newspaper clippings. This was director Leonard Kastle's first and only feature film and he's featured in an interview. "The Honeymoon Killers" deserves cult status and this Criterion DVD does it justice. I cannot recommend it highly enough for true crime lovers and film purists. Watch for it.

Rating:
Summary: Campy and fun
Review: This movie is alot of fun especially if you like bad acting and a good script. The DVD's picture quality is excellent especially compared to this VHS I bought about 6 years ago the sound is not very good but that is because of the film's extremely low budget.

Rating:
Summary: Campy and fun
Review: This movie is alot of fun especially if you like bad acting and a good script. The DVD's picture quality is excellent especially compared to this VHS I bought about 6 years ago the sound is not very good but that is because of the film's extremely low budget.

Rating:
Summary: disturbing, but very impressive
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD of the film.

Honeymoon Killers is a film based on the true story of Martha Beck, a nurse who meets an older man, Ray Fernandez, through a matchmating service and when she discovers that he is a swindler, she is upset but he explains that he really does love her. She then starts to help him swindle women out of their money and poses as his sister. Eventually, they start killing and Martha turns themselves in to the police when she feels remorseful.

The source material for the film included newspaper articles, court documents and other credible material.

The film has some nice acting and good cast choices for the time, but Shirley Stoler, who played the role of nurse Martha Beck, has a very striking resemblence to Louise Fletcher in this film! Some can't help but laugh because of this. It is a very sad story and the violence in the film was very intense for the time. It was made in 1970 and got an R rating, but today it would certainly get a PG-13 rating or maybe even PG.

The Criterion Collection placed some excellent special features on the DVD.

There in an interview with screenrriter and director Leonard Kastle, a theatrical trailer, and a slide show of information about the true story that inspired the film. It includes courtroom pictutes, newspaper articles, crime scene photos, and material about the Sing Sing prison where they were executed. It even shows the couple's last meal requests.

This film should not be missed.