Review – The Sniper

This movie from 1952 seems a bit ahead of its time. It treats the antagonist’s misogynistic violence first as a sex crime and second as the byproduct of mental illness, the sort of thing that might be stopped before it starts if diagnosed and treated properly. A woman-hating psycho with a rifle stalks the rooftops of San Francisco looking for victims in the streets below. Though some scenes reminded me of Dirty Harry, this is really more the Lipstick Killer than the Zodiac. Though it gets a bit preachy in spots, overall it’s well assembled. If nothing else, the old black and white footage of the city is interesting. Mildly amusing