In 1958, throughout the immense beauty of the parts of America known as the badlands, two teenage turtledoves named Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate traveled across the misty mountain tops, setting off a firestorm that took the lives of eleven people (Fugate has maintained she was not part of the killings, but was an accomplice during the acts). Upon sentencing, both served time for their crimes (Starkweather eventually sat in the electric chair in 1959) in penitentiaries. What will always be fascinating to ponder is if Fugate ever attended the monthly screenings and saw her own life story (of sorts) flicker on screen in the 1963 killer-thriller film The Sadist (aka Sweet Baby Charlie). A tragic love story that fascinated the world, there have been several movies that have tried to recreate the Starkweather killings, from Terrence Mallik’s seventies masterpiece Badlands to not-such-a-masterpiece eighties splatter yarn Stark Raving Mad to the nineties Academy Award nominated Quentin Tarantino/Oliver Stone hodgepodge of taboo Natural Born Killers, but the Arch Hall, Jr. burnt-rubber vehicle has the mantel to not only be the first to try to depict this heinous serial-spree to the big screen, it also happens to be the first film to be lensed by a man who would be part of the radical revolutionizing change upon the old Hollywood system – a man simply named Vilmos Zsigmond.
Born in Hungary during very difficult times, Zsigmond would eventually find a passion for photographic arts to deal with the horrific realities of a war-torn country. Along with another fellow cinematographer who would change the landscape of seventies culture Laslo Kovacs (who would eventually shoot a small little film that shook foundations you might have heard of called Easy Rider), Zsigmond went to school, earning a Master’s in cinematography from the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest, eventually working in a Budapest film studio for five years until he made his way to America to work in another blood-soaked arena: independent horror films. During the early years of his career, Zsigmond would work on such vintage horrific drive-in madness like The Time Travelers, Psycho-A-Go-Go, Blood of Ghastly Horror, and Satan’s Sadists, to name just a few (aren’t you glad I did). Still, it was finding the good folks at Fairway International Pictures where Zsigmond would get his feet wet (along with the broken-down carburetor). In viewing The Sadist (aka Sweet Baby Charlie), there are a few things that stand out in this little quickie-flickie. One would have to be the amazing ability and work of Arch Hall, Jr. On the one hand, you can say he is chewing through the scenery like rough flank steak without silverware, but if you study the case this was based on, what he is doing is bringing a strong sense of reality to a mentally disturbed youth. It’s easy to say Hall got this because his father owned Fairway International Pictures (nepo-baby), but Junior’s performance is perfect for the project, and it doesn’t hurt that his perfectly quaffed blond hair (jealous?) is very identical to Starkweather. Another standout, of course, is Zsigmond’s cinematography. Crisp, smooth, and handled delicately, it is the kind of flawless camerawork which does not belong in low budget filmmaking of this ilk, which shows exactly why he would go on to work on such prestigious projects like Robert Altman’s revisionist western McCabe & Mrs. Miller (his first major studio gig), his Oscar winning work on Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the now-infamous box office (and studio for that matter) murderer Heaven’s Gate. The Sadist (aka Sweet Baby Charlie) is a perfect example of how, with the right kind of attitude, determination, and people, you can make a real killing at the box office (just make sure you have a solid alibi).
Poor teachers (as one I empathize 1023% with their daily struggles). All they want to do is throw caution to the wind and go to a baseball game, but due to engine issues on their old Dodge(rs), they pull over to a gas station in the middle of the desert. Things seem a little off, though, and upon exploring the property, they find the owners have been shot. This is the very journey that leads unfortunate (educated) souls, Ed, Doris, and Carl, to the filthy, crime-ridden hands of Charlie Tibbs and his silent partner (in crime) Julie (the characters representing Starkweather and Fugate). Told in real time, the three teachers suffer torn dresses, ripped family photos, maniacal laughing, lives being threatened by the time Charlie finishes a shaken glass bottle of soda, and a game of outwit the dummies on both sides of the classroom. Will all three escape the clutches of a madman with a mad plan to escape the police, or will Sweet Baby Charlie rattle himself so much he takes a strong bite out of crime?
Skidding across the desert plains at a rough ninety-five minutes, Arch Hall, Jr (who I actually got to meet a few years back) would go on to star in countless features of (daddy-o’s) Fairway International Pictures, including The Choppers, Wild Guitar, Eghah (yep, that’s the title), and Deadwood ‘76 (also lensed by Zsigmond) before retiring from acting altogether to work in the aviation field (talk about flying the coop). You can find The Sadist on copies of copies VHS quality on YouTube, but try to get your hands on the new Blu-ray True Crime Tripple Ripper set (chained with The Other Side of Bonnie and Clyde and The Zodiac Killer) from AGFA and Something Weird productions, or see if you can steal The Arch Hall, Jr. Collection from Oldies.com with all his Fairway films along with a special autographed card (now that’s worth dying for)! So, if you ever are driving through the picturesque valleys of the badlands to see such sights, do yourself a favor and go to your local drive-in and watch it on the big screen, because at least most of those teenagers are holding onto something far less dangerous then sweet baby Charlie (a triple feature of Al Adamson pictures? Only a sadist would sit through those)!
