# No Way to Treat a Lady (1968)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 1999 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  *** 1/2

As a jolly Irish priest, Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger) charms the lonely woman in her small apartment. Telling her funny stories, he begins to tickle her, and, as her laughs turn into convulsions, he reaches over and strangles her to death. He leaves her, his first in a series of victims, in the bathroom with his trademark lips painted on her forehead using her own lipstick.

In town to receive a tribute from San Jose's Cinequest film festival as a maverick motion picture legend, Steiger chose 1968's NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY to show as one of his personal favorites. I asked him about the movie, and his mixed emotions about it showed. He complained bitterly that, since the studio never got behind the movie, it did poorly at the box office. It later became very popular on television, which helped in rejuvenating his career. Opening as it did with the controversial scene above, one can partially understand why the studios back then were nonplussed. Still, the delicious black comedy has such appeal, it is a shame that it wasn't more aggressively marketed.

The killer's nemesis in the story is a detective named Morris Brummel, who lives with his complaining Jewish mother. A good-spirited George Segal gives a likable and inviting performance as Detective Brummel. The detective is taunted by the killer, who likes to call him after each murder. "Remember, I'm smarter than you," Christopher admonishes the detective.

Steiger clearly had great fun with his part. He told me that he was cocky back then. "Who is this guy Peter Sellers?" he said, referring to Sellers's fame for being able to play multiple parts in a single movie. Steiger wanted to outdo him.

Steiger gets to really chew up the scenery in NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, and he has the time of his life doing it. Skirting the fine line of overacting, he doesn't go over it until the last scene, in which his pent-up energy explodes in an over-the-top scene in which director Jack Smight should have restrained him some.

The movie wasn't just a vehicle for Steiger to dazzle us with his acting feats. It also contains a credible and sweet, little love story between Segal and a very sexy Lee Remick, as Kate Palmer, a woman who saw the killer briefly at the first crime scene. Segal has all the shy giddiness of a man unaccustomed to love. Setting her sights on the detective, Kate flirts with him in a beautiful display of womanly charms. He remarks on their second meeting about her spending a lot of time getting "dolled up." Shaking her head she explains, "Getting dolled up is easy; looking natural takes time."

Kate is pleased to be taken seriously. Her previous boyfriend, who only liked her body, made fun of her mind. "What mind?" he mocked her. "A thought of yours would die of loneliness."

The audacious killer enjoys taking risks as much as developing new accents and disguises. On one call to the detective, he phones from his table at a busy, upscale Manhattan restaurant.

John Gay's intelligent script has the detective develop a clever stratagem for stopping the serial murderer. When the killer's finally trapped, we feel a bit sorry for him. Steiger's characterization of him has won our hearts. As black comedies go, this is one of the sunniest.

NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY runs 1:48. It is not rated but might be an R for, mainly off-screen, violence and mature themes and would be fine for teenagers.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com

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