Donald Sutherland, Charles Durning, Josef Sommer Directed by: Fred Walton. Spirituality & Practice. I contacted Bill Zlatos, the Pittsburgh reporter who wrote the profile on Monsignor William Kerr (whom he called one of the holiest persons he had ever met), who said he probably would have used the mysterious force part of the story if he had heard it from Monsignor Kerr. The murderer leaves behind a rosary. The fact that you could allow people to be killed because of some religious notion is just silly to me. Donald Sutherland still manages to be quite good. When the killer explains why he did it I started laughing. Walton's direction is slickly presented, but feels shapeless and dry. Alex R. Hey has had his work featured on TheBatmanUniverse.net and in The Eagle Democrat of Warren, Arkansas and The Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, SD. That bug-eyed sincerity, the Sutherland signature that held us in "Klute," is working here. The Rosary Murders is an extraordinarily good thriller. The story involves a series of murders associated with people in the catholic church, some laymen/laywomen while others are clergy. 105m/C VHS . . Film data from TMDb. Let us know! In contrast to Walton's spine-tingling "When a . Koznicki (Josef Sommer), the detective on the case, is not as concerned with the rules of the Catholic church, aiming to catch himself a killer. They go out for a drink one evening and suddenly it's the next day over coffee at a nearby greasy spoon. The Rosary Murders was named one of the top twenty-five mysteries of the twentieth century in spring 2000 by the Chicago Sun-Times. Nothing amazing. His book, Eugne de Mazenod: A Saint for Today, is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and LeoninePublishers.com. Donald Sutherland Charles Durning Josef Sommer. I know this is written by a former priest, but I don't understand why the priests in the book have so much swearing and taking God's name in vain and constant sexually dirty jokes. On January 13, 1978 Ted Bundy broke into the Chi Omega Sorority House on the campus of Florida State University and went on a rampage. He walks across the altar to reach the confessional without genuflecting in front of the altar. Police believe he stopped his attack because he was spooked when a girl used the bathroom at the far end of the hallway around 3:15A.M. If the rosary had stopped a serial killers rampage, how had I not heard that story before? Donald Sutherland with short hair = bad movie. Subplot with a potential romantic interest for Sutherland is the worst. Mobilesite. Because each style has its own formatting nuances that evolve over time and not all information is available for every reference entry or article, Encyclopedia.com cannot guarantee each citation it generates. It begins when Koesler, editor of a Detroit Catholic newspaper, agrees to help the police solve a bizarre murder mystery. One of the priests (Donald Sutherland) is joined by a journalist (Belinda Bauer) attempting to cover the story; both aim to stop the killer before he dispatches more nuns, monks, and members of the Holy Order. Rent this movie and see if you agree. Even after the deranged individual responsible for these crimes confesses in church, the priest remains determined to find out who he is and why he is leaving a black rosary wrapped around the hand of each victim. However, none of the legitimate websites where one would expect to find this story mentioned, leading me to question its validity. 105m/C VHS . There is no evidence to conclude thata mysterious force prevented Ted Bundy from continuing his slaughter that night. But this flaw will not diminish your enjoyment of the film, as there is enough action to keep the murder mystery fan happy. I've spent much of the past week binging the CBS-turned- Paramount Plus series Evil, which has become one of my favorite shows currently airing. The Rosary Murders 1987 (R)Based on the William X. Kienzle mystery about a serial killer preying on nuns and priests. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of serviceapply. A priest is called to the confessional from his quarters in the church. priest, confession [criminal], serial-killer, investigation, killing, nun, amateur, detective, investigator, murder, victim. Start Shopping. Not only does she spend much of the CBS drama's finale worr The Rosary Murders (1987) 16 08/28/1987 (US) Crime, Mystery, Thriller 1h 45m User Score. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. Charles Durning on the other hand is right on as the hard nosed conservative priest who lives by the book with no room for compassion. After the time allotted for those interrogations, Bundy had talked to only a small portion of the investigators who had traveled to Florida to speak with him, and he told the State of Florida it was going to take much longer than he had anticipated. The script moves over to comment on the Catholic Church, not denouncing it per se, but criticising its lack of compassionate balance and its appallingly inadequate dismissal of both Javison and Katherines anguish. https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/culture-magazines/rosary-murders, "The Rosary Murders This is the first in the Father Koesler series by the late William X. Kienzle. 7. But the premise was interesting and I am looking forward to book 2 very soon. The story, scripted by thriller author Elmore Leonard and director Fred Walton, tippy-toes around the subject of our hero's celibacy with implications about his relationship with a Detroit Free Press reporter. His imagination has always been over-active, and his love for story telling continues to bloom. Someone is going around murdering priests and nuns, as it later turns out using the coincidence of their names matching the ten commandments (sometimes with a bit of a stretch. Spoiler Alert Link to Spoiler Alert. Donald Sutherland, Charles Durning, Belinda Bauer, Josef Sommer, James Murtaugh, John Danelle, Addison Powell, Kathleen Tolan, Janet Smith; D: Fred Walton; W: Fred Walton, Elmore Leonard; C: David Golia. The Rosary Murders 1987 1 hr 45 mins R Watchlist Donald Sutherland as the confessor of a serial killer who targets priests. The great surprise about the film is some of the names behind it. Can You Match These Saints to Their Weird Patronages? Detroit is shaken by the activities of a serial killer who is systematically slaying Catholic priests and nuns, always leaving a rosary wrapped around each victims hand. Leonard adapts a 1978 novel by William Kienzle, himself a former Catholic priest, who became a crime writer went on to write 24 books featuring Father Robert Koesler. I believe this was his first novel too. All Rights Reserved. Father Robert Koesler: People are going to die. Everyone saw this charade for what it was, and the conversations ceased. me on june 25th, 2021 naively watching invasion of the body snatchers and the rosary murders in rapid succession, thereby becoming aware of both malewife and hot priest iterations of sutherland within 24 hours of eachother: huh! Donald Sutherland is good, but he can't make this film worth seeing all by himself. Released August 28th, 1987, 'The Rosary Murders' stars Donald Sutherland, Charles Durning, Belinda Bauer, Josef Sommer The movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 45 min, and received a user score of 53 . I just discovered this series of books. Thoroughly enjoyed this quick read from days gone by! This is a Detroit set mystery series featuring the Catholic church. They do not look kindly upon people of Faith. This one was quite enjoyable. Father Koesler begins collaborating with the police but soon finds himself in a spot when the killer decides to choose him as confessor.Salvatore Santangelo Murder is perhaps the single most serious criminal offense. It was quite good. It was also made into a movie, with Donald Sutherland in the role of Father Koesler. However, he later retracted that part of the story, and the phrase mysterious force was never mentioned. I'd love to explain that in detail, but doing so would ruin part of the ending. While City of Angels is incredibly different tha However the pacing seemed to plod a bit too much, where some monotonous patches seemed to lose focus. | And, in particular, I knew the late William "Bill" Kienzle, On Kindle, you can still get most of his great Detroit-centric murder mysteries, including the original: The Rosary Murders: The Father Koesler Mysteries: Book 1 After Bill's death in 2001, his novels seemed to disappear. Bundy replied that he felt a mysterious force preventing him from entering her room. Free. Donald Sutherland has made some good movies - "Don't Look Now", for instance - but he's also had his share of shockers, and this one ranks right up there. Soon a nun is killed and the hunt is on for a serial killer. However, if it is not true, we need to be clear on the facts. the rosary murders spoiler. She was following through on that promise when Bundy attacked. The great surprise about the film is some of the names behind it. They are funny and remind me of a precursor to Stephanie Plum. Joseph Somer gives a fine performance as the police detective who knows that Father Koesler (Sutherland) knows something but also realizes he cannot compel him to share the knowledge. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic. Refer to each styles convention regarding the best way to format page numbers and retrieval dates. It is based upon the 1979 novel of the same name by William X. Kienzle. After a black rosary is found at the scene on the body of those who have been murdered, Father Robert Koesler (Donald Sutherland) hears a confession for the crimes from the other end of a partition. If Bundy did Monsignor Kerr about a mysterious force, it should be assumed he did so simply to mess with him. ." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever. Furthermore, if Bundy did make that claim, this would have been a more well-known story. It was fun to go back and visit again with Father Koesler. Some of the scheming is a bit hard to swallow, but for most part it's smartly penned (by Elmore Leonard and Fred Walton) and the low-key approach seems to make you concentrate on the lyrical waxing (especially on those commitments to the priesthood and the self-doubting). His superiors - among them, the hard nosed, conservative Ted Nabors (Charles Durning) - believe that nothing can violate the sanctity of the confessional. So, as you can guess, Koesler is a very troubled man. It does the Faith no good if false stories are being circulated to promote the Faith. Lenten Brother Francis for Kids on FORMED. A priest hears the confession of the man responsible for the murders of priests in Detroit, and due . However, because it did not appear in his story, he assumes he was not told about it. A neo-noir? This book is a run of the mill police procedural, made more interesting by its portrayal of the state of the Catholic Church and the city of Detroit in the late seventies. A small glimpse by Douglas A. Lessnau, this contains a song my Father wrote for my Grandmother, Jeanette Dupius, Called \"Jeanette\" it is one of my favorite instrumentals by him; of course the title track \"In Your Eyes\" is pretty nice too; this song was written by my Father and Dennis Leahy. There have even been two books about the rosary that mention this story that include a reference to a mysterious force. The publishers of those books should be embarrassed that they allowed those books to be published and sold before they had verified that story. (*1/2). The murder of Sister Ann Vanya is conveyed with a remarkable minimalism all shot facing the wall of her dormitory block where the window of her room lights up, her shadow is seen passing in front of it, followed by a second shadow; fade out and fade in again the next morning showing hers is the only window still lit. But this flaw will not diminish your enjoyment of the film, as there is enough action to keep the murder mystery fan happy. Now, no one but Sutherland, can give that blank stare so well. he is even cautioned by his fellow priests that me may not do so even to save lives. I thought hard about not mentioning Ted Bundys name in this article and simply referring to him as the killer because Bundy had the personality that would have enjoyed the attention. 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