I heard a classic today. A radio journalist was interviewing a property developer about a current scandal involving developers paying “campaign contributions” to politicians who subsequently make apparently shady decisions in their favour.
He was in the middle of explaining what an upright, law abiding citizen he is and his mobile (cell) phone rang.
His ringtone? The theme from The Godfather, which just played out in the background until he had to answer it.
I know I have often said about some event, “that would be great in a movie but no-one would write the scene.”
Ann Rule wrote stories for detective magazines. She got her first book contract to write a true crime book about the disappearance and murder of several young women in the area. At the time, there were no suspects.
Ann Rule worked at a suicide hotline with a nice college student who became her friend. His name was Ted Bundy.
She states in her book “The Stranger Beside Me” that no scriptwriter could write a script where such a thing could be plausible. It wouldn’t wash.
One time, the radio was doing its usual evening rush-hour report, and the helicopter guy says,“OMG! There’s a couple in a convertible and they’re going at it RIGHT NOW!” So the DJ quickly puts music to the event; John Lennon singing “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road.” It’s hard to imagine this being plausible in a movie, even a comedy.
You are thinking of Anne Perry, not Ann Rule. I think. Anne Perry is the one portrayed in the movie Heavenly Creatures and later became a British mystery writer. Ann Rule is an American and writes true crime books. I don’t think she ever killed anyone.
A friend of mine lived in NY during the time when the infamous “Son of Sam” murders were ongoing and of course unsolved. She went out one afternoon, leaving her husband and young child alone at home. Her outing turned out to be longer than expected, and as she was about to leave the pizzeria with the evening’s repast expressed concern about her safety, especially since she matched the general description of the killer’s previous victims.
A young acquaintance volunteered to escort her home, and repeatedly assured her that there was no way that “Son of Sam” would harm her. “Oh, yes,” she replied. “Every woman he’s killed was about my age, and they all had medium-length brown hair, just like me.” She reached home safely. Her husband expressed relief, in light of the current unsolved murders in the area. “It was fine,” she responded. “That nice young man, David Berkowitz, walked me home.” Incidentally, the next – and final – victim was a blonde.
I was late to the party and had no idea that Anne Perry was a muderer and the one portrayed in Heavenly Creatures. I first saw it here on the Dope. I think it was a big story in New Zealand when she was outed and maybe the UK. I remember looking at her site at the time and seeing that she was ignoring it even though her identity was now common knowledge. I just looked up her site and saw that she finally (sort of) acknowledges her past.
Last Saturday, my boyfriend and I were walking through Central Park on a visit to New York. There were lots of people in the park, including a jazz saxophonist playing on the side of the path for spare change. A group of young Hasidic men were walking towards us, and as they approached the sax player, he left off the jazz and started playing Hava Nigila. A couple of the Hasidic men danced a little as they passed the musician. After they’d passed, he seamlessly transitioned back to the jazz tune he’d been playing. As soon as we were out of sight, my boyfriend and I started silently cracking up. I told him, “I feel like I’ve just walked through a Woody Allen movie.”