Streaming Spotlight by Cindy Summers
Woman of the Hour – Netflix
Breeze rating from 1 to 4 palm trees, 4 being best.
“Woman of the Hour” is based on a true story about struggling actress Sheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) who got involved with serial killer Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) after meeting on the popular 70s TV game show “The Dating Game”. For years Alcala crimes had been reported to law enforcement by survivors and other private citizens without consequence. Anna Kendrick also directed the movie and created a great portrayal of the culture of sexism and misogyny in the 70s.
Alcala would pose a photographer looking for vulnerable young women and would lure them out to remote areas for photo shoots then strangle or suffocate them, bring them back to life through CPR and then rape and kill them. In 1977 Alcala was visited by the police at the Los Angeles Times where he worked as a photographer, who questioned him but were fooled by his charisma.
Most of the auditions Sheryl went on wanted her to do nude scenes and talked down to her for refusing. Sheryl was contacted by her agent who had booked her a no-audition guest spot on “The Dating Game” TV show in 1978. Sheryl felt it was beneath her but knew the show could give her some much needed exposure and boost her visibility in Hollywood.
Sheryl had to read pre-written questions from cue cards, but they were very sexist in nature. The makeup artist encouraged Sheryl to be herself, as she wasn’t on a sitcom or would be around to be reprimanded, so Sheryl made her own questions for the second part of the show. Things flowed much better and Sheryl was a hit with the audience. She chose number three, but was warned by number two to watch out for him when he hugged her before leaving.
While they were filming the show, a woman in the audience recognized Alcala and fled the station, knocking over some studio equipment as she left. She had been at a beach party Alcala attended where a good friend of hers was murdered. She knew something was off about Alcala and felt guilty for leaving early. She had even given the police a description, but when she tried to tell her boyfriend he questioned her saying that if she wasn’t absolutely sure she shouldn’t say anything.
She reported to a network security guard that she thought number three was the man that raped and murdered her friend, asking to speak to an executive. She was left in an office and told she would be meeting with series producer George Elliot, but George was actually the janitor and while waiting in the office for George the show ended and Alcala had left. Later her boyfriend apologized and went with her to the police department, but the detective she saw just blew her off.
Sheryl and Alcala won a trip to Carmel, so after the show they went to dinner to learn more about each other. He made her feel uncomfortable and she tried to end the dinner, but he walked out with her. Alcala asked for her number but she gave him a wrong number and when he confronted her she said she was not going anywhere with him. As Sheryl turned to walk away, Alcala mentioned bashing her head in under his breath. She headed to her car but he followed her and caught her before she could get in but some guys came out the door so he walked away.
On February 14, 1979, a teenage runaway escaped Rodney Alcala by asking him to keep the encounter a secret. While awaiting trial he was released on bail. Once freed he murdered a 21 year old woman and a 12 year old girl. Alcala was rearrested in 1979. Only then did the authorities begin to uncover the scope of his crimes. He was eventually convicted of the murders of seven women and girls. Some authorities estimate that the true number of victims to be as high as 130.
Runtime: 1h 29m
