Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?

A sex worker called Mary Di Napoli is murdered in a deprived neighbourhood on the Lower East Side of New York City and a diabetic ex-boxer called Mickey, shocked at the lack of concern shown by everyone for the dead victim, decides to turn private investigator and catch the killer. Vaguely noirish 1971 murder mystery thriller featuring good location cinematography by Greg Sandor of grimy early 70s New York. Written by John O'Toole and directed by Ernie Pintoff (whose best film is the way out 'Dynamite Chicken') this film features a number of red herrings among it's cast, including bikers, a black dude, a gang of elderly women!, a misogynist businessman, and even Mary's daughter! To wade through all these red herrings Mickey is assisted by his daughter Della, another sex worker called Christine and a guy Mickey meets in a bar called Val. The action scenes - apart from the opening murder scene - don't work as well as the other scenes, but the cast is good and includes Red Buttons as Mickey (the man who gives a damn), Leila Martin as Mary, Sam Waterston, David Doyle, Alice Playten, Conrad Bain, Ron Carey and, taking the acting honours, Sylvia Miles as Christine. And the killer is...

A very small film which was born into instant obscurity, WHO KILLED MARY WHAT'S'ERNAME deserves to be exhumed from the graveyard of forgotten movies and given a second look. Red Buttons is surprisingly good in his out-of-character role as a decent Joe Anyman who's trying to unravel the mystery of a hooker recently murdered in a rundown part of the city...a case to which the authorities have been entirely unresponsive.

He comes to find that she was known to the many creatures of the street, but as little more than a nameless, faceless blur in the periphery of a sideways glance.

An unfortunate truth is brought to the fore, that a sizable swath of the population simply doesn't matter...not to each other, maybe not even to themselves. WHO KILLED MARY WHAT'S'ERNAME dares us to look at those we've tuned our backs on in a tactful, but honest portraiture of someone else's America.

5.5/10.

I watched this on YouTube because I expected it to be tawdry fun or a good whodunit. It is neither. The script is void of suspense or wit.

Red Buttons was a beloved second banana, but didn't have the charisma or presence to be a leading man. Sylvia Miles looks like a truck driver dressed up as Doly Parton. You know what? That is why we loved her.

Red Buttons is unbelievably riveting as the skid row detective in search of the truth with nothing to lose, not even his non-existent pride. The movie expertly mixes wit, pathos, mystery, and social commentary in a fast-paced classic film noir. The supporting cast play their parts to perfection, and the final solution is both satisfying and incalculable. A hidden gem.

While the tagline is hilarious—"Somebody just murdered your friendly neighborhood hooker"—the crime thriller Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? is far from funny. It's a whodunnit without police intervention, because, since the victim was a prostitute in skid row, no one really cares about finding the killer. Red Buttons, a retired boxer with nearly constant references to his diabetes, is determined to take matters into his own hands and find out what happened to Mary.

Along the way, he recruits his daughter, Alice Playton, another hooker who knew the deceased, Sylvia Miles, the landlord and pimp, Dick Williams, and a young filmographer who had filmed Mary before her death, Sam Waterston. Who's helping because they care, and who's really guilty? You'll have to watch this extremely dated 1970s flick to find out. The one drawback is the dated filming style. If you normally like movies where a rugged hero gets immersed in a seedy environment, you might be able to get through the slang, hair, fashions, stereotypes, and camera-work. If the dated-ness will bother you, try a more modern version. This type of premise has been made dozens of times through the years.

DLM warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie is not your friend. It's nearly exclusively filmed with a hand-held camera, and without warning the camera will zoom in and out. It will probably make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"