Who Killed Mary Whats'ername? (1971) User Reviews

Worth Seeking Out

[prs62 · 7/10 · 10 July 2015]

Viewed this one for the first time in the summer of 2015.

Discovering it on an ancient ' Prism ' video cassette.

A treat for more than one reason.

If you're of a certain age or just an enthusiast of old films and television, you're in for at least a half dozen surprises concerning the cast. Characters pop up on a regular basis from the 60's and 70's, who, you may not immediately connect the face with a name, but you know you know them.

You have Red Buttons unlike I've never seen him. Don't want to call him a ' tough guy ' but he doesn't take any bull and he knows how to use his fists. Yes, that Red Buttons. Amazingly, it's not at all awkward and he plays it very, very well.

If, like me, you miss his name in the opening credits, you will eventually realize who the amateur film maker was who recorded ' Mary ' in the last moments of her life.

Late 60's , early 70's bleakness, to be sure. Throw - a - way citizens and how large parts of New York, and most other large, American cities, were allowed to deteriorate to the point that they did.

Worth looking for.

Why did I have to come here and mess up other people's lives

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 11 February 2017]

****SPOILERS*** Red Buttons is former lightweight champion Mickey Isador who while in the hospital recovering from diabetic shock scans the local newspapers and sees the story of a young hooker from his old neighborhood on the lower East Side of Manhattan named Mary De Napoli,Leila Martin, being savagely murdered in her apartment by, obviously, one of her clients.

With the police showing no interest in catching Mary's killer Mickey takes it upon himself to catch him putting his life on the line in not confronting Mary's murderer but the possibility of going into diabetic shock from lack of insulin, that he has in short supply, that can kill him. Renting Mary's low-rent-$75.00 a month-apartment Mickey checks out all the places that Mary went to as well the Johns or costumers that she serviced to get a clue to who murdered her. Mickey also gets help from his 23 year old daughter Della, Alice Playten, and her boyfriend photographer and hippie Alex Monte, Sam Waterston, who while out on the street filming a documentary on the mean streets of New York may had captured, on film, Mary's killer.

With Mickey doing all the leg work his diabetes starts to wear him down causing Mickey to have black outs giving Mary's killer a chance to knock him off when he ends up disabled, like at the end of the film, when his system is low on sugar. There's also Mary's friend and fellow hooker Christine, Sylvia Miles, who may have seen Mary's killer who in order to shut her up he also ends up murdering.

****SPOILERS**** Powerful performance by Red Buttons-His best since "They Shoot Horses Don't They"-who never gives up in tracking down Mary's killer who unknowing to him is during most of the movie within arms lengths of him. It's Leila who comes to her father Mickey's rescue with a couple of life saving Mars candy bars when he was just about to kick off from lack of sugar. That's after Mary's killer who felt that he's going to drop dead anyway confessed to him his crimes in knocking off both Mary from exposing his whoring around to to his wife and Christine from talking to the police. But in the end it was Mickey in doing the job that the police failed to do at that finally brought Mary's killer out in the open and behind bars. P.S Re-released on VHS as "Death of a Hooker".

Gritty whodunnit

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 21 October 2017]

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!"

Commendable hard-boiled crime program.

[EyeAskance · 22 January 2004]

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.

Not bad enough to be good

[mls4182 · 3/10 · 25 December 2021]

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.

Not sure, but the screenwriter killed a solid, sensible story.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 28 June 2020]

When an Oscar Winning sidekick and an Oscar nominated cult figure with an oddball personality get together to headline a cheaply made crime drama, you hope that they have a decent script to make this rise above being anything more than a programmer that was too violent and crude to be a TV movie. Red Buttons ("Sayona") and Sylvia Miles ("Midnight Cowboy"/Andy Warhol star) are featured along with a diminutive Broadway ingenue named Alice Playten in a humorless and trashy drama where Buttons steps into investigating the murder of a prostitute, dramatized for the audience in the opening scenes in a way where the victim is never really seen, and the murder is completely obscured.

Buttons shows up and rescues fellow hooker Miles (who knew the deceased) from a violent john, and they join forces along with Playten to solve this crime. This film has very few redeeming values with a bunch of characters that most audiences won't really care about, and presents its creepy world in a way that is truly depressing. It's a chance of pace for Buttons, and Miles, trying her best to be glamorous and attractive, can't hide the fact that she looks much older than she was in real life. Such future TV stars as Conrad Bain, David Doyle and Sam Waterston weave in and out, and all that comes out of this is an opportunity to witness everyone spouting dialog that gives no real humanity to their characters.

Great Movie

[easyfindshop2000 · 10/10 · 27 July 2006]

I saw this movie long ago. It was on a VHS tape with a somewhat worn cover. I thought "Red Buttons - I've watched him all my life, and he's a good comedian. But a detective? Well, OK, but I'm not going to get my hopes up." Well, I'll be darned if it wasn't one of the best movies I've seen! The cast is wonderful. It consisted of actors who were already big stars and actors that would become big stars. This movie was well made and under-publicized. I had never heard of it before I saw it in a video rental store. My advice would be to get out the popcorn, and prepare to be impressed. I don't know if it is on DVD yet, but it certainly should be!

Who Killed Mary Whats'ername?

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 15 August 2022]

Ah man, another impossible to find early Cannon movie.

Also known as Death of a Hooker, this is the tale of diabetic ex-boxer Mickey Isador (Red Buttons, not playing a comedy here) who feels that the NYPD didn't do enough to investigate the murder of his sex worker neighbor Mary. To solve the case, he teams up with her friend Christine (Sylvia Miles, Madame Zena from The Funhouse), his daughter Della (Alice Playten, under all that makeup, she played Blix from Legend), the drunken Val (Conrad Bain) and would-be director Alex (Sam Waterston).

This movie feels like it lives in the same sleazy neighborhood as any other grindhouse New York movie while never dwelling in that gutter, such as when Mickey turns down a freebie when he saves Christine from being assaulted.

Director Ernest Pintoff also made Lunch Wagon and Jaguar Lives! As for the cast, it's filled with notable minor pop culture stars, like Earl Hindman (Wilson on Home Improvement), Ron Carey (Carl Levitt on Barney Miller), Gilbert Lewis (The King of Cartoons) and David Doyle (Bosley on Charlie's Angels).

Overlooked film noir gem of the early 70's

[cabotcove · 10/10 · 29 May 2000]

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.

So bad, it's good

[giddeongaye · 9 December 2002]

The copy of this film that I own has terrible sound quality. I had to turn the volume up all the way and the fuzzy noise was still louder than the dialogue. Despite that, I braved this film from beginning to about three quarters of the way through when I simply couldn't stand the pain anymore. The opening scene of a struggle between a man and a woman (presumably. Most of it is a blur, like when your dad tries to figure out how to work the camcorder) flashes between the "struggle" and still shots of ceramic figurines. This is the director's attempt at using juxtaposition of opposites to induce a feeling of irony in the audience. It fails miserably and is laughable at best. The rest of the movie develops along a muddled plot line of cliche dialogue, ed wood-quality actors, and a delicious flavor of blaxploitation. It is a truly terrible film that is perfect for your next bad movie film festival. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and it is certainly much better than Cats. I urge everyone who likes bad movies to give this one a shot!