The greatest movie ever made..!

Just so...so bad

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

A stark and upsetting film about a serial sniper driven to shoot women because of suggested but never explicitly explained interactions with female figures in his past. There's something ahead of its time about this film, partially because of its frank mingling of violence and sexuality, but also because of the way it depicts what happens to a human body when it's gunned down. In other movies from the same time period, if someone were to get shot, they would freeze and pose dramatically for the camera before slowly crumpling to the floor in a bloodless swoon. In this film, shot bodies get thrown into walls and drop like lead. It's disturbing because it looks very real.Also notable is this film's plea to its audience to have sympathy with its tortured killer, and the suggestion that murderers might be sick rather than evil. The end shot in particular left me chilled and heartbroken at the same time.The story won screen writing couple Edward and Edna Anhalt their second Oscar nomination, though that year's winner was "The Greatest Show on Earth." Grade: A

THE SNIPER is undoubtedly one of the top film noir dramas from the fifties-- and certainly one of the finest that Columbia ever produced. Impeccable cast, sharp direction, and a very suspenseful story--how can you wrong?And things kick off brilliantly as soon as we fade in. From the opening shot, where we are introduced to the main character pulling the drawer out to see the rifle, all the way to the celebrated final shot-- it's a story that holds your attention from start to finish.This was the first of nine occasions where director Edward Dmytryk would work with star Arthur Franz, who plays the troubled title character. It certainly helped that Franz wasn't allowed a showy or over-the-top performance, like we might find by Richard Widmark or Dan Duryea. The sniper could easily have been the guy next door, that's what is so grim about it.Probably the best part, though, is not the ending. It happens maybe fifteen minutes or so before the end of the movie. It's where he fires the rifle at the man painting the tall tower/chimney. The guy must have been 12 stories up. At first, when the painter is hit, he falls rather slowly-- then in the last few feet, he plummets quickly to the ground. It's very shocking. In fact, I think this part of THE SNIPER is more harrowing to watch than anything in VERTIGO where Hitchcock often uses rather artificial-looking process shots. Talk about dizzying heights! And the way it's staged with Franz's character watching from the bottom left hand corner of the frame, seeing that he's brought the painter down with such a sudden act of violence, sends chills down your spine. What great stunt work.

Before Edward Dmytryk made "Raintree County," he made a number of B-movie thrillers that stand out. "The Sniper" was one of the earliest examples of a serial killer movie. Edward Franz plays a troubled delivery man for a clothes cleaning service. He is driven to shoot women with a carbine. The irony is that the protagonist wants desperately to be captured by the police. Eddie keeps a carbine in his dresser drawer, and the police have launched a full-scale search. Despite being made in the early 1950s, this melodrama is pretty good with Franz turning in a compelling performance. Clocking in at 88 minutes, "The Sniper" is a crisp, sharp, suspense film that doesn't wear out its welcome. Moreover, "The Sniper" is a forerunner of Don Siegel's "Dirty Harry." Dmytryk and lenser Burnett Guffey make good use of actual on-location photography that gives this thriller a lot of atmosphere. The name of the cop assigned to bring Eddie in is Lieutenant Frank Kafka. Talk about an unusual name. In the finale, the cop storm Eddie's apartment house building, blast the door with a Thompson machine gun, and find the villain clutching his carbine with a tear rolling down his cheek.

IMDb 7.1/10 ROTTENTOMATOES 6.5/10 A young man who hates women cries for help, but no one listens to him. And so the killing begins.This film has some interesting details, like the attempt to explain the sniper's behaviour and it has a couple of pretty good scenes.Unfortunately, acting is very weak, storytelling mediocre and the psychiatrist' talks were feeling out of context (it was like being in a seminar in the middle of the movie).Probably this film was ahead of its time in 1952, but unfortunately it didn't age well.