On M List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Manhunt:
Search for the Night Stalker (1989)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
4/22
4/22:
Manhunt: The Search for the Night Stalker is a boring, banal true crime picture about Richard Ramirez's crimes
and eventual capture.
The worst part is that most of what's presented is simply untrue. A lot of stuff is made up, too. The Night Stalker left
messages to taunt the police? Yeah, right. The crime scenes are barely shown. What's with the news reporter? There's so much
soap opera about the detectives' families. Who cares about them? Gil Carrillo and his wife sure looked great when they were
in fact plain-looking Mexicans with the former being fat. I'm not going to mention the strong discrepancy in looks
between Richard Ramirez and Greg Cruz.
Richard Ramirez used a flashlight outside in the dark? Ha! Why was he then called the Night Stalker? The filmmakers should've
used logic and worked their way down. Even the music is silly; it was "Night Prowler" by AC/DC! Not even his black hat
with the band's label was mentioned. Nobody was ever arrested outside the dentist's office. In fact, the police installed
two Asian undercover cops in the waiting room, but they were shortly removed, declaring it a waste of money.
The end-of-film explanation says Richard Ramirez was convicted of "11 counts of sexual assault." Okay, then...it'll
be instrumental to point out the nature of them. The rape and sodomy of female victims was part of his
motive in the name of Satan. The other was stealing valuables to support his cocaine habit. An informant named Jesse is used
to break the case, but that's not exactly how it happened as Felipe Solano, the main fencer of stolen properties, got
implicated as well. Another woman helped out by providing a more detailed description.
How it went down from the bus terminal to his capture is 95% wrong which consisted of a twenty-minute madcap chase. Actually,
there were four detectives and fifteen SIS men at the Greyhound station, looking for Richard Ramirez who did walk in and out
undetected. He never carried the black bag with him as it was checked into a locker. Detectives Frank Salerno and Gil Carrillo
didn't meet the guy himself until they pulled up at Hollenbeck Police Station about two hours later.
San Francisco had an idiot mayor by the name of Dianne Feinstein who held a press conference, single-handedly undermining the case
because the police didn't have Richard Ramirez's identity yet. There were two crucial pieces of information they had that the
public including Ramirez never knew: a size 11.5 Avia shoe print (which was the only one ever sold in the area) and specific
ballistics (the movie did mention the latter). Once Richard Ramirez found out, he threw his sneakers over the Golden Gate
Bridge, ending any chance of being linked with future crimes.
After the trial was over, Manhunt: The Search for the Night Stalker aired on NBC, but Richard Ramirez missed it
because he committed an infraction while in county jail. Upon finding out about it, Detectives Salerno and Carrillo decided
to watch a taped copy with him and wanted to get his feedback. Ramirez thought that Greg Cruz looked nothing like
him and appeared silly by putting black wax on his teeth and that A Martinez was too small to play Gil.
All in all, if you want the actual story of how it went down, it's best to read
The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez by Philip Carlo although it won't be a bad idea to check
out the documentary on Netflix: Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer.