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The Todd Killings

1971

Based on the true story of '60s thrill-killer Charles Schmidt ("The Pied Piper of Tucson"), Skipper Todd (Robert F. Lyons) is a charismatic 23-year old who charms his way into the lives of high school kids in a small California town. Girls find him attractive and are only too willing to accompany him to a nearby desert area to be his "girl for the night." Not all of them return, however. Featuring Richard Thomas as his loyal hanger-on and a colorful assortment of familiar actors in vivid character roles including Barbara Bel Geddes, Gloria Grahame, Edward Asner, Fay Spain, James Broderick and Michael Conrad.

Robert F. Lyons Richard Thomas Belinda Montgomery Ed Asner Gloria Grahame Barbara Bel Geddes Sherry E. DeBoer Holly Near James Broderick Fay Spain Michael Conrad Frank Webb William Lucking Meg Foster George Murdock Harry Lauter Eddie Firestone Eve Brent Sugar Ray Robinson Forrest Lewis Guy Wilkerson Geoffrey Lewis

Alternative Titles

Skipper, Los asesinatos de Todd, L'idolo, 连环杀手

Genre

Thriller

Theatrical

20 Oct 1971

USAR

USA

20 Oct 1971

TheatricalR

93 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Liz ★★★★

I get the River's Edge comparisons, but the Manson bent and overt homoeroticism lean a whole lot closer to something like Simon, King of the Witches. While that gay bent has me kinda baffled, I can't stop thinking about that absurd double bill of A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Boys in the Band that the camera seems to linger on for a small eternity.
Review by Quiller ★★½

If Across 110th Street were the only feature Barry Shear ever directed, his cult following might be deserved. Unfortunately, I’ve now seen three of his other films: The Deadly Trackers, Wild In The Streets, and this. Each has interesting ideas but muddled execution. The Todd Killings (a.k.a. Skipper, the title on the print TCM aired) is based on the career of serial killer Charles Schmid, the so-called “Pied Piper of Tucson.” The 21-year-old Schmid parlayed his popularity with teens into convincing several into helping him commit a thrill killing. Fifteen months later, he murdered two more victims. Although Schmid hasn't maintained the morbid interest Charles Manson and other serial killers of the era have, he made an impact in his…
Review by proofrock ★★★★

How many versions of this movie exist? I've seen versions with and without the prologue, have seen it with a National General logo and a Warner Bros. logo, and the print currently streaming via TCM has a different title card altogether (this print is called Skipper). Print quality is relatively the same (grainy) across the board, but I hope someone has captured these different versions for, uh, posterity.
Anyway, still one of the most feel-bad movies around, and I can’t believe (but also can) how Robert F. Lyons never capitalized on how good he was in this.
Review by proofrock ★★★★

Barry Shear's best feature, and all of them are good. '70s psycho downer that just piles on the hopelessness, as a small town's youth are wooed, sexually assaulted and murdered by its rank-spoiled older son (Richard F. Lyons in a rare lead role). There seems to be so little going on there that the kids just go along with Skipper for lack of any better outcome, irresistible to his power even if it means their lives. The party sequence in this is burned into my brain years after the fact, a truly bad trip that boxes out the more obvious nods to what's going on with palpable frustration and inchoate terror. Watching Skipper eventually cave in leaves no trace of satisfaction; the damage is already meted out.
Review by Moronic Inferno ★★★

The Angry Samoans wrote a 39-second song about this movie. If that’s not a valid reason to watch it, I don’t know what is. The film itself is a fictionalized account of real-life serial killer Charles Schmid (aka The Pied Piper of Tucson). It’s well-produced, though I had trouble finding an entry point to become fully engrossed. I think the problem is that it’s played too straight tonally, too cooly nonchalant. Fans of true crime stories and the dark side of the free-love era may be interested though. Folk singer/activist Holly Near appears in a small role. She must’ve had a good agent in the late 60s and early 70s.
Review by Lowbacca ★★½

There's a lot of movies about killing people (there's some key cinematic insight right there), and the charismatic sort-of loner that manipulates people feels like a common variation. Possibly because it's a fairly grounded horror as in cases like movie they're based on real events. Though in this case I'm not sure how much "23 year old hanging around 16 year olds" really is charisma, but that's a side point to it.
I think had this been a more recent movie, they would've pushed the body count up, but as it stands, there's only a few deaths that actually take place during the film. Unfortunately, that leaves a lot of time that this film seemed to channel into things like…
Review by Filipe Furtado ★★

Early 70s true crime tale with heavy stabs of relevance. Some good moments around its young characters, but feels heavy editorialized in non-productive ways.
Review by Dave S. ★★★

A stone bummer, pitch black and only so illuminating. I think the nihilism here might have been more impactful in its original release. Post-Manson murders, Vietnam era - what better timing to make a true crime movie about bored and doomed youths?
What was the deal with Holly Near's film career? Primarily a singer, her main movie roles around this time were in this, "Angel Angel Down We Go", "Slaughterhouse Five", and "Minnie and Moskowitz". Queen of Bad Vibes Cinema, Holly Near.
Part of Spring Break 2022 Teen Movie Mini-Marathon. All month long, it's my idea of killing time.
Review by ~findlay ★★★½

straight in the Dazed & Confused/ Over the Edge vein of being trapped in a town with oppression guising itself as a soft hand on the cheek, here for your own good, and becoming an adult is inflated in the youthful brain as a massive singular excruciating moment you eventually have. like giving birth to yourself.
the todd killings is a bit more 60''s tv trash rebel drunk and poses itself on murder by boredom, and making something of yourself. why go to war and kill in numbers, when you could kill as a singular idea and chrome your mystique forever. the cult of the Older Kid. Not an adult, but sparks all kinds of fires in the eyes of young rockets, looking for a role model.
(shame bout the ending)
Review by Nolan Smock ★★★

There are at least four movies about the Charles Schmid murders and I'm pretty sure they're all mediocre. I might be just crazy enough to find out if that's true.
Probably worth watching if you like Barry Shear movies or any of the hippie episodes of the Dragnet revival but it's very dry. There's some wonderful hazy California cinematography though and seeing the mid-60s through a 1971 lens (literally and figuratively) was cool.
Review by Tobias Olson ★★★½

Decent early 70s true crimer that hews closely to the facts of the Charles Schmid "Pied Piper of Tucson" murders. The story has been updated 5 years to then present day 1970, so Schmid is now a hippie as opposed to a pancake makeup-ed greaser. Lyons is good in the lead even if he is a few years too old for the part. He nails the manipulative slug side of the character.
I've been vibing with a lot of these 1970s bummers lately and this was no exception. It's not a lost masterpiece but it is definitely worth a look if you are a fan of such things.
Review by Ray Newman ★★★½

A true crime drama loosely based on the Charles Schmid case. Robert F. Lyons is Skipper Todd, a charming, spoiled twenty-something who sponges off his mother, preys on teenagers, and pretends to be a songwriter. The film opens with him burying a girl's body in the desert with the help of two acolytes. It's a grim study in the psychology of murder that echoes films like Twisted Nerve. It also has something in common with Over the Edge, a later portrait of how bored kids in small towns can go bad. Lyons gives a good performance – he succeeds in being repulsive and alluring in equal measure. We understand why the girls and boys who crush on him would do…

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The Todd Killings

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Theatrical

20 Oct 1971

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20 Oct 1971

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The Todd Killings

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Hairstyling Hairstyling

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20 Oct 1971

USA

20 Oct 1971

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