Netflix's 'Woman Of The Hour' Tells True Story Of America's 'Dating ...

18 Sep 2024

Forbes

Topline

The story of a 1970s serial killer and the woman who chose him for a date after the pair were cast on the television game show “The Dating Game” will play out on the small screen next month in Netflix’s “Woman of the Hour” starring Anna Kendrick, who makes her directorial debut.

Tony Hale as Ed, Anna Kendrick as Sheryl Bradshaw and Daniel Zovatto as Rodney Alcala in "Woman of ... [+] the Hour."

Leah Gallo/Netflix Key Facts

Netflix on Tuesday released its first teaser for “Woman of the Hour” showing Kendrick and Daniel Zovatto in their roles as Sheryl Bradshaw and Rodney Alcala, respectively, who are shown in the clip on a spine-tingling date that never actually happened.

In real life, Bradshaw and Alcala, who had already committed several murders before appearing on the show but had successfully evaded police, were both cast on the show and, despite later refusing to date him because she found him “creepy,” Alcala initially wins the young woman’s interest.

Criminal profiler Pat Brown would later tell CNN Bradshaw's rejection may have compounded the psychopathic tendencies that spurred Alcala's behavior until he was arrested in 1979 and ultimately convicted of seven murders (though he may have committed over 100).

"Woman of the Hour"—which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year without the support of its director and star due to the SAG-AFTRA strike—uses Bradshaw's experience with Alcala on "The Dating Game" to tell the broader story of what authorities said was a years-long rape and murder spree in the Los Angeles area and beyond.

The film also serves as a commentary on Hollywood's misogyny, particularly in the 1970s, and the ignoring of women's voices—and warnings—shape much of the movie.

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What To Watch For

“Woman of the Hour” will premiere on Netflix on Oct. 18.

Big Number

90%. That's the film's critics score on Rotten Tomatoes after 50 reviews, including those that call it "undeniably powerful" and praise how it "smartly weaves into the narrative the many ways in which women are conditioned to put up with men."

Key Background

Alcala's life has been chronicled several times, first in a biopic called "Dating Game Killer" on Investigation Discovery in 2017 and again in a three-part documentary in 2022. He was a San Antonio, Texas, native who was discharged from the army amid allegations of sexual misconduct and a nervous breakdown as a teenager. He was cast on "The Dating Game," an appearance that would later skyrocket him to fame, in 1978 after having already served time in two separate cases of child molestation and assault of a 13-year-old girl. He moved across the country several times, charming and later brutalizing women from coast to coast while largely evading police along the way. Ultimately, Alcala was arrested in 1979 and convicted in the deaths of 23-year-old Cornelia Crilley (1971), 23-year-old Ellen Jane Hover (1977), 18-year-old Jill Barcomb (1977), 27-year-old Georgia Wixted (1977), 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb (1978) 12-year-old Robin Samsoe (1979) and 21-year-old Jill Parenteau (1979), though investigators have suspected or linked him to other murders in California, Washington, New York, New Hampshire and Arizona. He died on death row of natural causes in 2021. He was 77 years old.

What We Don’t Know

Much about the real Sheryl Bradshaw. Beyond her appearance on “The Dating Game” as the episode’s bachelorette, she was not a public figure. In the film, she’s portrayed as an aspiring actress who fights back against Hollywood's desire to paint women of the time as air-headed sex symbols.

Crucial Quote

"From all outward appearances, Rodney Alcala was a handsome, charming, smart young man that wouldn't hurt a fly," Matt Murphy, deputy district attorney in Orange County, told “48 Hours” in 2018. "The woman who won a date with him ended up backing out, saying she found him ‘creepy.’ Her intuition probably saved her life. Others would not be so fortunate”