Who Killed Teddy Bear

A nightclub DJ gets terrorised with phone calls by a stalker – who must know her very well… Grim New York noir in which every man is a pervert and a psychopath – including the good cop. A descent into depravity that still remains disturbing and shocking.

Joseph Cates had a curious career as a director. Most of his output was made for television, consisting mainly of shows like The $64,000 Question and specials like the 1961 Yves Montand on Broadway – but during the first half of the 1960s, he was able to make three features for the big screen which were all somewhat off-beat.

The most famous and notorious of the bunch is the New York noir Who Killed Teddy Bear? which is best described as gutter Bergman – a descent into a depravity that remains disturbing and shocking. Essentially every man in this film is a pervert and a psychopath – including the good cop. Here, no woman is safe. Sexual predators are everywhere. Again, all of this is the stuff many an art film success of the day dealt with, but without the veneer of respectability – Who Killed Teddy Bear? was explicitly made for the growing exploitation movie market, and it shows.

– Olaf Möller

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