Woman of the Hour: The Shocking Detail This true crime Thriller Left Out!
Woman of the Hour: A True Crime Thriller That Misses a Key Detail
Woman of the Hour, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick, is a gripping true crime thriller. It’s based on the infamous appearance of serial killer Rodney Alcala on The Dating Game in 1978. However, while the movie masterfully recreates key events from Alcala's life, a surprisingly huge, significant detail from his time in New York City gets entirely left out! That missing element significantly changes what we see, leaving several unanswered questions! Get ready for some spoilers–but they are completely necessary!
The movie does a superb job at showing some critical events within Alcala’s criminal history – emphasizing and showcasing specific moments within the story which involved a victim, using creative narrative techniques which helped make those scenes effective; these methods demonstrate a certain narrative technique and the creative prowess on behalf of the crew involved. The limited runtime forced many creative storytelling choices! A smaller scale and concise depiction of a far larger, complex history was always planned; but not mentioning one significant aspect which could significantly improve what would have otherwise become merely an acceptable film.
The Missing Link: Alcala's Connection to the Times Square Ripper
Woman of the Hour highlights Alcala’s move to New York to escape arrest for assaulting a young child in California. This escape attempts include the adoption of a new identity by using NYU’s enrollment system using an entirely different name, “John Berger,” successfully avoiding any further attempts by those individuals pursuing an arrest. Yet the movie completely fails to portray that his New York years involved more than just that— that seemingly harmless move into using a totally separate identity and successfully creating this narrative around himself; the reality is actually more extreme than what is portrayed in the show.
Alcala worked for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The really interesting bit? Serial killer Richard Cottingham (the notorious Times Square Ripper) also worked at the exact same organization! This coincidence is completely ignored by the movie and the omission creates an unexpectedly interesting addition and should be critically examined, because it has deep impact regarding how both of these criminals operated with the greatest amount of success; this kind of shared narrative entirely misses a significant storytelling moment and an easily-accessible point for increasing how much impact that reality could add, especially regarding a true crime thriller and those implications found throughout the movie’s ending and related true crime storytelling and themes involved.
Did Alcala and Cottingham Know Each Other? The Unanswered Question
There are unfortunately no known reports showing both Alcala and Cottingham knew of each other’s crimes, Despite working together, any cross-communication wasn’t actually witnessed or recorded.
Yet this kind of overlooked aspect, the simple idea that these two terrifying criminals might just work together is truly chilling, and the impact for audiences considering the true-crime details and implications might greatly help enhance how terrifying those possibilities really are, particularly considering their individual styles which show completely similar methods; demonstrating these underlying similarities and also helping raise that anxiety surrounding those details emphasized.
The Times Square Ripper: Richard Cottingham’s Crimes and Capture
Richard Cottingham’s initial crimes and arrests for violent crimes in the 1970s were eventually dismissed; the key point being these weren't discovered immediately. And in May 1980, he nearly managed to do this again; his victim was the very person who helped facilitate his own capture– because she successfully caught him in the midst of another act! She used a fake gun—that Cottingham had used before; she was completely justified in protecting herself through violence. The failure however– allowed Cottingham to completely escalate things further! The act of her screaming and thus contacting motel security; along with calling in the Police; saved her, creating those kinds of critical circumstances where justice was successfully able to prevail, saving her life through such creative, unexpected, resourceful reactions, which led to further trials; linking Cottingham to at least 18 victims!
Conclusion: A Missed Opportunity to Amplify Woman of the Hour’s Horror
Woman of the Hour effectively delivers on those true crime aspects but ignoring Cottingham's presence and thus Alcala's work with the Times Square Ripper was a HUGE miss; the sheer audacity surrounding that unexpected connection between the two; an entirely unplanned occurrence which is what is most striking and impactful in true crime reporting itself, is entirely missed.
Adding that detail dramatically elevates the film; greatly increasing the horror. It would emphasize Alcala’s disturbing normalcy that went so completely unchecked! And those implications— showing just how easily violence is masked and concealed is essential to discuss, highlighting a very key social reality emphasized in this article.
