Dario Argento's first giallo, has to be good, right? Wrong. What a preposterous mess. TBWTCP starts with Sam, an American in Italy, who witnesses an attempted murder: a man in black stabs a woman in the stomach, then runs off, leaving her for dead. The cops arrive, Sam is questioned, and the woman is taken to the hospital. So far, so good, eh? Goes off the rails after this. For some reason Sam decides to play amateur detective after this. Why? Was this normal in the '70s? Right away, Sam barely avoids being decapitated on his walk home, and for unknown reasons, he doesn't report this to the police; there is a repeat of this, just wait.
There are more random murders, more would-be detective work from Sam, and we set up some red herrings.
The worst scene is in the second act: the murderer tracks down Julia, Sam's girlfriend, at home. Immediately she falls to the floor, crying. Keep in mind, the killer is outside! Julia finally moves a desk in front of the front door, yet is still falling over herself, and crying for reasons. Julia finally gathers enough sense to grab an edge weapon from the kitchen, yet is still crying on the floor - please understand the killer is still outside, the door is locked, and there is a desk barricading it; all they have managed to do is put a quarter-sized hole in the door with a dagger. Who acts like this? I realize this movie was made in 1970, so the cliches were not yet cliche, but damn, it's still bad writing. Sam soon shows up to save the day. Why doesn't the killer stab him then? I'on'ow, reasons. Just like before, this attack is not reported to the police. All is made clear in the third act. Strap in.
[spoiler]Big twist - are you sitting down? Julia was the killer! Turns out she wasn't being attacked at the start of the movie, she was doing the attacking... of her husband. So, wait, did she stab herself? It's later revealed that her husband knew she was a murderer, but was so codependent that he was trying to protect her, even if that meant nearly being stabbed by her. Brilliant.
Seriously, the ending is so sloppy it has to do what all poorly-written movies do and have a character full on explain the killer's motivation - turns out bitch be crazy. The end. But before that happens, there has to be a tete-a-tete between Julia, and Sam, back where the movie started - an art gallery. Naturally, Julia uses a large piece of spiky modern art - obviously one of Delia Deetz's early works - to trap, and nearly crush Sam - all the while I'm thinking "this is my art, and it is dangerous! do you think I want to die like this?!" So, Sam's trapped, Julia is about to stab him. What does he say to her? "Help me." To her... he says that to her. He's actually asking the homicidal maniac for help. Unbelievable. And, of course, in total deus ex machina fashion, the police show up and save him by delivering a judo chop to Julia, Austin Powers style.[/spoiler]
Pretty pathetic. I can understand hardcore giallo fans still wanting to watch this, but it is horrendous.