Product Details

• Actors: Richard Speck
• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: A&E Home Video
• DVD Release Date: April 25, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000F6ZCDY
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,886 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Profile of the serial killer who massacred eight nurses in Chicago in 1966. We'll explore his life of crime and examine his manhunt and trial, which became the "O.J." of its time. We'll also show portions of the infamous video discovered by Bill Kurtis that shows Speck having a good time in prison as a drugged-up half-woman.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An informative look at this most cowardly of mass murderers, October 13, 2008

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Here is a mass murderer whose name truly fit him, especially if you replace his first name with the common nickname for Richard - he was nothing but a mere speck of human flotsam in a vast universe. According to one of his former jailers, "He was a miserable person who lived a miserable life." Most notorious murderers hold some measure of fascination over large numbers of people - e.g., Ted Bundy or Jack the Ripper. There is nothing fascinating about this sick puppy, however. Speck is the biggest coward I know of in the annals of mass killers, a crybaby afraid to enter a courtroom in the absence of his attorney, a weakling who could do nothing without the assistance of drugs and alcohol, a "tough guy" who attempted suicide in order to avoid capture, and a complete sicko who survived in prison by essentially turning himself into a woman in an effort to appeal to any fellow inmates who might want to kill him for his crimes (murdering innocent young women is even frowned upon on Death Row).

Richard Speck gained his notoriety by brutally murdering eight student nurses in Chicago in July 1966. At the time, he was already a fugitive from justice in two states, leaving a long trail of petty crimes and assaults (including the rape of a 65-year-old woman) in his wake. Speck extended most of his victims' ordeals (three of the women arrived home after he first broke in) over four hours, eventually stabbing and strangling them all (but not before brutally sexually assaulting the last one). Fortunately, one of the young women managed to hide and survive the ordeal, assuring Speck's imprisonment by brazenly walking up and sticking her finger in his face when identifying him as the killer. Little did she know that, once again, the Supreme Court would ultimately intrude and reverse yet another sentence of execution. Rather than paying the price exacted upon him by a judge and jury, this sick killer was actually eligible for parole a mere ten years following the murders. Thankfully, Speck did not live to a ripe old age - he died in 1991, one day before his 50th birthday.

The most disturbing part of this documentary is the portions we see of a 1988 Stateville Prison videotape acquired by Bill Kurtis in 1996. Naturally, we aren't shown the most disturbing parts of this in-prison video, including sex acts involving Speck, but we do see the man sitting there happy as a lamb, saying "If they only knew how much fun I was having, they'd turn me loose," snorting cocaine, and parading around in panties and discernible breasts. He had been taking hormones to make himself more attractive to fellow inmates who might otherwise kill him. The narrator throws in some ridiculous nonsense about Speck perhaps being forced to do these things, but that's just laughable. At one point, Speck is asked why he killed the eight nurses. His reply: "It just wasn't their night."

It is a shame that our need and duty to remember the lives of the innocent young women Speck brutally murdered requires us to remember the life of Richard Speck as well, for his is a life that truly deserves to be buried and forgotten for eternity. This documentary does a pretty good job of revealing the evil, cowardly depths of the man, although it does carry with it just a tad too much of the standard liberal psychological argument that his troubled childhood environment somehow made him into such a monster. Anyone can see that the evil that inhabited Richard Speck was born from within, not magically acquired from outside.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a misogynist murder spree, September 28, 2008

By	Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The narrator says, "Everyone has a nurse relative or young female relative and felt terrible for the victims." I have a nurse in the family and female relatives, so I could totally relate. So tragic and terrible!
Like several serial killers, Speck had previous convictions and a criminal record. Like many of them, he abused alcohol and drugs. Though the work details how he disrespected women, please note that there is nothing here which says any woman ever harmed him. Revenge seems like a bad word to place on this tragedy.
Because Speck was unlike other killers, so was this work. Usually, this series details one killing after the next. Speck did not offend in that way, so the work focuses on his infamous spree.
The work does conclude with his hormone injections and admission of sexual contact with other prisoners. It does leave room for interpretation: was he enjoying it or punishing himself? Were prisoners taking advantage of him as a form of revenge? Did he do this in a cunning way to survive there? The work allows space for viewers to reach their own conclusions.
At one point, the work misspells Bill Kurtis' last name dropping out the R. Haha!