"No one can explain '' intones narrator Herb Leonard at the conclusion of this stark, classic noir episode, a tale of an ordinary guy who suddenly goes haywire and starts shooting his neighbors in their shops at point-blank range. It's a personal episode, in that Jim Franciscus knows the man well, and Jim's wife has even spoken to him quite recently.
As McIntire questions locals, including a bewildered reverend whose congregation the killer belonged to, there are no answers, just the hunt to capture him led by Jim. On a long shot, Jim goes to Coney Island which is closed in winter, leading to a series of stark, Antonioni-esque visuals in long shot of him searching off the beach at some of the attractions, but the killer is waiting up on the roller coaster tracks and Jim becomes the hunted. Both are wounded in a brief shootout and the bleakness of the location offers no hope in the downbeat conclusion.
Silliphant's script follows elements of the police procedural, but with no positive moments or sense of hope, in keeping with the subject of a nihilist on the rampage. For Brooklynite director Stuart Rosenberg, whose humanist movies include "Cool Hand Luke" and "Brubaker", this is a visual masterpiece unlike his usual work.