The Sniper (1952)
Pre-dating Norman Bates and Travis Bickell, 1952's The Sniper tells the story of Eddie Miller (Arthur Franz, the original Invaders from Mars), a seemingly regular Joe who's struggling to keep his sanity. Seems Eddie has a problem with pretty brunettes who are mean to him -- so he sneaks onto rooftops and shoots them in the head! Eddie pleads for someone to stop him before he kills again, but the doctors ignore his cries for help and the police are a little bit slow to catch on...
This one's a gem that every cult movie fan should know, but surprisingly few have seen. Franz is utterly brilliant in the title role. His motivations are never made entirely clear, but Franz (often silently) depicted the character's inner struggle so well that one can easily find themselves sympathizing with the Eddie despite his blatant misdeeds. Shot on the streets of San Francisco at a time when very few movies were being filmed outside of the studios, the look of the film is nothing short of exquisite. And of course, the subject matter is years ahead of its time. The film is hindered a bit by the lengthy police investigation, which is dull and now very dated (technically the movie is a film noir) -- but that shouldn't dissuade anyone from seeing it. The movie is available on The Film Noir Collection: Volume 1, and it's also available for rental on Netflix.
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