Ripped from the headlines! : the shocking true stories behind the movies' most memorable crimes

Bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter explores the real-life headline-making psychos, serial murderers, thrill-hungry couples, and lady-killers who inspired a century of classic films. The necktie murders in Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy ; Chicago ’s Jazz Age crime of passion; the fatal hookup in Looking for Mr. Goodbar ; the high school horrors committed by the costumed slasher in Scream . These and other cinematic crimes have become part of pop-culture history. And each found inspiration in true events that provided the raw material for our greatest blockbusters, indie art films, black comedies, Hollywood classics, and grindhouse horrors. So what’s the reality behind Psycho , Badlands , The Hills Have Eyes , A Place in the Sun , Arsenic and Old Lace , and Dirty Harry ? How did such tabloid-ready killers as Bonnie and Clyde, body snatchers Burke and Hare, Texas sniper Charles Whitman Jr., nurse-slayer Richard Speck, and Leopold and Loeb exert their power on the public imagination and become the stuff of movie lore? In this collection of revelatory essays, true-crime historian Harold Schechter takes a fascinating trip down the crossroads of fact and fiction to reveal the sensational real-life stories that are more shocking, taboo, and fantastic than even the most imaginative screenwriter can dream up. Chicago's Jazz Age crime of passion; the fatal hookup in Looking for Mr. Goodbar; the high school horrors committed by the costumed slasher in Scream. These and other cinematic crimes have become part of pop-culture history-- but found inspiration in true events. Schechter explores the real-life headline-making psychos, serial murderers, thrill-hungry couples, and lady-killers who inspired a century of classic films. Take a trip down the crossroads of fact and fiction, and discover the sensational real-life stories that are more shocking, taboo, and fantastic than even the most imaginative screenwriter can dream up. -- Adapted from jacket **Bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter explores the real-life headline-making psychos, serial murderers, thrill-hungry couples, and lady-killers who inspired a century of classic films.** So what’s the reality behind __Psycho__, __Badlands__, __The Hills Have Eyes__, __A Place in the Sun__, __Arsenic and Old Lace__, and __Dirty Harry__? How did such tabloid-ready killers as Bonnie and Clyde, body snatchers Burke and Hare, Texas sniper Charles Whitman Jr., nurse-slayer Richard Speck, and Leopold and Loeb exert their power on the public imagination and become the stuff of movie lore? In this collection of essays, true-crime historian Schechter reveals the real-life stories behind classic movies