The Zebra Killer

1974 "Savage and Wilson are Combat Cops! A Hard Way To Live... An Easy Way To Die"
5.5| 1h32m| PG| en
Details

A racist white serial killer known only as "Mac" is wreaking havoc throughout San Francisco while wearing black makeup and an afro wig. Police lieutenant Frank Savage is hot on his trail when Mac begins to reveal his motivations for the killings and escalates their game of cat and mouse.

Director

Producted By

Mid-America Pictures

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Trailers & Clips

Also starring James Carroll Pickett

Reviews

2hotFeature one of my absolute favorites!
Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
punishmentpark The Zebra Killer is fast paced, violent (though without much on screen killing or gore), foul mouthed and overall a must-see cult flick.The provocative serial killer that taunts black detective Frank Savage is quite a looney tune, and he has an agenda that reminded me of a film like Seven, although that's about all there is to compare.The vibe is in my opinion quite different from other exploitation flicks; it's more directed at the hardship of a black cop in an overall white police force and in that sense has a strong feel of drama to it. Though the 'exploitation'-label is not at all unjust.Concerning the logics of the story: Savage does not come across as a clever cop that sticks to the case like cheese to macaroni, but it all just seems to unfold at its own pace. And when he finally does use his brain to make a connection, it's all done in a matter of seconds... And the identity of the killer not being black, is quite already obvious when he appears at the second hit (the bombing). These are minuses, but don't spoil the whole film though. Not at all.A great plus is the great music in it: a funky, strutting series of tracks, of which some are a little too uplifting for what is shown, to my taste (the fight between the killer and savage, and the opening scene), but one with the guitar noise at the end is just about perfect - some sort of funkrocknoise avant la lettre.I'd say a big seven, which is so big I'm making it an eight...
lazarillo Although this is classified as a "blaxploitation" film, it manages to be much more race-baiting than usual by having a white sniper (obviously modeled after Scorpio from "Dirty Harry" and thus indirectly modeled after the real-life Zodiac Killer)who disguises himself in black-face as he commits incendiary crimes against middle-class whites (which his why he is called "the zebra killer"--not because he kills any zebras). The good guy cop meanwhile is a black guy, thus giving the title its blaxploitation credentials. Still the plot was apparently pretty controversial which is no doubt why this film is pretty hard to find today even though it is probably cult director William "Grizzly" Girdler's best film.It is obviously the kind of film that couldn't be made today, and that alone in my book makes it worth a look. Unfortunately, the version I saw looked awful suffering from both bad original film elements and tracking problems from one of the few remaining videotapes that is still circulating around. I'd like to see this film resurrected on DVD. Fat chance though probably since many of Girdler's early films (like the vastly inferior, but much less controversial "Three on a Meathook")have yet to see the light of a DVD player. Still they released the even more racially-insensitive "Fight for Your Live" (although that film had the advantage of actually having been banned in Britain)so maybe there is hope.
abbygird There's a lot of misinformation regarding this film floating around. Zebra Killer (aka Panic City, Combat Cops) stars Austin Stoker and Hugh Smith as police officers on the trail of a serial killer in Louisville, KY. The murderer goes on to kidnap and rape Stoker's lady, which drives Austin to heavy drinking and chicken eating. James Pickett offers a truly stellar performance, and D'Urville Martin makes a guest appearance in his trademark pimpsuit.Zebra Killer was originally rated PG but it received an R-rating upon release.SOURCE: williamgirdler.com
eddy-28 Austin Stoker stars in this film from the early "rip-off king" writer/director William Girdler. The film has a cimax in which it is about a black man who kills people with a large knife. the film's rating- PG is strange because of it's violence THE ZEBRA KILLER (A.K.A- PANIC CITY) Is impossible to find and is completely unavailable. I have tried looking for it over the yrs and have had no luck on finding it or on the internet. >