Hangman
Starring Al Pacino as an ex-cop who solves crosswords in Latin and does a mean parody of Al Pacino . A Pulitzer prize nominated journalist is doing a story on her hometown, and Pacino's ex-partner has drawn the short straw and is ordered by the wheelchair bound chief of police to show her around, much to his chagrin. Their first trip out on patrol and there is a call - murder at the local school. Outside: a body hanging from a lampost. Inside: an elaborate tableu composed of two schoolkid sized mannequins sitting in front of a desk on which are carved the badge numbers of Al and the detective, behind which is a blackboard with the start of a hangman game written in chalk:
_V_ _ _ _ _ O_ _
The autopsy reveals that the corpse has an "O" carved into her chest. The detective enlists the aid of Pacino and along with the journalist conducts a search of the corpse's flat and find a wardrobe full of Ann Summers' BDSM collection. This is the first of, what I would assume, are multiple breaches of protocol. Pacino isn't a cop, he's an ex-cop, and I don't think that would give him the right to interrogate suspects. Also, didn't the police have a minimum height required when he first signed up?
As if the first murder wasn't totally improbable, the plotting just gets worse. Each murder occurs at 11 pm ( 23:00 ) and, as well as having a letter carved into the corpse's flesh, the crime scene contains a clue as to who the next victim will be or the location of where they will be found hanging. It's a race against time! One of the most ridiculous scenes is set in a train yard where the, still living, victim is hanging above the track and the detective and his crew have to try and get them down before the 11 o'clock train smashes into them..what does the detective do? He drives a car on to the tracks so he can reach up to the steel wire around the victim's neck just in time for the train to smash into it and cause a huge explosion.
There are so many things wrong with this film that I don't have time to list them all...