Recently a friend and I watched The Sniper as part of The Criterion Channel’s March programing of Columbia Noir. This movie, released in 1952, is shockingly relevant today and presents a story and complexity about its central character well ahead of its time.

Directed by Edward Dmytryk, who also gave us one of my favorite films The Caine Mutiny, and written by Harry Brown, The Sniper is focused on Edward Miller a troubled young man recently released from prison. Miller struggles against a deep-seated hatred of women and after a couple of attempts to get help fail and he is romantically rejected Miller loses control and begins a murderous spree as a sniper killing dark haired women. The police led by Lieutenant Frank Kafka and his partner Joe Ferris are nearly helpless to catch Miller. Stuck in a mindset that looks for motive their focus on peeping toms and men with a history of sexual assault their investigation gets nowhere until the department’s psychologist Dr. Kent, redirects their attention by use of what would eventually become psychological profiling. In a final inversion of classic film tropes, the ending doesn’t rely upon exciting gunplay but instead leaves the viewer with a haunting image of a man in pain.

When we decided to watch The Sniper with its subject matter of random murder we expected a film that leaned heavily towards the exploitive but instead we were treated to a thoughtful, though occasionally didactic, and serious treatment of the problems American society has, then and now, in dealing with psychological trauma and the use of a prison system in lieu of hospitals. Aside from one scene where the plot is brought to a full stop to allow for speechmaking by the filmmakers The Sniper does an excellent job of presenting its themes within the context of a compelling narrative. This one is well worth seeking out and watching.