Dangerous Cargo


            In Los Angeles, California, the strangler (Nicholas Worth) ties a cord around his neck while standing bare-chested with his arms outstretched before a crucifix.At her apartment, a nurse (Dale Kalberg) arrives home after her day-long shift and receives a call from her mother. After she hangs up, she is strangled and raped by the strangler, whose face is obscured by a stocking.The next day, the strangler listens to details of the crime on his car radio, and telephones radio psychologist, Dr. Lindsay Gale (Flo Gerrish), from a pay phone, speaking in a thick fake Spanish accent. It is not the first time he has pretended to be "Ramon" who has chronic headaches, but now he announces that his new girl friend, a nurse, has solved his problems. When Dr. Gale wants to know what his girl friend thinks of his symptoms, he hangs up.Meanwhile, Lt. Chris McCabe (James Westmoreland) investigates the crime scene of the nurse's apartment and finds items used by the Vietcong for sexual pleasure, indicating that the strangler may be a Vietnam veteran.At her Valley Free Clinic, Dr. Gale has a therapy session with Carol (Paula Warner), an incest victim. Carol is followed home by the strangler, who he breaks into her house, ties her up, and laughs as he drips hot candle wax on her body. He compliments her beauty, claims to be her daddy, and treats her as a sacrificial offering.As more murders occur, detectives are briefed on characteristics of the killer's personality: paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, psychotic, and schizophrenic. McCabe visits Dr. Gale, but she demands a warrant before she releases Carol's file.That night, the strangler offers to photograph Sue Ellen (Pamela Jean Bryant), a pretty, blonde hitchhiker, and lures her back to his studio. After several photographs, he dresses her in a thick leather belt and restrains her with handcuffs attached to the belt. When he reveals a religious altar behind a curtain, she asks him for the keys to the handcuffs. Instead, he strangles her with a strap made from his previous victim's stockings. After the strangler dumps Sue Ellen's body, he weeps uncontrollably.When Dr. Gale meets with Lisa (Denise Galik), a patient with a drug problem, the strangler watches from his parked car outside the clinic. Meanwhile, a psychic named Von Hammensveld (Chris Wallace) visits the police station to help with the case, but McCabe is unimpressed. However, the psychic touches Sue Ellen's photograph, and imparts truthful physical details about the strangler, claiming that the strangler put a coin on the victim's throat, wrapped it with a stocking from a previous victim, and modulated the pressure around the victim's neck as he raped her. After the strangler was done, he photographed his dead victim and left. Although McCabe wants to arrest the psychic for the crimes, he has a credible alibi.Elsewhere, the strangler sells his photographs to an agency, and gets an assignment from Lloyd Weston, the owner. Later, he picks up a call girl named Denise (Susanne Severeid) on Hollywood Boulevard and persuades her to phone Dr. Gale's radio show. As she rambles about quitting prostitution, she tells Dr. Gale her client is a frequent caller who gets headaches. The strangler kills Denise while she is on the air with the doctor. In his normal voice, the strangler asks Dr. Gale if she heard everything and hangs up. When Darnell Adkins (Stan Haze), Denise's pimp, checks the room looking for her the strangler knocks him unconscious.Later, when detectives confirm the strangler killed Denise, McCabe and his partner, Sgt. "Hatch" Hatcher (Ben Frank), look for Adkins. They suspect he might have robbed the strangler for drug money. The detectives clear out a massage parlor after getting a tip, but they are forced kill Adkins when he tries to escape and pulls a gun on them.At home, on a rooftop, Lisa paces back and forth, while police officers and Dr. Gale try to convince her not to jump. When McCabe arrives, he manages to calm her enough for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. Dr. Gale is impressed by how McCabe handles Lisa, and accepts his invitation to have a drink. Later, they make love for the first time.Elsewhere, the strangler rings the doorbell of another victim, a pretty blonde named Cathy, claiming he was sent to do a photo shoot with her, but she is not aware of the appointment. When she is upset by the photographs in his portfolio, she asks him to leave. Instead, he strangles both her and her roommate, who happens to walk in during the attack. In his haste, he leaves behind a camera full of images, which later becomes police evidence.McCabe and Hatcher go to the photography agency where the owner, Sam Gluckman (Chuck Mitchell), tells Hatcher that "Kirk Smith" is the photographer. McCabe and Hatcher search Kirk's apartment, although Hatcher warns they have no search warrant for any evidence they might find.At her home, Dr. Gale has been assigned police protection and gets ready for bed. However, the strangler is in her house, waiting for the right moment to strike.Meanwhile, the two detectives cannot find anything incriminating and realize they are in the wrong apartment. Finally, in Kirk's studio next door, they discover pornography and a scarf with a coin.Back at Dr. Gale's house, she realizes someone is in her house when the lights go off. Before she can escape, Kirk grabs her and announces that their time has come. He slaps her and ties her to a chair.At Kirk's studio, Hatch discovers photographs of McCabe and Dr. Gale, leading McCabe to realize his lover is in danger. He speeds to her house as Dr. Gale asks Kirk to talk about his troubled childhood, the abuse, and the many doctors he saw, as well as his military service in Vietnam. However, his mood swings cause her to scream and he gags her. When McCabe enters Dr. Gale's house, Kirk attacks him. They fight until McCabe shoots him in the groin, then restrains him with handcuffs. When McCabe frees Dr. Gale, Kirk breaks apart the handcuffs and goes after McCabe, who shoots him several times until the strangler drops dead in the swimming pool. As McCabe watches the swirling water turn red, he says, "Adios, creep."
    

Nicholas Worth

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