When it comes to film, the only time fashion interests me is when it’s used to kill. Aside from scarves, nylon stockings and an occasional hat pin, the most cinematic murder accessory has got to be the shoe. Just think- it’s a weapon you can walk on. So here’s my favorite movie moments involving fatal footwear.
Lotte Lenya, the famed German cabaret singer and former wife of Kurt Weill, plays the butch and sinister Russian secret agent Rosa Klebb (aka Spectre’s “Number 3”) in one of the best James Bond films- From Russia With Love (1963). Disguised as a hotel maid In the action-packed finale Klebb attempts to kill 007 (Sean Connery) with her lethal loafers, which have retractable blades laced with fast-acting poison.
In Single White Female (1992) Allie Jones (Bridget Fonda) forgot one major requirement when she places this ad: “SWF seeks female to share apartment in W70s, non-smoker, professional preferred.” She forgot- “no nutcases.” So she gets shy, weird Hedra (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who cuts her hair to look like Allie, throws a puppy out the window, bashes the gay upstairs neighbor and even blows Allie’s boyfriend (Steven Weber) before driving a stiletto high heel into his brain.
Eleven-year-old Patty McCormack was deservedly nominated for an Academy Award for her portrayal of murderous moppet Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed (1956). Furious when she doesn’t win a penmanship medal, the deceptively sweet brat beats the victorious boy with her shoe causing him to drown. But the shoe’s metal toe tap leaves telltale marks on the victim, so Rhoda tries burning the evidence and sets fire to the gardener (Henry Jones) who’s on to her.
In 10 Violent Women (1978) 10 tough dames bored with their jobs as miners pull a jewelry heist. Unfortunately, their haul includes the sacred scarab ring of a sheikh and they land in a prison run by a brutal lesbian warden. In planning a daring escape, a fence (played by director Ted V. Mikels) tries to double-cross the girls, but they smash a bottle over his head and stab him with an ugly pair of heels.
John Waters described his film Desperate Living (1977) as: “a monstrous fairy-tale comedy dealing with mental anguish, lesbianism and political corruption”, a hysterical husband-murdering housewife (Mink Stole) flees with her 400-lb. black maid (Jean Hill) to Mortville, a mythical kingdom where criminals live free but are mortified daily by an evil queen (Edith Massey). Susan Lowe plays wrestler Mole McHenry who once killed an opponent by gouging out his eye with a high heel and then triumphantly stomping on it like a grape.
Director Alfred Sole’s 1977 psychodrama Alice Sweet Alice (1977) concerns killings committed around a Catholic Church by what appears to be a young girl in a red rain slicker. In a particularly gruesome scene the killer tries to dislodge an incriminating medal clenched in a man’s mouth by bashing out his teeth with her shoe.
In the Category III (adults only) Hong Kong shocker Passion Unbounded (1995) Miss Tong (Carrie Ng) is a serial killer who finds love with the epileptic man next door who shares her blood lust. They sip wine while watching slide shows of their victims. Miss Tong lures a man into a disco bathroom stall where she stabs him to death with her high heel.
Other favorite moments with less fatal consequences: Bette Davis gleefully kicking around her crippled sister (Joan Crawford) in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962). Something Wild (1961) is a bizarre tale of a young woman (Carroll Baker) who is brutally raped, wanders around Manhattan, tries to jump off a bridge and is saved by a desperately lonely man (Ralph Meeker) who locks her in his apartment in hopes of winning her love. When he comes home drunk and tries to attack her she kicks out his eye with her shoe. And in Tenebrae (1982), an Italian thriller by Dario Argento, the killer repeatedly recalls an incident where he is held down by other youths on a beach and a nymphomaniac jams her red high heel down his throat.
So the next time you say “My shoes are killing me,” they might..