The Mad Bomber

Year releasted: 1972

by Nathan Rabin
May 8th, 2002

The late '60s and early '70s were a time of tremendous unrest and anxiety in America,
as young people questioned their parents' values, and frightened parents lashed out at
what they perceived to be the excesses of the counterculture. The Mad Bomber's
The late '60s and early '70s were a time of tremendous unrest and anxiety in America, as young people questioned their parents' values, and frightened parents lashed out at what they perceived to be the excesses of the counterculture. The Mad Bomber's Chuck Connors stars as one such parent, a bifocals-sporting square who becomes the titular mad bomber after his beloved daughter dies a heroin-related death. Distraught, Connors refocuses his energy into punishing the world for its amorality and shockingly poor manners. First seen bullying a wanton litterbug into picking up after himself, Connors is equally hard on pushy motorists and waitresses who fail to show him proper courtesy, but he saves most of his rage for the buildings he bombs. Vince Edwards co-stars as Connors' nemesis, an out-of-control cop who favors unconventional, generally frowned-upon tactics, like repeatedly threatening to kill suspects unless they cooperate. Caught between the two men is Neville Brand, who has the bad luck to be raping a mute mental-hospital resident at the exact moment that Connors is bombing the hospital. After deciding that Brand is the key to catching Connors, Edwards hits upon an ingenious plan: "Let me blanket the city with policewomen just asking to be raped," he demands of his skeptical superior. Following a jazzy rapists-getting-caught-in-the-act montage, Edwards apprehends Brand and squeezes him for information. Connors, meanwhile, continues his mad bombing, pausing periodically to taunt the police with sinister but exceedingly polite threats. Horrified by the amorality of white, afro-sporting hippies and bra-burning feminists, Connors vows to go out with a literal bang, but first bombs Brand's house, where the rapist and family man spends most of his time watching homemade videos of his wife's face and upper torso. Edwards eventually hunts down Connors and foils his evil plan to blow up a city block, allowing the people of Los Angeles to sleep easier, secure in the knowledge that because of the efforts of a psychotic cop and a serial rapist, their city is a slightly safer place.