Film Details Infamous 1950s NYC Crime - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Janice · 05-30-2007, 11:05 PM

http://apnews.excite.com/article/200...D8PE989G0.html

Film Details Infamous 1950s NYC Crime

(AP) Burt Pugach laughs after kissing his wife, Linda, in the hallway of the Queens Criminal Court in...Full Image

NEW YORK (AP) - Dan Klores still remembers his first case of heartbreak.
'I was obsessed, during the relationship and after," says the 57-year-old documentary filmmaker. "I did some things that I was absolutely not proud of, and kept them to myself. Who's going to admit, 'By the way, I call her and hang up'?"

Burton Pugach admitted to more than that when his heart was broken, and Klores remembered his story, too. It was June 1959 when the married Pugach was jilted by his gorgeous young girlfriend - and hired someone to toss lye in her face, blinding the love of his life (and ensuring she could quite literally never see another man).

Pugach, whose heinous attack became a tabloid sensation, was jailed for 14 years. Upon his release, Pugach was interviewed on local television - and proposed, on camera, to his blind and disfigured victim, Linda Riss.

Strangely enough, she accepted.

They were pronounced parolee and wife on Nov. 27, 1974. And when Klores read a newspaper piece about the pair four years ago, his old memory became his new obsession: the bizarre tale of boy meets girl, boy maims girl, boy marries girl - and more.

The relationship between Burt and Linda (now married 33 years) is the focus of his latest film, the aptly named "Crazy Love," which opens in New York June 1 and expands elsewhere in subsequent weeks. The documentary's biggest fan, in yet another improbable turn, is ... Burt Pugach.

"Dan Klores is a genius," said Pugach, who comes off as corrupt, creepy and controlling during his better moments in the film. "He did an excellent job. For the first time, the story has colors - it was no longer black and white."

The couple's complex relationship, in its assorted strange shadings, is the latest New York narrative to grab Klores' attention. The native Brooklynite, founder of a well-known eponymous public-relations firm, moved into documentary filmmaking with 2003's "The Boys of 2nd Street Park."

The film followed Klores' boyhood friends from their days on a Brighton Beach basketball court through adulthood. The follow-up was the critically hailed "Ring of Fire," a recounting of the 1962 night when boxer Emile Griffith delivered a fatal beating to Benny "Kid" Paret inside Madison Square Garden.

"Crazy Love" was another slice of the city lurking somewhere inside Klores' subconscious, stuck since his youth in a New York far different from its 21st century incarnation.

"I wasn't aware it had stayed within me," Klores said about the Pugachs' story. "But there was an article on Burt and Linda in the Sunday (New York) Times. And as soon as I saw it, I said, 'Oh, I remember this. And this is a good story.'"

Klores, his beard gray and his jeans faded, plays with a rubber band while discussing "Crazy Love" in his second-floor Tribeca office. On a nearby shelf sits the film's award for best documentary from the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

While his previous documentaries were sold to television, "Crazy Love" will have a theatrical release. Klores found this film a harder sell than his earlier efforts.

"I was speaking to someone and I said, 'I can't believe it. Everybody loves this, but they're not biting to the extent that we want,'" Klores recalled.

"And this woman said to me, 'You don't make they type of movies that everyone will buy. You want something like that, do Hansel and Gretel.'"
Klores opted for Burt and Linda, whose personal Bronx tale still sets heads shaking in disbelief nearly a half-century later.

"When Dan came to me with the idea, it didn't seem like it could be nonfiction," said actor Fisher Stevens, who signed on as the project's producer and co-director.

The documentary's Manhattan premiere produced a strange mix of celebrities culled from across Klores' career. There was former Gov. Mario Cuomo, and shock jock Howard Stern. Journalist Jimmy Breslin, and "Sopranos" star Steve Schirripa. Actor Matt Dillon, and basketball Hall of Famer Earl "The Pearl" Monroe.

They were joined by Burt and Linda, who received a rousing ovation when they stood side-by-side in the front of the theater after the credits rolled.

"What Dan Klores did was to point out that I'm not defined - and I shouldn't be defined - by that single act," Pugach said in an interview before the premiere. Still, he can't escape what happened: "Even without the movie, I live with it every day. You can't hide your past."

Klores, the happily married father of three boys aged four to nine, plans to step away from his public relations company in the near future to focus entirely on film and writing. Even as he was fully immersed in the publicity business, Klores always envisioned moving on.

"Not making documentaries," he said. "But somehow writing films ... absolutely. I was a journalist and a writer, and I was broke, and that's how I got into PR."

Klores is well into his next documentary, "Black Magic," a look into the civil rights movement as told by basketball players and coaches from historically black colleges. Hoop star Monroe is the film's co-producer.

There was a nice tie-in between Klores' first documentary and his latest project. He recruited a group of his Brighton Beach buddies and flew them out to the Sundance Film Festival for the "Crazy Love" premiere. "I took eight of 'em - the 'Boys of 2nd Street Park,'" said Klores, still tickled by the thought. "It was great. It was 'Entourage' for guys in their mid-50s."

This undated photo provided by Magnolia Pictures shows Linda and Burt Pugach in 1974. The two are the subject of the movie, "Crazy Love," which opens June 1 in New York. Burt Pugach was convicted of hiring thugs to throw lye in Linda's eyes after she cut off an affair with him in 1959. When he got out of prison, they wed and have been married for 33 years.

Janice · 11-29-2007, 05:12 AM

I watched the documentary of this story, and it's excellent.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007792-crazy_love/

Dr. Jazz · 11-29-2007, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice

I watched the documentary of this story, and it's excellent.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007792-crazy_love/

I remember reading about this YEARS ago! I really want to see this documentary. I watched some show on A&E a couple years ago about this case ("City Confidential" I think) and they had a present day interview with Pugach and Riss.

Janice · 11-29-2007, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Jazz

I remember reading about this YEARS ago! I really want to see this documentary. I watched some show on A&E a couple years ago about this case ("City Confidential" I think) and they had a present day interview with Pugach and Riss.

I really think you'll enjoy it. The couple and their friends and family are interviewed throughout. It was well done. Crazy love, for sure.

Brian Damage · 12-01-2007, 05:34 PM

Excellent, Excellent Documentary!!!

What a crazy story this turned out to be.

I really do think BOTH Burt and Linda are cuckoo!

Thank you Janice for the recommendation.

Janice · 12-01-2007, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Excellent, Excellent Documentary!!!

What a crazy story this turned out to be.

I really do think BOTH Burt and Linda are cuckoo!

Thank you Janice for the recommendation.

You're welcome, Brian. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and yes, Burt and Linda deserve each other.

Brian Damage · 12-01-2007, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice

You're welcome, Brian. I'm so glad you enjoyed it, and yes, Burt and Linda deserve each other.

Even though I think Linda is a whacko, one interviewer said it best, Burt created Linda Pubach.

Janice · 12-01-2007, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Even though I think Linda is a whacko, one interviewer said it best, Burt created Linda Pubach.

True, it's sad. He destroyed her life. Imagine if he didn't do what he did, to her?

Brian Damage · 12-01-2007, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice

True, it's sad. He destroyed her life. Imagine if he didn't do what he did, to her?

She was a good looking gal when she was younger. She had a bit of a screwed up life growing up, but nothing like what Burt put her through.

BTW, I was left wondering what ever happened to Burt's daughter? I know she was institutionalized, but they never mentioned if she was alive or dead.

Janice · 12-01-2007, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

BTW, I was left wondering what ever happened to Burt's daughter? I know she was institutionalized, but they never mentioned if she was alive or dead.

That's a good question. I wonder. Also, I know times were different back then, but why on earth would Burt's wife fight for HIM, of all cads. Really, he was nothing but a pain in the butt. I would have told Linda, take him, he's ALL yours.

Brian Damage · 12-01-2007, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice

That's a good question. I wonder. Also, I know times were different back then, but why on earth would Burt's wife fight for HIM, of all cads. Really, he was nothing but a pain in the butt. I would have told Linda, take him, he's ALL yours.

Good Point, I would say she was seduced by his money, but she was described as a low key woman who was satisfied being a house wife.

Janice · 12-01-2007, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

Good Point, I would say she was seduced by his money, but she was described as a low key woman who was satisfied being a house wife.

I think Burt destroyed a few lives. Linda went back with him out of financial necessity and because she couldn't find anyone else. Had he not blinded her, she would have married the other guy, had kids and probably lived happily ever after. I guess her fiance showed his lack of devotion early on though. He should have stayed with her. It tells me he loved her mainly for her looks or that he was a coward and afraid of Burt, or a combination of both.

Also, I think Linda has the funniest personality. She's a riot.

Ireneparalegal · 12-01-2007, 08:24 PM

I am glad you bumped this up with this up-date on the documentary. I was trying to remember the name of it. I had read this thread back when you first made it and I was interested in watching the documentary. I recall seeing the case on some "investigator" show, it was probably City Confidential or Biography. Anyhoo, I am really wanting to see this. I love true life crime stories. Nothing like the real stuff.

BTW, I just see red "x's" above. There used to be photos there.

Brian Damage · 12-01-2007, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janice

I think Burt destroyed a few lives. Linda went back with him out of financial necessity and because she couldn't find anyone else. Had he not blinded her, she would have married the other guy, had kids and probably lived happily ever after. I guess her fiance showed his lack of devotion early on though. He should have stayed with her. It tells me he loved her mainly for her looks or that he was a coward and afraid of Burt, or a combination of both.

Also, I think Linda has the funniest personality. She's a riot.

She is WILD!

I think that guy that was courting Linda was probably afraid of the bad press, so he stuck by her while she was in the hospital.

Janice · 12-01-2007, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireneparalegal

I am glad you bumped this up with this up-date on the documentary. I was trying to remember the name of it. I had read this thread back when you first made it and I was interested in watching the documentary. I recall seeing the case on some "investigator" show, it was probably City Confidential or Biography. Anyhoo, I am really wanting to see this. I love true life crime stories. Nothing like the real stuff.

BTW, I just see red "x's" above. There used to be photos there.

I noticed that pictures often disappear, unless they've been saved as opposing to a copy and paste. I think you'll enjoy the documentary, Irene. It's very well done. Here's some pictures. You gotta love Google Image, lol.

05-30-2007, 11:05 PM	#1
Janice Retired Admin - Hollywood Swingin' Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 03, 2001 Location: Beantown Posts: 36,388	Film Details Infamous 1950s NYC Crime http://apnews.excite.com/article/200...D8PE989G0.html Film Details Infamous 1950s NYC Crime (AP) Burt Pugach laughs after kissing his wife, Linda, in the hallway of the Queens Criminal Court in...Full Image NEW YORK (AP) - Dan Klores still remembers his first case of heartbreak. 'I was obsessed, during the relationship and after," says the 57-year-old documentary filmmaker. "I did some things that I was absolutely not proud of, and kept them to myself. Who's going to admit, 'By the way, I call her and hang up'?" Burton Pugach admitted to more than that when his heart was broken, and Klores remembered his story, too. It was June 1959 when the married Pugach was jilted by his gorgeous young girlfriend - and hired someone to toss lye in her face, blinding the love of his life (and ensuring she could quite literally never see another man). Pugach, whose heinous attack became a tabloid sensation, was jailed for 14 years. Upon his release, Pugach was interviewed on local television - and proposed, on camera, to his blind and disfigured victim, Linda Riss. Strangely enough, she accepted. They were pronounced parolee and wife on Nov. 27, 1974. And when Klores read a newspaper piece about the pair four years ago, his old memory became his new obsession: the bizarre tale of boy meets girl, boy maims girl, boy marries girl - and more. The relationship between Burt and Linda (now married 33 years) is the focus of his latest film, the aptly named "Crazy Love," which opens in New York June 1 and expands elsewhere in subsequent weeks. The documentary's biggest fan, in yet another improbable turn, is ... Burt Pugach. "Dan Klores is a genius," said Pugach, who comes off as corrupt, creepy and controlling during his better moments in the film. "He did an excellent job. For the first time, the story has colors - it was no longer black and white." The couple's complex relationship, in its assorted strange shadings, is the latest New York narrative to grab Klores' attention. The native Brooklynite, founder of a well-known eponymous public-relations firm, moved into documentary filmmaking with 2003's "The Boys of 2nd Street Park." The film followed Klores' boyhood friends from their days on a Brighton Beach basketball court through adulthood. The follow-up was the critically hailed "Ring of Fire," a recounting of the 1962 night when boxer Emile Griffith delivered a fatal beating to Benny "Kid" Paret inside Madison Square Garden. "Crazy Love" was another slice of the city lurking somewhere inside Klores' subconscious, stuck since his youth in a New York far different from its 21st century incarnation. "I wasn't aware it had stayed within me," Klores said about the Pugachs' story. "But there was an article on Burt and Linda in the Sunday (New York) Times. And as soon as I saw it, I said, 'Oh, I remember this. And this is a good story.'" Klores, his beard gray and his jeans faded, plays with a rubber band while discussing "Crazy Love" in his second-floor Tribeca office. On a nearby shelf sits the film's award for best documentary from the Santa Barbara Film Festival. While his previous documentaries were sold to television, "Crazy Love" will have a theatrical release. Klores found this film a harder sell than his earlier efforts. "I was speaking to someone and I said, 'I can't believe it. Everybody loves this, but they're not biting to the extent that we want,'" Klores recalled. "And this woman said to me, 'You don't make they type of movies that everyone will buy. You want something like that, do Hansel and Gretel.'" Klores opted for Burt and Linda, whose personal Bronx tale still sets heads shaking in disbelief nearly a half-century later. "When Dan came to me with the idea, it didn't seem like it could be nonfiction," said actor Fisher Stevens, who signed on as the project's producer and co-director. The documentary's Manhattan premiere produced a strange mix of celebrities culled from across Klores' career. There was former Gov. Mario Cuomo, and shock jock Howard Stern. Journalist Jimmy Breslin, and "Sopranos" star Steve Schirripa. Actor Matt Dillon, and basketball Hall of Famer Earl "The Pearl" Monroe. They were joined by Burt and Linda, who received a rousing ovation when they stood side-by-side in the front of the theater after the credits rolled. "What Dan Klores did was to point out that I'm not defined - and I shouldn't be defined - by that single act," Pugach said in an interview before the premiere. Still, he can't escape what happened: "Even without the movie, I live with it every day. You can't hide your past." Klores, the happily married father of three boys aged four to nine, plans to step away from his public relations company in the near future to focus entirely on film and writing. Even as he was fully immersed in the publicity business, Klores always envisioned moving on. "Not making documentaries," he said. "But somehow writing films ... absolutely. I was a journalist and a writer, and I was broke, and that's how I got into PR." Klores is well into his next documentary, "Black Magic," a look into the civil rights movement as told by basketball players and coaches from historically black colleges. Hoop star Monroe is the film's co-producer. There was a nice tie-in between Klores' first documentary and his latest project. He recruited a group of his Brighton Beach buddies and flew them out to the Sundance Film Festival for the "Crazy Love" premiere. "I took eight of 'em - the 'Boys of 2nd Street Park,'" said Klores, still tickled by the thought. "It was great. It was 'Entourage' for guys in their mid-50s." This undated photo provided by Magnolia Pictures shows Linda and Burt Pugach in 1974. The two are the subject of the movie, "Crazy Love," which opens June 1 in New York. Burt Pugach was convicted of hiring thugs to throw lye in Linda's eyes after she cut off an affair with him in 1959. When he got out of prison, they wed and have been married for 33 years.

12-01-2007, 05:34 PM	#5
Brian Damage I'm Rich Bitch Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 03, 2002 Location: What Ain't No Country I Ever Heard Of...They Speak English in What? Posts: 63,107	Excellent, Excellent Documentary!!! What a crazy story this turned out to be. I really do think BOTH Burt and Linda are cuckoo! Thank you Janice for the recommendation.
	__________________ The Key to the Kingdom of Heaven: John 3:3 *Money Doesn't Buy Happiness...But I'd Rather Cry in My Private Jet*

12-01-2007, 08:24 PM	#13
Ireneparalegal LEGAL SPICE ;) Forum Legend Join Date: Jul 25, 2005 Location: OXNARD, CA - WHERE THE DALLAS COWBOYS TRAIN & PRACTICE Posts: 38,691	I am glad you bumped this up with this up-date on the documentary. I was trying to remember the name of it. I had read this thread back when you first made it and I was interested in watching the documentary. I recall seeing the case on some "investigator" show, it was probably City Confidential or Biography. Anyhoo, I am really wanting to see this. I love true life crime stories. Nothing like the real stuff. BTW, I just see red "x's" above. There used to be photos there.
	__________________ DALLAS COWBOYS ARE HERE AT TRAINING CAMP!!!

11-29-2007, 05:12 AM	#2
Janice Retired Admin - Hollywood Swingin' Forum Legend Join Date: Aug 03, 2001 Location: Beantown Posts: 36,388	I watched the documentary of this story, and it's excellent. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/10007792-crazy_love/