Who Killed Teddy Bear (1965)
I. Of the many knock-offs inspired by the artistic and financial success of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho , none are as twisted or perverse as the deliriously delicious 1965 creep-fest Who Killed Teddy Bear . This terrific looking film – particularly in its 2018 region-free Network Blu-Ray release – isn’t as sleazy as it could have been but is positively provocative and terrifically transgressive in many ways. Teddy Bear showcases one of the few leading feature roles taken by prolific film, TV and theater actor Sal Mineo (1939-76), best known then and now as Plato in Rebel Without a Cause from a decade before. Here, Mineo stars as Lawrence, a socially awkward waiter at a discotheque (of all places) who, when he’s not perving out, cares for his younger sister Edie (the Broadway actress Margot Bennett, who was actually four years older than Mineo and was married at the time to Kier Dullea, who factored in his own twisted brother-sister thriller, Bunny Lake is Missing , rel
