Woman of the Hour subtly mentions the biggest problem with Rodney’s The Dating Game appearance

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour.

By reimagining the events around the strange Dating game Episode in which Rodney Alcala appeared, Woman of the hour Highlights the problem with his casting on the game show. Based on Rodney Alcala’s true crime story, Woman of the hour is Anna Kendricks directorial debut. The film received a positive response from viewers and critics alike and boasts an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%. One of the biggest reasons behind its critical success is that it doesn’t unfold like a typical true-crime drama.

Instead of focusing primarily on the brutal actions of the main serial killer, the movie highlights the perspectives of the people who crossed paths with him. With this approach, Woman of the hour Shows how many underlying systemic issues at the time allowed Alcala to get away with his crimes for a long time. The Anna Kendrick thriller also follows Alcala’s time in The dating gameUnderscoring one major issue with his casting on the popular game show.

Rodney Alcala already had a criminal history before he was thrown into the dating game

He had a long history of crimes before he appeared on the show

Before Rodney Alcala moved to Los Angeles in 1978 and became a contestant on The dating gameHe has already been added to the FBI’s ten most wanted pilots and committed at least two murders. Almost a decade before his appearance on the show, Alcala abducted and sexually assaulted an 8-year-old girl, Tali Shapiro. Although he initially fled to California to avoid an arrest warrant for the crime, he was later caught and sentenced to 3 years for child molestation. Only a few weeks after he was released in 1974, he was arrested again for attacking a 13-year-old girl.

As shown in Woman of the hourRodney Alcala also murdered a 23-year-old flight attendant, Cornella Creeley, in her Manhattan apartment. Rodney Alcala is also responsible for killing 23-year-old Ellen Jane Hover, who passed away in July 1977. At the time Rodney Alcala was incarcerated in The dating gameHe was already a registered sex offender and had been arrested and paroled several times for a string of crimes.

How a woman of the hour remembers the dating game’s voting process for contestants

Laura’s arc criticizes the negligence of the show

Although many letters in Woman of the hour Based on real people, the movie introduces one fictional character named Laura. Laura shows up The dating gameS poses as one of the members of the audience and realizes that Rodney Alcala has killed her friend in the past. Realizing how dangerous he is, Laura tries to file a complaint with the show’s authorities. However, her request was not taken too seriously. Even when she tells her boyfriend about Rodney’s identity, he doesn’t believe her and claims that the show probably had a vetting process before selecting contestants.

Laura’s arc may be fictional, but it prompts one to question how someone like Rodney Alcala ended up on such a famous game show. Her history in Woman of the hour highlights that even if one of Alcala’s victims had recognized and reported him, the systemic issues in place would still have helped him get away with his past actions. by asking The dating games vetting process, Woman of the hour Highlights the dangers of complacency and the societal tendency to ignore warningsEspecially when they come from women.

How Rodney Alcala was cast in the dating game in real life

There were initial concerns surrounding the casting of Alcala

Back when Rodney Alcala was cast for the show, running background checks on people wasn’t too easy. Google didn’t exist, and the people behind the show’s casting didn’t have the technology to look into a contestant’s past. despite this, The dating gameThe executive producer, Mike Metzger, and the contestant coordinator, Ellen Metzger, were unsure about Rodney Alcala being a contestant.

After meeting with Alcala, Metzger noted “A mystique about it“What made him uncomfortable (by ABC News). The producer recalled that they didn’t even agree on casting him for the show. However, as described in Woman of the hourRodney Alcala eventually was selected and found his place as one of the bachelors on the show.