Mindhunters

[Ghost Magnum]

Just finished Netflix's Mindhunters. I have mixed feelings about it. I understand it's fiction. But everything about it gets on my nerves one way or another. The cops, the FBI, everyone. I wonder how anyone in the show made it as high as they did in law enforcement since they are easily offended and can't listen to the prisoners/suspects and the protagonist talk with out getting bent out of shape.

I don't know who I dislike more. The protagonist, the dinosaurs he works for and with, or the back stabbing wimp the director forced on the team.

There is some cliche. Like the the new young creative protagonist that has fresh ideas that gets results. And has to deal with dinosaurs as bosses that rides him for everything he does.

I am way to young to be around in the early days of criminal profiling. I know this show is only a fictional version of the history of the BSU. But it did inspired me to read up on the real history of the BSU. I don't need need a criminal profiling book. I already have one.

The show does have some redeeming qualities. But it needs allot of work to get me to watch the second season.

 

[Lt JL]

I've met Ressler who has passed away, and Douglas; Ressler is the guy who interviewed all the serial killers in prison, and pretty much invented profiling. Douglas pretty much invented taking the credit for Ressler's work. Ressler, Burgess, and Douglas wrote
-Sexual Homicide
Patterns and Motives. It is still the profilers' foundational work.

 

[Ghost Magnum]

I've met Ressler who has passed away, and Douglas; Ressler is the guy who interviewed all the serial killers in prison, and pretty much invented profiling. Douglas pretty much invented taking the credit for Ressler's work. Ressler, Burgess, and Douglas wrote
-Sexual Homicide
Patterns and Motives. It is still the profilers' foundational work.

I bet that was interesting. What was he like?

 

[Lt JL]

Ressler was an interesting guy. He was Military Intelligence before FBI, and stayed in the Reserve, retired as a colonel. He had an eerie knack for knowing what you were thinking, and what you were going to say before you said it. I talked to him at a conference in Baltimore in the mid-90's. He didn't act much like FBI, much more scholarly. I asked how he could stand to interview the guys he met with in prisons. He said their info was more important than just executing them . He wanted to get inside them, and look out through their eyes. . He said he talked to some really twisted people whose ways of thinking in no way resembled yours or mine. I think Douglas was the better writer and self-promoter, but I think Ressler invented the specialty. Another guy, James Reese, went on to establish the FBI EAP, and his work in that area is still largely emulated by departments across the country,

 

[Rule3]

Well now, if you want the "real" take on the BAU or Serial Crime Unit, then watch Criminal Minds

I have Mind Hunters in my Que so will have to see how it goes.Did you watch the mini series on the Uni-bomber? I found that pretty interesting.

 

[Texas Star]

Other than John Douglas's books, read, "The Evil That Men Do", about Roy Hazlewood.


You'll learn a lot about the early days of the FBI profilers.


Hollywood wants drama and friction to make shows interesting. I wouldn't believe everything this new show says.


I can't get it on my TV. They took the title from one of Douglas's books.


BTW, if you watch, "The Silence of the Lambs", look for the scene where a FBI official presents Jodie Foster's character with her credentials. The man handing out those ID's is the real John Douglas, in a cameo role.

 

[sigp220.45]

I'm 7 episodes in. No shootouts? No car chases? One guy likes his own girlfriend and the other guy loves his own wife and kid? How did this get made?

I love it. From my perspective as a recently retired FBI agent who worked nothing but violent crime I consider it extraordinarily realistic. (Especially the older guy's take on how the Bureau actually works).

They may still blow it in the last three episodes, but for now it rates an A plus on the sigp220.45 scale.

Dealing with these types of criminals affects people differently. I knew one guy who would get up in the middle of the night and sleep across his kid's bedroom doorway in the hall. He would go back to bed at dawn. He didn't believe he was doing it until his wife showed him a tape.

I always maintained a sense of humor about the horrible stuff and I didn't think it affected me. When my three kids were little I was working a lot of crimes against children. I would dress them every morning before I went to work and I would memorize everything each of them had on, down to underwear and socks. Three kids, every day, for five years. As kids are prone to do, they insisted on growing up and dressing themselves so it stopped eventually.

The Bu finally caught on and started requiring yearly head checks for agents working violent crime and kiddy porn.

 

[Rule3]

I watched the first two episodes last night and found it very good. Real or not I have no idea, but it seems "real" to me.

One of the producers is Charlize Theron and it has Anna Torv (from Fringe) it it, so it's gotta be good!

 

[Targets Guy]

The series is based on the 1995 book ( I think Douglas wrote it). An article I read said that the interview with the big guy in Washington State and Manson were verbatim with the actual interview. I didn't much care for the graphic sex between the agent and his girl friend and was pleased to see they dialed that back after about episode two.

Enjoyed the show. Wonder if it gets picked up.

 

[Texas Star]

I watched the first two episodes last night and found it very good. Real or not I have no idea, but it seems "real" to me.

One of the producers is Charlize Theron and it has Anna Torv (from Fringe) it it, so it's gotta be good!

Charlize grew up as a Boer meisie on the high veldt of South Africa, but she's now very liberal. So, I'd expect typical Hollywood liberalism to be included in the show's attitudes. Is that the case?

Many, if not most, shows and movies have messages, to promote Hollywood values.

Targets Guy wonders if John Douglas wrote, "Mindhunter." Yes. I said so in my earlier post here. He's an excellent writer. BTW, he suffered severe stress while pursuing the Green River killer.

Those who've read Thos. Harris's books featuring Dr. Hannibal Lecter have been exposed to serial killers. The author studied them at FBI HQ and based at least one on a real killer, the big nut who left the Bureau's interviewers afraid of him. I encourage those of you interested in this stuff to read Harris's books and to see, "Manhunter" and, "Red Dragon" and, "The Silence of the Lambs." "Manhunter" is the better film based on the book, "Red Dragon", but the remake with the book's actual title is also good.

"Manhunter" starred Wm. Petersen before, "CSI" began on TV. Supporting actors are also very good, inc. Dennis Farina, if I recall his name right.

Some people don't have the fortitude to handle this material. Those with stronger stomachs will find this subject fascinating. Alas, those who have to deal with this in real life have to be wary of letting these guys get too deeply into their heads. SIG P-220's post above details the stress he personally encountered.

Heck, when, "Jaws" appeared in theaters, my wife insisted on leaving in the middle of the movie. I didn't get to see it until we divorced, years later. She'd have never enjoyed films based on Harris's books.

BTW he wrote, "Black Sunday", which also became a terrific movie. Those of you who like to attend the Superbowl or other large public events should see that and think about the plot. Frankly, I'm surprised that it hasn't happened in real life...yet!

Does the Goodyear blimp still operate? It's been a long time since I saw one of those big airships.

Many years ago, I read, "The Collector", by John Fowles. When the movie appeared, I took a date to see it. After, she kept murmuring, "You know, there are really people like that!"

Yes. That's what makes this stuff so scary that I never found an interest in monster movies, with animated dragons and such. The real dragons are among us, as humans.

Oh: the painting, "Red Dragon", by Wm. Blake, really exists. Harris didn't invent it for his book. Look it up Online and reflect on what sort of mind would relish that image and think he was becoming that figure.

 

[Targets Guy]

I agree. "Manhunter" with Petersen is a very good movie.

 

[Texas Star]

I agree. "Manhunter" with Petersen is a very good movie.

Did you notice that the credits at the last included Maglite? Only time I've ever seen flashlights credted in a movie!

 

[FredBart]

Mind hunters is well worth watching. Naturally, some of it is fiction, made for dramatic excitement. However, it is easy to see how the lay person can understand how interviews with mass murderers could impact one's psyche.

As for language and sexuality, that is how people talk and act in real life. The contrast between what is considered normal and what is considered deviant is an important part of this series. Remember, it is meant to take place in the 1970's.

Joliet prison has been closed for years, but they used the real exterior for the Richard Speck interviews. I don't know about the interior, but it looked real enough.

Watch this series if you can.

 

[rwsmith]

Thanks for the.....

Thanks for the warning, uh, I mean REVIEW.

 

[Rule3]

Finished watching all 10 episodes.

My rating is VERY GOOD! Well done and realistic to me

They left lots of "teasers" for a second season.

Yes, there is a sex scene in the first 2 episodes and there is lots of "language"

Which I fall to understand why that bothers some people or this Country for that matter.??
Reminds me of George Carlin the words you can not say on TV.

So many, many movies and TV shows are nothing but blood, guts, killing, body parts blown off and other nasty stuff,This is OK?? But OMG lets not see any brief sex (not porn) between two adults or a naked person or use a certain word.

Heck 100 years ago I wrote a term paper on violence on TV and how many kids see thousands of people killed before they are 18. Imagine what it is now? Plus all the video games and movies??

So watch the series, close your eyes for a minute if you have to.