MovieChat Forums > No Way to Treat a Lady (1968) Discussion > Why didn't Gill kill Kate when he went t...

Why didn't Gill kill Kate when he went to her apartment?


Instead he just rendered her unconscious for some reason. Was he afraid to kill her because he knew that the police were closing in on the apartment, so he just disabled her, or what? Or, did it have something to do with his relationship to Mo? I really enjoyed this movie and plan to watch it again.
"I forgot my mantra"

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Please keep in mind, I am only guessing. I think what stopped him from killing her, his relationship with Morris Brummel and he knew they were near by and did not want to be caught, dead center.

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Also, didn't he only kill middle-aged, matronly women?
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

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I'd agree with that...she just wasn't his type. 

Actually, I don't think he had time. He didn't have the same element of surprise with Kate that he'd had with the older ladies. He had to catch her, and she was able to break away from him a couple of times. Monaghan and the boys were at the door, yelling to be let in just as he caught her, and it takes longer than you might think to strangle someone to death. You can choke them unconscious in one or two minutes...but it takes up to seven minutes to make them well and truly dead. And he needed time to get away. I think he just plain ran out of time.

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In William Goldman's novel, Christopher Gill DOES kill Sarah Stone. At the risk of providing a spoiler, this causes Moe to "snap" somewhat. Suffice it to say that the ending of the novel is significantly different from the ending of the film!

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