https://areadingretirement.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/nightmare-in-chicago-1964/

I have seen Robert Altman’s first feature The Delinquents (1957), which is interesting but not identifiable as his direction. It stars Tom “Billy Jack” Laughlin, who Altman said was a major pain in the ass. I have not seen any of the Billy Jack films, but I should. The second one in 1971 was like The Blair Witch Project of its day, self-distributed by Laughlin and hugely profitable.

I think that the first fingerprinted Altmans are some of his TV episodes, for series like Combat! and Bus Stop, and especially Nightmare in Chicago (1964), the lengthened feature version of a Kraft Suspense Theatre episode, Once Upon a Savage Night, based on William P. McGivern’s novel Killer on the Turnpike. I have seen both versions (in rough shape – they need restoration), and Altman is there in full. It’s a minor noir masterpiece (starring a genuine noir icon, Charles McGraw), and the nocturnal Chicago highways atmosphere is unforgettable.