The Honeymoon Killers

The Honeymoon Killers is a 1969 American crime film written and directed by Leonard Kastle, and starring Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco. It is inspired by the true story of Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck, the notorious lonely hearts killers of the 1940s. The soundtrack is from the first movement of the 6th Symphony and a section of the 5th Symphony of Gustav Mahler. The Honeymoon Killers, went on to achieve cult status as well as critical recognition. It was released on DVD for the first time by The Criterion Collection in 2003. Franois Truffaut called it his favorite American film.

Ray allows Martha to visit him in New York, where he reveals he is a con man who makes his living by seducing and then swindling lonely women. Martha is unswayed by this revelation. At Rays directive, and so she can live with him, Martha installs her mother in a nursing home. Marthas embittered mother disowns her for abandoning her. Martha insists on accompanying Ray at his work. Woman after woman accepts the attentions of this suitor who goes courting while always within sight of his sister. Ray promises Martha he will never sleep with any of the other women, but complicates his promise by marrying pregnant Myrtle Young played by Marilyn Chris. After Young aggressively attempts to bed the bridegroom, Martha gives her a dose of pills, and the two put the drugged woman on a bus. Her death thereafter escapes immediate suspicion.The swindlers move on to their next target, and after catching Ray in a compromising position with the woman, Martha attempts to drown herself. To placate her, Ray rents a house in Valley Stream, a suburb of New York City. He becomes engaged to the elderly Janet Fay of Albany Mary Jane Higby and takes her to the house he shares with Martha. Janet gives Ray a check for 10,000, but then becomes suspicious of the two. When Janet tries to contact her family, Martha and Ray hit her in the head with a hammer and strangle her to death. They bury her body beneath their cellar floor in her trunk, tossing into the graves dirt the two framed depictions of Jesus that, Martha notes sarcastically, shed told them she took everywhere she went. ........

Source: Wikipedia