 Christopher Gill (Rod Steiger) is a psychotic killer who uses various disguises to trick and strangle his victims. Moe Brummel (George Segal) is a single and harassed New York City police detective who starts to get phone calls from the strangler and builds a strange alliance as a result. Kate Palmer (Lee Remick) is a swinging, hip tour guide who witnesses the strangler leaving her dead neighbor s apartment and sets her sights on the detective. Moe s live-in mother (Eileen Heckhart) wishes her son would be a successful Jewish doctor like his big brother.