Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate 1971

Four middle-class Pasadena ladies in their late sixties meet for lunch, including Myrna Loy as Evelyn Tryon, Mildred Natwick as Shelby Saunders, Helen Hayes as Sophie Tate Curtis, and Sylvia Sidney as Elizabeth Gibson, and they exchange friendly chatter with their waitress. They hatch a playful plan to create a fictitious young woman named Rebecca, and to submit her profile to a computer dating service. A few days after submitting the profile, they start receiving letters from potential suitors, and they derive extra amusement from reading those letters aloud, treating the whole endeavor as harmless fun.

Meanwhile, a young woman becomes alarmed by her date Mal Weston, Vince Edwards as Mal Weston, who makes crude attempts to force himself on her and manages to escape to the safety of her home. His audible thoughts reveal a troubling difficulty in relating to women, hinting at a darker impulse beneath his outward charm. The juxtaposition of their lighthearted lunchroom scheme and the tense, unsettling incident with Mal sets up a contrast between everyday social interactions and a lurking danger.

Mal shifts his obsessive attention to the fictitious Rebecca, not only sending a letter but also tracking down the telephone number for the supposed address. He calls and speaks to one of the older ladies, who, in a moment of mischief, agrees to meet him for a date at a local bar, further blurring the lines between fantasy and real risk.

In a bid to observe Mal, the four women wait at the bar to see what he looks like, hoping to satisfy their curiosity about the mysterious suitor. When Mal arrives, he mistakes Brenda, a sex worker, for Rebecca, and leaves with her. Brandon? No—that Brenda is someone the women recognize only later in the grim sequence. At Brenda’s apartment, she asks for money, and Mal’s temper erupts into violence, resulting in her murder.

After the shocking discovery, the women realize that their lighthearted deception has somehow contributed to a real crime. They decide to go to the police, but they also take matters into their own hands, secretly investigating Mal to protect themselves—an endeavor that drags them deeper into danger and tests their sense of responsibility, courage, and shared moral boundaries.