The last twenty minutes of Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of the Hour, is impactful. The ending ultimately shows the rightful downfall of Rodney Alcala, a serial killer and sex offender who preyed on women and young girls in the 70s.
Sheryl Sensed Danger From Rodney
Anna Kendrick plays Sheryl (based on the real-life Cheryl Bradshaw), an aspiring actress in LA who decides to participate in the dating show The Dating Game on ABC Network. At the end of the show, she matches with Rodney, but unbeknownst to her, she’s matched with a serial killer.
However, immediately afterward, Sheryl senses something is wrong. Maybe it was the way Rodney immediately engages with physical touch or his eagerness to go on their date. Either way, things take a twisted turn in Woman of the Hour that alludes that Sheryl’s life was saved purely by intuition.
Sheryl’s sense of danger becomes apparent when she tells Rodney that she was not on the dating show to find a man but to gain exposure for her career. This scene reveals that Rodney is unhappy with Sheryl’s decision to use the show for her career despite being advised by her agent.
But his reaction to all this, his underlying creepy behavior coupled with breaking boundaries (he gets annoyed that the bar they are in is no longer serving drinks), leads to Sheryl sensing true danger.
I felt anxious when I reached this part of the movie. Sheryl provides Rodney with her fake number, and he knows it. Ironically, Rodney sensed Sheryl was lying just like she sensed danger. A scene where they both figure each other out.
Luckily, despite Sheryl’s imminent danger, people were nearby as she reached her car, which forced Rodney to back away.
This part of Woman of the Hour proves that sometimes intuition and luck can save a woman’s life when it comes to violent men, but not everyone was lucky when it came to Rodney, as most of the film portrayed.
The Runaway Had To Go To Extreme Lengths To Save Her Life
Interestingly, at the film’s end, the audience is told that Cheryl Bradshaw decided to leave California and have a private life raising a family. This near-death experience catapulted her to wanting a more simpler life.
But that’s not all at the end of Woman of the Hour. The young girl, Amy, a “runaway” who met Rodney, finds herself beaten up and tied up on the beach after spending time with the man the night before. Strangely, Rodney is crying next to her when she wakes up.
Amy tries a brave tactic to safely remove herself from danger; she appeases him. She tells him not to tell anyone what happened the night before when Rodney nearly killed her because she’d feel embarrassed. She asks if they can go back to his place. He apologizes for being rough, which is a strong indictment of how psychopathic this man really was.
En route home, Rodney heads to a gas station’s bathroom. When he returns to the case, police are waiting for him, and he is arrested.
Amy courageously remained polite and friendly with Rodney to enable him to think his actions were fine, and when the opportunity arose, she rang the police to save her life.
Whereas Sheryl sensed danger before it got ugly, Amy had to go to extreme lengths to save her life due to the horrific situation she was in.
Woman of the Hour displays the horrific nature of violence against women and how it could happen to anyone. However, the most appalling part of this true crime story is that the police were alerted several times, and nothing happened, supporting the theme that men do not speak out to make women feel safe.
The film tells the audience that 31 years later, the runaway, who is now a grown woman, attended Rodney’s acquittal hearing to testify against him. Rodney Alcala died in incarceration.
