In 1959, Burt Pugach paid three men to throw lye in the face of his ex-girlfriend, who was disfigured and largely blinded. In 1974, on Pugach’s release from prison, she married him. Dan Klores’s documentary charts the course of their relationship, and in so doing shows just how bizarre human behaviour can be.


The pair met in the Bronx in 1957. Linda Riss was a beautiful 20 year-old; Burt was 10 years older, a womaniser, film producer and, unhampered by moral scruples, successful negligence lawyer. He had a private plane, a Cadillac and part-ownership of a club, and the working class Linda lapped up the money and the glamour.