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Leander Rolfe is the main antagonist in the 1984 film Tightrope. Rolfe is a serial rapist and killer of women and girls and the stalker of New Orleans detective Wes Block, who's the target of Rolfe's violent revenge plan.
He was portrayed by Marco St. John.
Biography[]
Rolfe, a New Orleans cop, was a sexual sadist Block arrested for raping two teenage girls, successfully imprisoning Rolfe for eleven years. When Rolfe was paroled, he got a job at a local brewery in New Orleans, while preparing to get revenge on Block for arresting and testifying against him. To emulate and escalate his past crimes, he became a serial killer of women, raping and strangling prostitutes who worked in the Red Light District of New Orleans, using several disguises while attacking women and stalking Block.
Rolfe wears hos cop uniform to walk one women into her home, before drinking some coffee, then raping and strangling her. Block, after his regrettable divorce, is called to the scene away from his time with his daughters. Rolfe left no fingerprints but was revealed to have patiently waited in her apartment to kill her. Rolfe later rapes and kills another prostitute in a Jacuzzi, continuously leaving behind glass and barley residue.
Rolfe stalks Block and notices his promiscuity with numerous prostitutes he questions, as well as his budding romance with Beryl Thibodeaux, a rape crisis counselor. Thus, Rolfe rapes and murders the prostitute Block just had sex with next. Then Rolfe arranges with a letter in a doll to go to a brothel and gay bar and have sessions with a dominatrix and a gay male prostitute. Block tries to use this to catch Rolfe in a sting, but the gay prostitute is killed next and Rolfe escapes.
Role continues to break Block by kidnapping, raping, and murdering the second woman's co-worker, leaving Block's necktie on a statue the woman's found nearby, as a taunt and to frame Block. Block becomes more disturbed and unhinged, fearing he could be going down the same path as Rolfe. But a break in the case comes form payroll cash found on the latest murdered woman, tracing back to Rolfe's brewery, where he watches Rolfe realize the evidence came from the bar.
Rolfe then directly targets Block by killing his daughter's nanny, several of the stray dogs he took in, and gagging and cuffing his daughter Amanda to her bed. Block intervenes in time and is nearly strangled to death himself, only for one of his living dogs to bite Rolfe and chase him away. Realizing the personal vendetta, Block goes through his past cases with uncanny similarities and singles out Rolfe as the killer, realizing his parole fits the timelines of the murders and finding out his job at the bar.
When staking Rolfe's apartment is a fail, Block goes back to Thibodeaux's home and finds the cops on guard to watch her both murdered. She's nearly strangled to death, but she stabs Rolfe twice with scissors. As he runs off, Rolfe gives chase, with a searchlight on Rolfe to keep tracking him, briefly fighting in between with Rolfe using a shovel. Reaching the train tracks, the two get into a physical scuffle, with Block ripping Rolfe's mask off to confirm the truth. As a train comes by, Block rolls out of the way just in time, with Rolfe being run over and killed instantly, his arm still clutching Block's throat before the throws it off.
Personality[]
Rolfe is a sexual sadist and pedophile with a superiority complex and a resentment for being caught or defeated. Rolfe raped girls for pleasure, but escalated to murder to up the stakes and to get revenge on Block. Rolfe targeted Block for taking away his freedom of being a criminal, especially while having the status as a cop, and decided to destroy Block's power and life's worth to avenge being arrested and imprisoned. Wanting to prolong Block's suffering but also encourage his own sexual sadism, Rolfe emulated his crimes by raping and murdering prostitutes, then killing and attacking people around and close to Block as a warning that Rolfe was closing in and was ready to make Block lose the fight. In a sense, Rolfe wanted to "recruit" Block into sexual sadism by arranging his trysts with prostitutes before killing them so Block could end up more unhinged, whether to work from Rolfe's perspective or even have his misconduct on his police record. In other words, Rolfe wanted both an understanding from Block only to crush him at his most susceptible moments, as well as go through everyone in Block's life to get all too close to Block and get their final fight to be one-on-one. In the end, Rolfe died without taking everything from Block, who accepted it was best to return to his life.
Victims[]
- Two unnamed teenage girls - both raped
- Unnamed Woman - Raped and strangled with ribbon. (mentioned only)
- Melanie Sibler - Raped and strangled with ribbon.
- Jamie Cory - Raped and strangled with ribbon.
- Judy Harper - Raped and strangled with ribbon.
- Lonesome Alice - Hanged with ribbon.
- Becky Jacklin - kidnapped, raped, and strangled; left Block's tie behind postmortem
- Mrs. Holstein - Strangled with ribbon.
- Patrolman Vic Rustic - Strangled with ribbon.
- Patrolman Jake Gallo - Strangled with ribbon.
- Patrolman Julio - Strangled with ribbon.
Attempted[]
- Amanda Block - Gagged and handcuffed, but left alive.
- Wes Block - Tried to strangled with ribbon, later hit with shovel and attempted to strangle.
- Beryl Thibodeaux - Attempted to strangle with ribbon.
Gallery[]
