The Sadist (also known as Profile of Terror and Sweet Baby Charlie) is a 1963 American thriller film written and directed by James Landis.

It stars Arch Hall, Jr. as a psychopathic spree killer, patterned after Charles Starkweather, who takes a trio of hostages at a junkyard.

The low-budget, independent film is notable for being the debut of future Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.

Three high school teachers, Ed, Doris, and Carl, are driving through California's Antelope Valley on their way to a Dodgers game in Los Angeles.

At this point Charlie Tibbs, a young man wielding a Colt .45, and his semi-mute teenage girlfriend, Judy, show up.

Law enforcement is on the hunt for them, but Charlie has managed to stay a step ahead by changing vehicles frequently and then killing the people who offer their help.

After a tense few moments, Doris screams for help while Ed bangs on the lid of the trunk, but to no avail; Charlie has shot both cops dead.

The film concludes with a traumatized Doris listening to a portion of the baseball game before turning and wandering up the trail into the desert.

He was hired at the behest of star Arch Hall Jr., after the actor was impressed by his work as a second unit cinematographer on his previous film Wild Guitar.

The success of The Sadist allowed Zsigmond to quit his day job at a photo lab and move full time into motion picture photography.

The handler arrived soon after, and informed the crew that they had put the wrong crate of snakes, which did not have their mouths sewn, in the pit with their lead actor.

[6] In a 2008 retrospective article on Badlands in The Guardian, Ryan Gilbey mentioned that the story of Starkweather and Fugate had been dramatized previously in The Sadist, "though hardly anyone remembers that one now.