Crazy Love

A tale of romantic obsession involving a lawyer who maims the love of his life, then marries her when he’s released from prison., A captivating and sensational (on many different levels) shockumentary and a twisted tale of romantic obsession. Burton Pugach, a self-made millionaire Bronx lawyer, has the love of his life, Linda Riss, maimed by hiring a criminal lowlife to throw lye in her face. But in a bizarre twist of fate, the two marry after he is released from jail. Directed by Fisher Stevens and Dan Klores, who wrote the screenplay., Dan Klores’s documentary takes viewers inside a relationship made famous by tabloid reports back in the summer of 1959. Burt Pugach and Linda Pugach met when Burt was already married but Linda was a young single woman. Embarking on a passionate affair, the two never guessed they’d land on the cover of magazines and newspapers later on when Burt blinded Linda in an act of jealousy. With the cooperation of its subjects, CRAZY LOVE examines this violent, stormy relationship., Dan Klores’s documentary takes viewers inside a relationship made famous by tabloid reports back in the summer of 1959. Burt Pugach and Linda Pugach met when Burt was already married but Linda was a young single woman. Embarking on a passionate affair, the two never guessed they’d land on the cover of magazines and newspapers later on when Burt blinded Linda in an act of jealousy., Filmmaker Dan Klores recounts the true story of one of the most bizarre romances of the 20th century in this documentary. In 1957, Linda Riss was a receptionist in her early twenties who bore a striking resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor, while attorney Burt Pugach was married and in his mid-thirties. That didn’t stop Pugach from falling in love with Riss on first sight when he saw her walking past her home in the Bronx, and he quickly asked her out on a date. Riss accepted, and continued to see Pugach even after she discovered he had a wife. However, after a year of wining and dining, Riss broke off the affair, convinced that Pugach would never divorce, but continue to string her along. Pugach desperately tried to convince Riss to give him a second chance and began stalking her, but when that failed and he learned she had decided to wed someone else, he told her, “If I can’t have you, no one else will have you, and when I get through with you, no one else will want you.” Pugach’s statement was no idle threat — a thug hired by Pugach threw lye into Riss’ face in order to scar her for life, and ended up blinding her in one eye. The crime earned Pugach a 15-to-30-year prison sentence, but less than a year after he was released on parole, a peculiar thing happened — Linda Riss and Burt Pugach got married. Crazy Love (aka Love Is in the Air) shares the details of this very strange love affair, and how this extremely unlikely couple has stayed together for 30 years.