Brock's Last Case

In the early 1970s, TV wanted Richard Widmark and "Brock's Last Case" was a made for TV movie that might have become a TV series. However, it wasn't received so well by the powers that be and instead they gave the green light to a different Widmark show, a TV version of "Madigan". I have never seen the TV version of "Madigan" but movie-wise, the original "Madigan" is much better than "Brock's Last Case"...so I can see why they made the choice they made.

When the film begins, Brock (Widmark) is working on his final case for the NYPD. He's had enough and is retiring to an orange ranch he bought some time ago. However, apparently Brock is a total moron and never visited the place and just assumed it was peachy...which it wasn't. Instead it's a dump and Brock knows nothing about orange growing. However, soon his focus is on a murder--and the local police would love to have Brock's help...and so would Brock's supervisor at the ranch, as he's the accused killer.

The film is just okay. Part of the problem was using arrows to kill people--it just seems silly. The rest is that the killer was some fat old guy who was about as scary as the Pillsbury Doughboy. Not brilliant but passable entertainment only.