They Call It Murder

It was like an episode of Columbo without already knowing the murderer and Columbo.

Jim Hutton, the district attorney of a small county some place in southern California (with some exteriors shot in San Anselmo in Marin County) is confronted with a puzzling murder: a man shot in a pool by two guns -- so it's unclear which one killed the man -- with lots of suspects, no motive, an annoying defense attorney among them, played by Lloyd Bochner, and a growing pile of corpses.

Erle Stanley Gardner started out as a lawyer, but was bored by the practice of law. He started writing in 1921. When he became a full-time writer in 1933, he felt that any year in which he wrote fewer than 1,200,000 words was a bad year, and he used eight or so pen names to avoid flooding the market. That may seem like a lot of books, short stories, radio scripts, travel books, and articles on forensics. In the 1940s, he founded the Court of Last Resort, a forerunner of such organizations as the Innocence Project. He died in 1979, at the age of 80.

He's best remembered for creating Perry Mason, who appeared in more than 80 novels, a dozen movies, and hundreds of episodes of the TV series and succeeding TV movies. This TV movie is from a lesser known series. In an inversion of the Perry Mason formula. District Attorney Doug Selby, confronted with a puzzling mystery, faces off in court against defense attorney A. B. Carr. This is the only screen version of the characters; doubtless it was intended for a series, but after Raymond Burr, who could believe such a thing?

Nonetheless, it has a fine and confusing plot, Ed Asner as a brutish police chief, Leslie Nielson with an Irish accent, and Vic Tayback as an insurance investigator. Very watchable.

District Attorney Doug Selby (competently played by Jim Hutton) faces a unique murder case involving a dead body in a pool with two bullets in its heart. After some detailed examination and theory debunking as to which of those bullets might have gone in first, it becomes clear that the D. A. is not helped by the blundering Police Chief Otto Larkin, who keeps stupidly disrespecting the very law he is supposed to uphold - it could be a comic relief, but does not quite work - and in time comes under attack himself from a vehicle trying to bump him off a cliffy road.

Standout performance from Lloyd Bochner as lawyer A B Carr, self-effacing but effective in his legal assistance.

Well, all is not bad news: Selby is surrounded by pretty women: the elegant Jessica Walter, who in 1971 also played an evil part in PLAY MISTY FOR ME; Nita Talbot, absolutely gorgeous as a second rate movie star who keeps undergoing rejuvenating surgery; and Jo Ann Pflug, simply to die for.

The explanation as to how all the murders took place struck me as lengthier than necessary, but otherwise I enjoyed it all. 7/10.

A man in a wheelchair, his widowed daughter-in-law, her mother and a cab driver find a dead body in the swimming pool. Complications of a missing murder weapon, evidence of a second weapon and a sleazy high-priced lawyer arise quickly.

The mediocre production values, plethora of B-List supporting cast and squishy ending testify that this was made-for-television. It has a very good plot despite that, and the mystery is on a par with a theatrical release.

I like Jim Hutton very much. That is what enticed me to watch this movie. He is here not quite as refined and at ease as he was when he appeared as: Ellery Queen but he is still quite fun.

I found Vic Tayback surprisingly good as a low-rent private detective. It was on a par with his role in: The Cheap Detective (1978).

I am sorry to say that the rest of the cast was quite disappointing. I expected much more from: Leslie Nielsen, Edward Asner and Nita Talbot but it was obvious that their hearts and minds were not in their role. They were all quite low-grade even for television.

I will split my rating to say that the story/plot/mystery are: 6.8/10 but the production values and most of the performances are: 3.2/10

This movie is available for viewing for free on the streaming channel: "The Film Detective". I do not know what sign-up or commercials that channel uses. I watched it on: Amazon Prime Video. The print was not very good.

In what looks like a pilot for a possible television series Jim Hutton plays the District Attorney in a small southern California county who partners closely with County Sheriff Robert J. Wilkie in the investigation. Hutton is even in on the final shootout.

For Bob Wilkie sad this pilot wasn't picked up. Wilkie played dozens of bad guys in westerns and this would have been a career change for him.

A body is found in the pool where Leslie Nielsen resides with daughter-in-law Jessica Walter. Nielsen is in a wheelchair as a result of an accident where his son was killed several months earlier.

There's an insurance settlement in the offing. But the insurance company PI Vic Tayback smells a rat.

Of course the murder and the accident are linked but you watch the movie to see just how. I guessed the right perpetrator, but not the extent of the con that was being played, A few murders happen before the solution is found.

Also note good performances from JoAnn Pflug as a reporter and Nita Talbot who is an actress worried about keeping up with the younger women coming up in her profession.

There's also Ed Asner who is an obnoxious and bumbling city police chief. His role seemed superfluous to the story.

Might have made a good series.