Death Cruise

Every time this movie used to re-air on late night TV in the late 70s and early 80s I would always make time to sit in front of the TV and watch it. To see the lovely Kate Jackson, handsome Richard Long, the "great" Polly Bergen whom I've never seen anywhere else except for this TV movie, the endearing Tom Bosley, and another "great" whom I've never seen outside this movie, Celeste Holme. This is truly the love boat on a cruise to murder and mayhem and boy was it ever good!! And every time I would watch it I would always forget who the real murderer was.

As expected, someone here is already criticizing the movie as if that really is a big help to anyone. This is a great TV movie and worth watching each and every time. I can't say that about half the movies I've seen this month.

If you ever get a chance to watch it on TV someday, which isn't likely, watch it. In light of "The Girl Most Likely To" finally coming out this year on DVD, maybe there's hope for a DVD release of "Death Cruise."

I saw this when I was twelve. It was the movie that made me understand what a good mystery really was. I had read the entire Happy Hollisters children's mystery series and they were about a family of child sleuths who always got their man. But we the readers were not in a position to solve the mystery along with them. This movie showed me that a good mystery is that which makes the viewer/reader, at the end, say, "OH!!!!! OF COURSE!!!!!!!"

Seems to me there have been more than enough movies (or episodes on TV shows) wherein a mystery killer picks off a group of people one by one, and then crosses their faces with a big 'X' on a group-photo where everyone is smiling and happy. The theatrical film "The Last of Sheila" used a group-photo as a red herring, but "Death Cruise" doesn't have time for subtlety. It's a telefilm, short on time and short on budget. A would-be "Ten Little Indians", the cast is littered with has-beens (Richard Long), should-have-beens (Edward Albert), and one fresh face (Kate Jackson, giving off some enchanting, mysterious charisma). It's a cross between "The Love Boat" and "Murder, She Wrote", yet it does predate both and was fairly intriguing for its time. Seen today, it's a tacky hoot, although there is a neat twist at the finish line. As TV-movies go: ** from ****

"Death Cruise" (1974) is one of those nice little mysteries that follows the tradition of "Ten Little Indians" and Agatha Christie. The story follows three couples (one old, one middle age, and one young) who have seemly won a free cruise from the same contest that none of them can remember entering (never an encouraging sign in this type of movie). And sure enough, faster than you can say Sherlock Holmes, they quickly discover that it was all a ruse to get them on board as one by one, they all begin to meet their ends at the hands of a murderer. The one hope that might save them comes in the form of the ship's good doctor, Dr. Burke (Michael Constantine) who takes on the role of the amateur detective very competently. All of the actors play their parts very well, with Tom Bosley and Cheleste Holm as the older couple who are struggling to find their way now that their children are all grown up, Richard Long as a philandering husband and Polly Bergen as his poor wife, along with Edward Albert and Kate Jackson as a young couple just starting out, and Cesare Danova as the ship's captain. All of this, plus an enormous twist ending that Alfred Hitchcock himself might have appreciated, make this a nice pleasant movie to watch, especially if you like to dream of a simpler time, like the 70s. Catch it on you tube sometime. 8 out of 10.

I happened to catch this on community TV a few years back and was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable a film it was.

While a bit corny in certain ways, as its prime function of being a mystery thriller it works superbly, thanks to a script that concocts an ingenious plot; it kept me guessing throughout and the resolution is inspired.

The cast is a star-studded one, containing a mixture of those at the end of their careers (indeed Richard Long died the same year this was made), or those who were on the verge of stardom in hit TV series (Kate Jackson, Tom Bosley). They all do a good job, with the exception of Cesare Danova who sleepwalks through his role.

Strongly recommended.