Murder by Natural Causes

Here it is, 24 years later and I still remember it from only one viewing. It had the most amazing storyline and writing with some pretty impressive twists and turns in the last half hour. I would LOVE to see it again. Hal Holbrook is truly one of the amazing and underappreciated actors of our time.

I ran across this movie, which I had seen before and got hooked again! I wasn't planning to watch it but it is such a good show and Hal Holbrook is masterful! This is a show that you will enjoy again and again (even though you know the ending).

A "professional" mind reader post-heart attack: He has recovered enough, but . . .

This man is worth Millions. His dutiful wife would love to divorce him for her boyfriend. But she had signed a pesky pre-nuptual agreement, only giving her a portion of his Millions. Unfortunately, for him, she wants it ALL.

With the scene set, she devises a plot so that her young actor boyfriend can use his acting skills to ramp-up the stress on hubby, so he has another heart attack, this time not bothering to call for medical help (just the coroner, later).

As others have made perfectly clear this movie ends in a torrent of plot twists. This can (and will) cause you dizziness.

A lot of the movie shows (quite interestingly), the behind-the-scenes life of a mentalist, preparing for each performance. Then it shows his performances (seamlessly incorporating his prep work).

I have looked for this movie to re-run for about 20 years (so far). I cannot believe that this hasn't been released onto video. It is a killer.

Probably the best of the Levinson/Link made for TV movies. They take the audience by the hand, and lead them completely in the wrong direction. I would defy anyone seeing this for the first time, to pick the ending. This is great "edge of the seat" stuff, but don't miss a word of the dialogue, especially the last 20 minutes, as there are more twists than a corkscrew.

I am in absolute agreement with the other reviewer - you simply cannot top this plot. If there ever was a title for the cleverest script in TV movie history 'Murder By Natural Causes' would win hands down. Yes, there are very few (The Last of Sheila, Guilty Conscience) that are pretty close but this one is as close to perfection as any script of the genre will come.

It is no surprise, of course, that the same team that created Columbo is responsible for this movie.

Practically unknown, it will probably never be issued on a DVD. What a pity - a textbook script that nobody will remember only because people prefer to watch Dumb and Dumber instead.