I Just Watched...

[cigarjoe]

Harper (1966) 

 

 

Ross Macdonald is the main pseudonym that was used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featuring private detective Lew Archer.

 

"The Moving Target" was set in 1949, Harper moves the action up to the 65-66 (present at the time), with the only throwback to the 50s being the robin's egg blue 1955 Porsche 356 A Speedster that Newman drives, which I also see as a nod to 1955's Kiss Me Deadly opening sequence with Meeker driving a 1950 Jaguar XK 120 Roadster.

 

This film is in the Classic Hollywood style of P.I. flicks, Newman's Harper is almost in the same mold as Sam Spade, and Philip Marlowe. Harper has that same quality of wisecracking cool, that's essential for your classic P.I. Though Harper doesn't drink a lot or smoke, he's more of a habitual gum chewer, the various ways he disposes of his wads are good for a few chuckles.

 

Harper is at best soft boiled and noir lite. Available on Warner Brothers DVD. 7/10 The review with more screencaps on Film Noir/Gangster board and the full review here:

 

http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/11/harper-1966-hired-by-****-to-find-scum.html

[speedracer5]

i ain't even gon' lie, last week was a tough one.

 

on the positive front, my parents surprised me with a ROKU TV and now I have access to Netflix- and with that, access to all 12 seasons of  MURDER, SHE WROTE.

 

as Leonard Cohen once wrote, "Hallelujah."

 

Highly recommended as a stroll down memory lane, as an exercise in camp, and as a cheerfully nourishing view of the world in kinder, simpler times (well, simpler times at least.)

 

i think the best thing, besides the CAVALCADE of sliding B and C-list actors and solid gold character players (CESAR ROMERO! MARY WICKES! JUNE ALLYSON! THE GUY WHO VOICED SNAGGLEPUSS! BOB GOULET! JEAN SIMMONS! RON MOODY! MARIE WINDSOR! GLORIA DeHAVEN! SONNY BONO IS KILLED WITH A FROZEN FISH!) are the hairstyles, serious question: was everyone over the age of 20 in the process of growing out a bad perm during the 1980's? I was alive then, but too young to recall. Some of the hair is so feathered, a strong wind would lift the owner a good 15-20 feet in the air.

 

oh, and POWER bangs, LOTS of POWER bangs and baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad wigs.

 

and white shoes after labor day and shoulder pads.

 

some of the best episodes:

 

SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED- one of the more infamous episodes for its surprising violence and slasher-like tone, i think it might've even caused some controversy. The ending is a GENUINE SHOCK, even though the execution is not always perfect, the story structure and twist endings in many of the early episodes are great. 

 

MURDER TAKES THE BUS- A season 1 (pre-facelift) episode, and another one with a great ending. RUE MCLANAHAN is a suspect and she is such a good actress.

 

JESSICA BEHIND BARS- Yes, Jessie's in the big house, she visits a women's prison that is locked down when a murder occurs. Vera Miles, Margaret "Shug" Avery, Yvonne DeCarlo, Eve "Jan Brady" Plumb, a chick who for all the world looks just like Michonne from THE WALKING DEAD and Adrienne Barbeau guest star and it is MAGIC. 

 

KEEP THE HOME FRIES BURNING- Another Cabot Cove episode with a clever twist and solid premise, a mass case of botchilism at a restaurant has been used to cover up a murder.

 

CROSSED UP- SORRY, WRONG NUMBER derivation with a bedridden Jessica overhearing the plot for a murder over the phone during what has to be the sunniest hurricane i've ever seen. David Hemmings- apparently unfamiliar with the concept of day-for-night photography- directs.

 

IF IT'S TUESDAY, IT MUST BE BEVERLY- The best of the Cabot Cove episodes and possibly the best and most surprising solution of the series.

 

NIGHT OF THE TARANTULA- Jessica visits JAMAICA and a VOODOO CURSE (Um, get your stereotypes right, people!) takes out her host. Hurd Hatfield with an oooooutraaaageous French accent guest stars.

 

I love Murder She Wrote.  I have Netflix too.  I may have watched the first half of the first season.  I also remember watching the show in it's original run (albeit toward the end of it's 12 year run.  I was born the year the show debuted).  

 

Don't you find it a little suspicious that a crime just happens to occur when Jessica Fletcher is in the area? Coincidence?! I think not.  Lol.  I also loved seeing all the old movie stars--especially Cesar Romero.  He shows up in everything! He also plays a boyfriend of Sophia's in an episode of The Golden Girls.  

 

I never realized how tall Angela Lansbury is until I re-watched Murder She Wrote.  She seems like she'd be a petite little old lady--but she's not.  She's tall for a woman. I'm guessing she's at least 5'8 if not 5'9. 

[Sepiatone]

Hours of my life were wasted watching "Jeremiah Johnson". What a horrible piece of crap. Any other life wasters out there?

 

Yeah.  I once sat through "The Carpetbaggers" and "Let's Scare Jessica To Death".

 

Sepiatone

[LornaHansonForbes]

I love Murder She Wrote.  I have Netflix too.  I may have watched the first half of the first season.  I also remember watching the show in it's original run (albeit toward the end of it's 12 year run.  I was born the year the show debuted).  

 

Don't you find it a little suspicious that a crime just happens to occur when Jessica Fletcher is in the area? Coincidence?! I think not.  Lol.  I also loved seeing all the old movie stars--especially Cesar Romero.  He shows up in everything! He also plays a boyfriend of Sophia's in an episode of The Golden Girls.  

 

Yes, THE GOLDEN GIRLS and MURDER, SHE WROTE shared a lot of guest stars, numerous former beaus of the Miami housemates show up as suspects, or often police investigators. GOLDEN GIRLS also did an episode that put Dorothy in the Jessica Fletcher mode, a murder mystery episode named THE  CASE OF THE LIBERTINE BELLE aka NOT NOW, MA!!!!!, it's a season seven episode and most entertaining, although sadly not available on any streaming service that i know of.

 

I HAVE ALWAYS thought that they should've stretched the storlines out on MURDER SHE WROTE into arcs, a crime could take anywhere from three to six episodes to be solved, and that would cut back on the incredulous "Dark Spectre of Death" shadow that starts to hang over Jessica by about episode five, season one...i mean, 24-32 people were killed in your presence last year, lady- what the Hell?

 

Around season 7, one of the writer of the SPIDERMAN comics (seriously) was brought in to consult and they moved Jessica to New York and started having more plausible storylines as to why she would come across a murder (often she was contacted by a victim's family and asked to help.)

 

I never realized how tall Angela Lansbury is until I re-watched Murder She Wrote.  She seems like she'd be a petite little old lady--but she's not.  She's tall for a woman. I'm guessing she's at least 5'8 if not 5'9. 

 

5'11 i think.

[LornaHansonForbes]

 

The camp was a little too cutesy for me to watch when it was on, since it was coming a little too plagiaristically fresh on the heels of Lansbury playing Agatha Christie's Miss Marple (albeit not very well, certainly not as well as Geraldine McEwan, although perhaps better than Margaret Rutherford) in The Mirror Crack'd.

 

I love the McEwan version of THE MOVING FINGER, it may be the best Christie adaptation ever done. Just a delight.

[LornaHansonForbes]

Hurd Hatfield was a guest star probably because he and Angela Lansbury were lifelong friends after they made Picture of Dorian Gray. But you probably already know that. I was 26 in 1984 when the show premiered. So, YES, everybody was in the process of growing out a bad perm in the 1980s. See any episode of Magnum P.I. if you doubt me.

 

 

I did know that yes. he was on two other MURDER SHE WROTE episodes, and those i do not know.

and I love the Magnum/MURDER, SHE WROTE crossover. it's one 17 (or so it seems) appearances Jessica Walter made on the show.

[LornaHansonForbes]

[midwestan]

I did know that yes. he was on two other MURDER SHE WROTE episodes, and those i do not know.

and I love the Magnum/MURDER, SHE WROTE crossover. it's one 17 (or so it seems) appearances Jessica Walter made on the show.

I remember one of the Magnum P.I. episodes featured Patty McCormick, "Rhoda" of "The Bad Seed" fame.  Always liked Magnum...it was a fun and off-beat detective show (like 'The Rockford Files', but with a more exotic location).  Come to think of it, many TV detective shows were fairly off-beat....McMillan and Wife, McCloud, Switch, and of a different, yet similar mindset The Wild, Wild West. 

[film lover 293]

'The Bed Sitting Room" (1969)--Directed by Richard Lester.

 

The aftermath of WW III as absurdist comedy.  There's no plot, just a series of skits one after another.  The End happened during the 60's; there are lines about LBJ and Mao.  Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Marty Feldman are the three cast members who are consistently funny.  Director Lester has his cast mumble and mutter the lines, so the laugh lines were hard for me to catch.  The best line had to do with Charlton Heston wrestling the Pope in a BBC televised match.  I prefer Monty Python for absurdist comedy.  Film is ok, not great; it did make me wonder if the filmmakers foresaw future elections.  Others may enjoy it more than I did.  I was more bemused than amused.  2.4/4.

 

Source--YouTube.

[hamradio]

"The Better Ole" (1926)

 

I thought his  moustache was going to wiggle off his face and take on a life of it's own.

 

[sewhite2000]

Nice Girl? (1941) Spoilers below!

 

I laughed as Ben Mankiewicz introduced this one. Clearly, he was channeling a little "I'm Ron Burgundy?" from Anchorman as he really stressed the interrogative ending to the title with a smile on his face. I initially wasn't sure, however, based on his plot description, if it was a film he'd actually seen. He claimed it was a film in which Deanna Durbin's character, fed up with her good girl image and the cluelessness of the boyfriend played by Robert Stack, becomes determined to seduce Franchot Tone's character. "Well, this might be interesting!", I thought to myself after hearing that plot description. Sounded like there might be some obvious parallels between the plot of the movie and the real-life Durbin wanting to be taken seriously as she transitioned to adult roles.

 

But the attempts at seduction, if indeed they took place at all, were so subtle that I think I at least initially missed them. We certainly don't see Durbin pretending to be a '''bad girl", which would have been more interesting. My initial impression was after ending up alone at Tone's house through accident of circumstance, she was suspicious of his intentions, especially when he had dinner set up in his bedroom. My first thought was, isn't there a dining room in that big house? Then, after she answers the phone and it's his mother calling, I thought she fled the house because she was mortified that anyone might think her presence in his home in the middle of the night carried even the slightest hint of impropriety.

 

But as the movie wrapped up, I decided that yes, she had attempted to seduce him after all. She put the potato in the tailpipe to make sure he missed the train. When choosing from his sister's wardrobe, she put on the sexiest outfit she could find (I initially thought that was just a costuming decision, but maybe it was an actual plot point). She requests champagne. She enters his bedroom without protest. And then later in the film, we learn seduction was clearly her intent when she breaks down and cries to her father, played by Robert Benchley, that she practically threw herself at Tone, and he didn't even attempt to kiss her (much to Benchley's relief). That's why she was mortified and fled the house. I was waiting for a seduction effort that was a little more overt - for her to make some bedroom talk or try to kiss him, but that never happened, so I got a little confused about her intentions. I'm used to more modern romantic comedies where things get more explicit, I guess.

 

I must confess I usually find myself rooting for the old guy in these age-mismatch romantic triangle movies, probably a reflection that I'm now always closer to the age of that character! Though in 99 per cent of them, the girl ends up with the guy her own age, I thought Tone was certainly much more appreciative of Durbin's charms than Stack's perpetually greasy gearhead who, until the last five minutes of the movie, is always shown to be more in love with his car than her, so much so, that his last-second rearrangement of his priorities seems a little forced. The only thing I did like about Stack's character was how perceptive he was - he knows he didn't have anything to worry about with Durbin being alone with Tone in his house, because he intuitively knows her makeup and his. When he tells her, "I'll bet he didn't even try to kiss you," he's so on the spot, it infuriates her to the point that she makes up the crazy lie that takes us into the movie's final turn of plot.

 

I have fun watching old movies and thinking about things were taken for granted back then that wouldn't go over today. It would probably be a stretch even in 1941 for Benchley to have no worries at all about having Tone sleeping one bedroom over from his three daughters, one underage, who have just spent the entire evening throwing themselves at him. But it was probably an innocent enough time that audiences didn't think twice about the dangerous potential of that sleeping arrangement. That's probably just me watching the movie from a 2016 perspective. Also, while there's no blackface number, Durbin does give "Swannee River" a bit of a blackface vocal treatment, singing about darkies and plantations and trying (not very successfully) to sound black in the way she pronounces some of the words. All at a party to which whatever black people lived in this Norman Rockwell town were clearly not welcome - the only black person we see is a waiter.

 

Finally, I guess Walter Brennan just really liked working, or maybe he needed the money. I thought, given his prominence in the opening scene, that he was going to turn out to be Durbin's father. But he ends up having an unusually insignificant role, given his prominence in other films of the era, as the postman courting Benchley's maid and running the local bandstand.

[LornaHansonForbes]

'The Bed Sitting Room" (1969)--Directed by Richard Lester.

 

The aftermath of WW III as absurdist comedy. There's no plot, just a series of skits one after another. The End happened during the 60's; there are lines about LBJ and Mao. Peter Cook, Dudley Nichols, and Marty Feldman are the three cast members who are consistently funny. Director Lester has his cast mumble and mutter the lines, so the laugh lines were hard for me to catch. The best line had to do with Charlton Heston wrestling the Pope in a BBC televised match. I prefer Monty Python for absurdist comedy. Film is ok, not great; it did make me wonder if the filmmakers foresaw future elections. Others may enjoy it more than I did. I was more bemused than amused. 2.4/4.

 

Source--YouTube.

I think uou mean Dudley MOORE.... or was unaware of the late in life comedic career of the guy who wrote "The Informer"?

 

[cigarjoe]

In Cold Blood (1967)

 

 

You'll know it when you see it. Just like you know a Noir when you see it. In Cold Blood is a Masterpiece and it's a Masterpiece of Film Noir, to boot, no doubt about it. It was made right at the end of Black & White film production and that format, along with the Classic Noir look/aesthetic couldn't have gone out with a bigger or more powerful bang. 

 

The film was nominated for four Academy Awards: Director, Original Score, Cinematography, and Adapted Screenplay. It should have nominated Blake and McGraw also, and it should have won all of them. It's chilling 10/10. 

 

Full review with screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/11/in-cold-blood-1967-noirneo-noir.html

[Sepiatone]

I read that book long before ever seeing the movie.  It was an excellent adaptation.  One of the few "book-to-movie" flicks that could make that claim!

 

Incidentally, while reading the book, I DID envision Blake in the role of Perry.

 

Can't but totally agree with your assessment.

 

 

Sepiatone

[LornaHansonForbes]

My remarks en blau.

-LHF

 

Nice Girl? (1941) Spoilers below!

 

I laughed as Ben Mankiewicz introduced this one. Clearly, he was channeling a little "I'm Ron Burgundy?" from Anchorman as he really stressed the interrogative ending to the title with a smile on his face. I initially wasn't sure, however, based on his plot description, if it was a film he'd actually seen.

 

Gimme five bucks on  "no."

 

He claimed it was a film in which Deanna Durbin's character, fed up with her good girl image and the cluelessness of the boyfriend played by Robert Stack  Stack's perpetually greasy gearhead who, until the last five minutes of the movie, is always shown to be more in love with his car than her, so much so, that his last-second rearrangement of his priorities seems a little forced. The only thing I did like about Stack's character was how perceptive he was - he knows he didn't have anything to worry about with Durbin being alone with Tone in his house, because he intuitively knows her makeup and his. When he tells her, "I'll bet he didn't even try to kiss you," he's so on the spot, it infuriates her to the point that she makes up the crazy lie that takes us into the movie's final turn of plot.

 

THAT WAS ROBERT STACK?!? OMG!!!! He was SCHMOKING HOT...Wait a second, how old was he when he did this movie? Can I legally say he was schmoking hot? Anyway, I liked the grease. I liked it a lot. I'm sorry, let's move on...

 

I have fun watching old movies and thinking about things were taken for granted back then that wouldn't go over today. It would probably be a stretch even in 1941 for Benchley to have no worries at all about having Tone sleeping one bedroom over from his three daughters, one underage, who have just spent the entire evening throwing themselves at him.

 

I KNOW RIGHT?

 

But it was probably an innocent enough time that audiences didn't think twice about the dangerous potential of that sleeping arrangement. That's probably just me watching the movie from a 2016 perspective. Also, while there's no blackface number, Durbin does give "Swannee River" a bit of a blackface vocal treatment, singing about darkies and plantations and trying (not very successfully) to sound black in the way she pronounces some of the words.

 

Oh Honeybunches of No. I have to admit that I am having issues with focusing on things lately, and my attention wandered away from this movie- through no fault of its own purely because my mind is scattered at the moment- but i'm not too busted up that i missed this part. God, white people, my people- WHAT the everliving HELL is WRONG with (some of) you???

 

All at a party to which whatever black people lived in this Norman Rockwell town were clearly not welcome - the only black person we see is a waiter.....Finally, I guess Walter Brennan just really liked working, or maybe he needed the money.

 

Here's a hint: it's the second one.

 

I thought, given his prominence in the opening scene, that he was going to turn out to be Durbin's father. But he ends up having an unusually insignificant role, given his prominence in other films of the era, as the postman courting Benchley's maid and running the local bandstand.

 

It's funny you segue-way from the racist overtones of the film into WALTER BRENNAN, because i read that Walt was apparently a TOTAL RACIST in real life, apparently there are anecdotes- take them for what you will- that he danced a jig on learning fo the death of Martin Luther King in 1968. I think he is a great actor when he is playing a malicious, hateful, craven sonoffa as he does in BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK and THE WESTERNER, I don't care for him in a lot of other things though. 

 

This was a great review, thanks for paying attention to the movie, it was a what I saw of it was intriguing, curious, and kind of sexually subversive...

[sewhite2000]

Thanks Lorna for your comments on my comments. Sorry to hear about Walter Brennan - I had no idea about that aspect of him. You'll be pleased to know that Robert Stack was 22 when he made this film!

[LornaHansonForbes]

Thanks Lorna for your comments on my comments. Sorry to hear about Walter Brennan - I had no idea about that aspect of him. You'll be pleased to know that Robert Stack was 22 when he made this film!

 

oh Thank God, legal and then some.

I don't need my FBI file to be any longer than it already is!

[LornaHansonForbes]

this photo doesn't do him justice, but there very few online of Stack in NICE GIRL? (1941)

 

[NickAndNora34]

I watched the Dreamworks movie "Trolls" last night for free at the theater where I work. This movie had the ability to entertain kids, as well as "older kids" like myself. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The music was great; I am a huge fan of Anna Kendrick (of Pitch Perfect fame) and her voice is phenomenal. Little known fact, I didn't realize she played young Dinah, the younger sister of Tracy Lord, in the Broadway revival (in the 90s) of "High Society" and was nominated for a Tony award as a result of her performance. 

 

The whole supporting cast was fantastic as well; Christine Baranski played the villain in this piece, Justin Timberlake played the foil character to Anna Kendrick's always-happy-and-ready-for-hugs-and-singing character. In my opinion, this film may give Disney's upcoming film, "Moana" a run for its money. 

 

I would highly recommend this film for all children. They will most likely love it. I know I did.  

[Hibi]

i ain't even gon' lie, last week was a tough one.

 

on the positive front, my parents surprised me with a ROKU TV and now I have access to Netflix- and with that, access to all 12 seasons of  MURDER, SHE WROTE.

 

as Leonard Cohen once wrote, "Hallelujah."

 

Highly recommended as a stroll down memory lane, as an exercise in camp, and as a cheerfully nourishing view of the world in kinder, simpler times (well, simpler times at least.)

 

i think the best thing, besides the CAVALCADE of sliding B and C-list actors and solid gold character players (CESAR ROMERO! MARY WICKES! JUNE ALLYSON! THE GUY WHO VOICED SNAGGLEPUSS! BOB GOULET! JEAN SIMMONS! RON MOODY! MARIE WINDSOR! GLORIA DeHAVEN! SONNY BONO IS KILLED WITH A FROZEN FISH!) are the hairstyles, serious question: was everyone over the age of 20 in the process of growing out a bad perm during the 1980's? I was alive then, but too young to recall. Some of the hair is so feathered, a strong wind would lift the owner a good 15-20 feet in the air.

 

oh, and POWER bangs, LOTS of POWER bangs and baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad wigs.

 

and white shoes after labor day and shoulder pads.

 

some of the best episodes:

 

SNOW WHITE, BLOOD RED- one of the more infamous episodes for its surprising violence and slasher-like tone, i think it might've even caused some controversy. The ending is a GENUINE SHOCK, even though the execution is not always perfect, the story structure and twist endings in many of the early episodes are great. 

 

MURDER TAKES THE BUS- A season 1 (pre-facelift) episode, and another one with a great ending. RUE MCLANAHAN is a suspect and she is such a good actress.

 

JESSICA BEHIND BARS- Yes, Jessie's in the big house, she visits a women's prison that is locked down when a murder occurs. Vera Miles, Margaret "Shug" Avery, Yvonne DeCarlo, Eve "Jan Brady" Plumb, a chick who for all the world looks just like Michonne from THE WALKING DEAD and Adrienne Barbeau guest star and it is MAGIC. 

 

KEEP THE HOME FRIES BURNING- Another Cabot Cove episode with a clever twist and solid premise, a mass case of botchilism at a restaurant has been used to cover up a murder.

 

CROSSED UP- SORRY, WRONG NUMBER derivation with a bedridden Jessica overhearing the plot for a murder over the phone during what has to be the sunniest hurricane i've ever seen. David Hemmings- apparently unfamiliar with the concept of day-for-night photography- directs.

 

IF IT'S TUESDAY, IT MUST BE BEVERLY- The best of the Cabot Cove episodes and possibly the best and most surprising solution of the series.

 

NIGHT OF THE TARANTULA- Jessica visits JAMAICA and a VOODOO CURSE (Um, get your stereotypes right, people!) takes out her host. Hurd Hatfield with an oooooutraaaageous French accent guest stars.

 

 

Thanks for the stroll down memory lane, Lorna! I enjoy watching the show on Hallmark (although they cut a good 5 or more minutes out of it for more commercials) But it's on hiatus until JAN. so they can show Christmas movies ad nauseam till then. GAG.

 

 

The Beverly episode was the first (and best) of the Loretta beauty salon episodes (there were 3 in all).

[Hibi]

 

I love Murder She Wrote.  I have Netflix too.  I may have watched the first half of the first season.  I also remember watching the show in it's original run (albeit toward the end of it's 12 year run.  I was born the year the show debuted).  

 

Don't you find it a little suspicious that a crime just happens to occur when Jessica Fletcher is in the area? Coincidence?! I think not.  Lol.  I also loved seeing all the old movie stars--especially Cesar Romero.  He shows up in everything! He also plays a boyfriend of Sophia's in an episode of The Golden Girls.  

 

Yes, THE GOLDEN GIRLS and MURDER, SHE WROTE shared a lot of guest stars, numerous former beaus of the Miami housemates show up as suspects, or often police investigators. GOLDEN GIRLS also did an episode that put Dorothy in the Jessica Fletcher mode, a murder mystery episode named THE  CASE OF THE LIBERTINE BELLE aka NOT NOW, MA!!!!!, it's a season seven episode and most entertaining, although sadly not available on any streaming service that i know of.

 

I HAVE ALWAYS thought that they should've stretched the storlines out on MURDER SHE WROTE into arcs, a crime could take anywhere from three to six episodes to be solved, and that would cut back on the incredulous "Dark Spectre of Death" shadow that starts to hang over Jessica by about episode five, season one...i mean, 24-32 people were killed in your presence last year, lady- what the Hell?

 

Around season 7, one of the writer of the SPIDERMAN comics (seriously) was brought in to consult and they moved Jessica to New York and started having more plausible storylines as to why she would come across a murder (often she was contacted by a victim's family and asked to help.)

 

I never realized how tall Angela Lansbury is until I re-watched Murder She Wrote.  She seems like she'd be a petite little old lady--but she's not.  She's tall for a woman. I'm guessing she's at least 5'8 if not 5'9. 

 

5'11 i think.

 

 

 

I think Angela has said she's 5'8". Then add another inch or two for heels.....

[cigarjoe]

Wait I remember Walter Brennan was a good guy "Doc" in Bad Day At Black Rock

[Hibi]

 

I love Murder She Wrote.  I have Netflix too.  I may have watched the first half of the first season.  I also remember watching the show in it's original run (albeit toward the end of it's 12 year run.  I was born the year the show debuted).  

 

Don't you find it a little suspicious that a crime just happens to occur when Jessica Fletcher is in the area? Coincidence?! I think not.  Lol.  I also loved seeing all the old movie stars--especially Cesar Romero.  He shows up in everything! He also plays a boyfriend of Sophia's in an episode of The Golden Girls.  

 

Yes, THE GOLDEN GIRLS and MURDER, SHE WROTE shared a lot of guest stars, numerous former beaus of the Miami housemates show up as suspects, or often police investigators. GOLDEN GIRLS also did an episode that put Dorothy in the Jessica Fletcher mode, a murder mystery episode named THE  CASE OF THE LIBERTINE BELLE aka NOT NOW, MA!!!!!, it's a season seven episode and most entertaining, although sadly not available on any streaming service that i know of.

 

I HAVE ALWAYS thought that they should've stretched the storlines out on MURDER SHE WROTE into arcs, a crime could take anywhere from three to six episodes to be solved, and that would cut back on the incredulous "Dark Spectre of Death" shadow that starts to hang over Jessica by about episode five, season one...i mean, 24-32 people were killed in your presence last year, lady- what the Hell?

 

Around season 7, one of the writer of the SPIDERMAN comics (seriously) was brought in to consult and they moved Jessica to New York and started having more plausible storylines as to why she would come across a murder (often she was contacted by a victim's family and asked to help.)

 

I never realized how tall Angela Lansbury is until I re-watched Murder She Wrote.  She seems like she'd be a petite little old lady--but she's not.  She's tall for a woman. I'm guessing she's at least 5'8 if not 5'9. 

 

5'11 i think.

 

 

 

Yeah, I wouldnt want Jessica as a house guest. Whenever she visited anyone, you could count on someone dying, and usually the host being the prime suspect. LOL. You'd think after awhile, no one would want her coming to visit with her reputation preceding her....

[LornaHansonForbes]

Wait I remember Walter Brennan was a good guy "Doc" in Bad Day At Black Rock

 

shoot, i might've remembered it wrong...i think he's ultimately good, but kind of a coward who allows himself to be bullied by Robert Ryan for much of the film...although again, i might be remembering it wrong.

[JamesJazGuitar]

shoot, i might've remembered it wrong...i think he's ultimately good, but kind of a coward who allows himself to be bullied by Robert Ryan for much of the film...although again, i might be remembering it wrong.

 

To me 'Doc' isn't a good guy or a bad guy but instead a 'I don't care to be troubled' type of guy.   This is a very common character in a noir;  someone not involved in the actual struggle but that could have done something about it (in this case report the murder to the state police).    The Sheriff is also this type of man. 

 

Of course at the end they decide to take action and stick their neck out.