Customer Reviews

They Call It Murder

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a pretty good mystery based on a novel by Earl Stanley Gardner. The hero is not Perry Mason. It was made in the early seventies as a made for TV movie starring a young Jim Hutton in a pre Ellery Queen role.
The movie looks like a pilot for a TV series. Jim Hutton went on to make the Ellery Queen Mystery series for TV.
The video quality of the DVD is not good. It looks like it was made from an old VHS video tape. So I wouldn't advise paying too much for it, But if you can get it cheap it's worth it.
This is a nice little movie to watch on a Saturday night.

I enjoyed this movie more than I expected. Jim Hutton was great and probably was the reason the movie worked. I always liked him in Ellery Queen and this was similar but a different time period. I like the early 70s feel to it. There were some twists and turns and it held my interest.

I enjoyed watching this movie just for stars who are in it. Jim Hutton, Edward Asner, Nita Talbot, Leslie Nielsen, Jessica Walter and others. It is an interesting story. It is a film adaptation of an Erle Stanley Gardner novel.

The film begins by showing a courthouse in a small town. At night the Sheriff's car arrives to see a dead man shot in the chest. How did he get into that backyard? D.A. Doug Selby questions the people at the house. The medical examiner finds two bullets in the corpse, each a different caliber! Which one was fired first? A private investigator (Poland) calls on Selby to explain his investigation into the accident that killed Brian Antrim; it seems suspicious. The dead man was identified, his buddy Carter was nearby. Selby questions an actress who was at that sanatorium. On the road back some car tries to force him off the road. Selby asks Sylvia Martin to research Roma Corbin. Police Chief Otto Larkin captured Carter. The film plods on with numerous conversations.

When Carter is being taken back to Los Angeles there is an accident involving Frank Antrim. Later Carter pulled a hidden gun to escape. Selby goes to the Antrim house and finds the Police Chief's car. Then a body was found at the bottom of the cliff (Poland the private detective). Selby questions Roma Corbin again. Later he visits the Antrim house to learn more. A telephone calls Selby to a houseboat. Shots are fired. There is a shocking discovery. "How did it all happen?" Selby explains how it all happened. [It seems incredible.]

The colors seem to be off and the contrast too high, as from a poor copy. This film lists Erle Stanley Gardner as the writer. [Could he have been affected by his medication?] This story seems too complicated and has too many villains compared to the novels and the "Perry Mason" series from the late 1950s. Was it meant as a pilot for a new series? It seems to be composed of plots from other Gardner novels. The original "Doug Selby" novels were better than this.

This movie stars the likeable Jim Hutton in a made for TV mystery. He plays a a small town DA trying to deal with two tough cases. Its a good movie with good supporting cast including Ed Asner. Only drawback is that the copy of movie has some obvious flaws- so picture image is not first rate- not up to modern standards we are all used to. Its a shame cause otherwise movie is a treat. I got by the problem to still enjoy the movie- if you can do the same- you will too- but be warned.

Based on Erle Stanley Gardener's book The D A draws a circle, Jim Hutton and a cast of easily recognized actors star in what was probably intended to be a pilot for a new weekly tv series. This series of books is interesting in that Gardner reverses the Perry Mason formula and has the young D.A. be the crusader for justice. I have often wondered why any of the books were never filmed in the past. Upon reading the books, one can imagine Jimmy Steward playing the part of Doug Selby. Unfortunately, if it was intended as a pilot, it was not picked up. The quality of the film is a bit cheesy as well. It sort of plods along. One would do well to read the book and compare notes. You will find the tv film, whose script was written by the talented Sam Rolfe (the man who invented Palidin in Have Gun will Travel) is actually an improvement structurally. Personally I enjoyed the film. I feel, given the opportunity, it could have made a nice series. Of course, this is still a possibility. Wouldn't it be weird (to say the least) to see the cast of Monk re-assembled to play the parts? Lt Disher would be Doug Selby, Stottlemeyer would play the sheriff and Monk could play the suave but wicked attorney A B Carr. Just kidding. The movie is worth watching but I am not sure about buying it. Bad copy. Probably transferred from VHS.

As a product, this was not bad. It was a pretty engaging mystery based on of one of Erle Stanley Gardner's characters. I had never seen any other charcter of his on the screen besides Perry Mason. The Star rating is for the quality of the video. As the previous reviewer noted the video quality is questionable at best. It is still watchable though.

As to why this product comes up in Ellery Queen search results, more than likely it is because they share the same actor (Jim Hutton). I received this as a gift after asking for the Ellery Queen mysteries and figured the gift giver got caught up in only viewing the search results. I am going to keep this gift since I do like it and Erle's work, but I will be ordering Ellery Queen mysteries.

This is a routine TV film from 1970. It is worth watching primarily for its creator and the later stars who made it. The original novel was by Erle Stanley Gardner, whose Perry Mason,was the basis for one of the Big hits of 1950's TV; with much better production, it returned to TV a couple of decades later as a highly successful series of TV movies, also starring the Canadian actor, Raymond Burs. The lead of this film is Jim Hutton, who died while starring in the short lived but excellent Ellery Queen series (and co-starred as the love interest in Cary Grant's last film). The woman in the case is Jessica Walter, award winning actress. The ubiquitous Lloyd Bochner, fine Canadian actor, who appeared frequently in television and films, was the suave attorney, while Ed Asner, on the cusp of his career breakthrough with Mary Tyler Moore and then his own show, plays the police chief. Other familiar faces fill out the cast, Quality is what you would expect from an (apparently) untouched video from 1970; for me it enhanced the nostalgic flavor of the material.
All in all, it is decent entertainment with a bit of a riddle to it.

The movie was a little hard to watch. The restoration was not done well and many of the scenes were either very dark or very fuzzy. It was fun to see it again but it is probably too hard on my eyes to watch to again.

If you like small town mystries and John Hutton you are gonna
love this movie. Great DVD.