They Call it Murder - 1971

What a name.  They call it murder.  Could it be any more over the top?  It's so serial.  In fact, I had a thought especially towards the end when everything is wrapping up, that this movie seriously reminded me of old radio shows that I used to listen to.  I don't know if I ever said on here before, I used to listen to and enjoy radio mystery shows, especially Broadway Is My Beat and Philip Marlowe.

Mostly, this is an average whodunnit mystery cop flick.  There was not a lot of other factors going for it.  But it did well with the actors and with the style.  The main detective is human and also inspirational.  He's easy to like and we know he'll get his man, but it takes him a while to get there.  The hardest part is keeping who's who straight, and when the crime actually gets laid out for us, I had to admit I didn't quite "get" what happened.  However, the film does offer nice little split screen action shots of parts happening to illustrate his narration.

In this way, this felt like a classic mystery to me.  You've got all the normal steps to set it up.  In the beginning, there is a body sunk to the bottom of a pool.  Detective Doug Selby arrives on the scene to a group of suspects, each one insisting on their innocence.  The cast is diverse and intense, featuring only the second appearance of Leslie Nielsen on this blog, Jim Hutton, Ed Asner and Jessica Walter.

I took this murder mystery off the Swinging 70's boxset, and I have to say it did keep me interested in some ways.  The acting, the plot, the twists and turns are decently done.  I did guess correctly at some of the ways the plot would eventually go, small spoilers I guess, it follows a simple logic:  the known actors are probably the ones involved in the plot.

There were parts that were hard to follow, and there was a bit of plot convenience.  The spun tales in these mystery films always seem so far fetched, people go through such crazy schemes for relatively nothing.  I subscribe to the idea that fact is more interesting than fiction though, and I am sure that complex as this film may be, the real life schemes people come up with are equally or more crazy.

I think I liked this?  It's hard to say.  It's not my usual foray, and it's nothing I'd recommend, nothing I'd watch again.  But it reminded me of those radio shows which I did like, and it felt like something that was...well written.  Which obviously is necessary, and it makes sense given this was based on a book.  I hope at the same time there's not a ton of these on the set, cause this is a bit of chore to work through.  I give it 3 stars.