Die Spur der schwarzen Bestie

It was better than it should have been. It seems like it was first slated as a movie-of-the-week but then an fading MGM figured to score some box office bucks with the gimmick of this being one of their last movies shot on a studio lot. Casting MGM veterans in small parts helped some but, this being a detective movie, Jim Garner has to carry it all the way. Which he does with his usual aplomb.

It's a movie of its time. It's a small-town murder mystery with a back story which might have come from a Playboy or Penthouse fiction piece; the type no major studio would have looked at just three years earlier (it was made in 1972), let alone in MGM's heyday.

Faults aside, this movie has its interesting plot twists ratcheting up what little tension there is, so I was hooked until the end. But a loose-end or two are never answered - where did the fresh water come from? And if it was from the bath tub, was any fluoridation found? What happened to Peter Lawford's girlfriend? In one scene she's waving hello with her generous bust; in the next - a crucial one involving PL's character - there's patently no trace of her nor does anyone ask. Eh?

Hal Holbrook and Katherine Ross form the remainder of the troika of leads; Holbrook as the county vet and Ross as his long-haired, long-legged assistant from New York. In other words, she's really there to become romantically involved with Garner's character (a cinematic must.)

Harry Guardino's county sheriff brings in his boys when things get tricky but to no any real effect except the last scene. Garner's character never feels the case slipping away from him or the noose tightening as with Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade in 'The Maltese Falcon.'

June Allyson has a cameo, bringing in yet another plot twist. A better screenwriter and/or director would have put her in more of the picture. Her brief presence lights up the screen far more than the rest of the cast combined - maybe she should have played the detective.

One has to wonder if David Lynch was inspired by this film when developing his cult-favorite TV series "Twin Peaks". Similarities abound (dead female washes ashore, sleepy town with ugly sexual underbelly, inept police force, quirky citizens, references to pie, to name a few....) Garner plays the police chief of a small coastal town called Eden Landing (mostly represented by the MGM backlot!) When a divorcée is found along the shore with her Doberman at attendance and bite marks all over her, it is presumed that the dog killed her. However, he soon realizes that someone else is involved. Through his investigation, he interacts with quirky locals who are portrayed by a plethora of old time movie stars (some of whom hadn't worked on screen in years.) O'Brien looks really unhealthy and only worked another year or two after this. Ewell (who once flirted on screen with Marilyn Monroe) is also looking really rough. (Trivia: Evelyn Keyes played his wife in "The Seven Year Itch" and Anne Rutherford does so here, so he played husband to both of Scarlett O'Hara's sisters from GWTW.) Lawford is rail thin and knee-deep in the "mod" look he would later take even further. The worst injustice is saved for Allyson. Her character is completely, totally unbelievable and underdeveloped. Things had definitely changed since she and Lawford filmed "Good News" on the same backlot! Garner is aided somewhat by veterinarian Ross (whose lab coat is longer than her mini-skirts) and to a lesser degree by bumbling Connelly and Guardino as a trigger happy state police captain. Holbrook gives another one of his wonderful performances in which it's impossible to tell if he's good or bad. The script is trashy and occasionally meandering. If anyone wants to hear Garner and Ross toss around words like "faggot" and "dyke", here's the chance. Or try a drinking game. Every time someone says "neat", do a shot. Most folks will be under the table by half time. Nearly everyone who doesn't live in Eden Landing is presented as either a troublemaker or a sex fiend. This gives the film a certain oddity value. Not only do the characters think of outsiders as freaks, but the filmmakers seem to feel that way too! (Witness Lawford's girlfriend and the bizarre barroom brawl started by two out of town punks, one of whom actually wears a huge measure of chain around his neck!) The film also serves as a time capsule for horrible '70's decor. Check out the beach house's kitchen and its foil wallpapered bathroom!

A woman is murdered in a small seaside town. The cops investigate but are hampered by bureaucratic infighting, complicated relationships, and a vicious Doberman Pincher.

Looks to me like the script was on a hurry-up schedule. Nonetheless, the movie's got its compensations. Unfortunately, the whodunit part, which is supposed to be the core, is developed in pretty ragged fashion with a number of hanging threads (who is it in the nude photo; what role did the sheriff have, etc.).

The movie's appeal really comes from its unsparing and often humorous look at small town life, particularly the semi-competent 3-man police force. Plus, there are the town characters, generally cameos from movie vets getting a few minutes back in the spotlight. Nonetheless, it's an uncharacteristically grouchy Jim Garner as the chief. But no wonder he's grumpy, since his two underlings are bumblers, at best, while he has to contend with a county sheriff (Guardino) who wants to cut in on the investigation for suspicious reasons. Then too, catch the naughty innuendo that's not supposed to typify small town life. And, on a different note, that burning beach house is a real Technicolor inferno and a movie highpoint.

The movie's also a payday for a number of movie vets who get the amusing small town parts. (Except for Tom Ewell as a badly out of shape cop.) But who could have guessed that the wonderfully preserved June Allyson was all of 55 in her role here; ditto Ann Rutherford, also 55. For old movie fans, these nostalgic glimpses were a treat.

All in all, it's an entertaining movie, even with a ragged script. Then too, judging from the Malibu location, plus the timing, I wouldn't be surprised that the movie inspired Garner's TV hit, The Rockford Files (1974-1980). But it's a much more typically amiable Garner in the Rockford role than he is here. Anyway, I hope they paid Murphy double biscuits since he's a good enough actor to compete with the many movie veterans.

I saw this movie when I was ten-years-old with my cousin Johnny. My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I remember liking it. It seems that Dobermans were capturing the imaginations of Americans from Los Angeles to New York, and this film reflects that craze. Does anyone remember that crazy movie about a group of Dobermans that were trained to commit crime. It's odd how certain dogs become really popular, then aren't very popular at all. That said, I decided to watch this film again...and you know what, it's a really good movie filled with veteran actors who know how to act. Not fast-paced, but a darn good whodunit that will leave you guessing until it is all revealed. A must for James Garner fans. Quite possibly his best, if you don't include the "Great Escape" or "Support Your Local Gunfighter."

This is a cute little movie that is of"B" quality but better than most and certainly better than most TV Movies. In the story there is a beautiful Doberman named Murphy who is believed killed someone. I won't disclose the ending. There is a chemistry among all the actors that keep the movie together. I read lately that this was the last movie that this particular movie company made before the backlot was bulldozed for another use. I had a Doberman after this movie and I called him Murphy in memory of him. Absolutely worth watching at least once. Not to be confused with the other James Garner movie called "Murphy's Romance".