Die Spur der schwarzen Bestie

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!

James Garner is the police chief of a small town. A woman turns up dead, and it's accepted that her own dog, a doberman, killed her. As he investigates the matter, however, new facts come into focus that exonerate the animal..... and makes his own loneliness apparent to him.

It's a pleasant little romance with Garner in modern dress, looking a little seedy as he and Katherine Ross fall in love with each other. It's a very minor effort, but it's eked out nicely with many small roles taken by familiar faces: Hal Holbrook, Harry Guardino, JUne Allyson, Peter Lawford, Edmond O'Brien, Ann Rutherford..... is this where old MGM stars retire to?

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".

One of the first vehicles of the 1970's catering to the 1970's Doberman craze; although this particular pooch is more a McGuffin than pet: A friendly yet sometimes growling, possibly deadly red-herring that could provide California small town sheriff James Garner some clues...

He plays writer Lane Slate's rural lawman, Abel Marsh, in the first of three movies (Andy Griffith took over the rest); and while this is the only one made for the big screen, with a lightweight, glossy main score it both sounds and plays like a Movie Of The Week...

Even the town itself, the last chance audiences got see the Universal lot, is pure television, as is Garner's affable manner despite throwing around a few glib curse words and references to homosexuality...

The latter concerns the woman who dies in the beginning, seeming killed by the dog, Murphy... And, adding to the sporadic attempts to fit into the progressive, post counter-culture era, the beach-drowned victim is the bisexual wife of classy Peter Lawford, hanging around a young, full-chested and very straight Jenifer Shaw...

But it's natural-beauty's natural-beauty Katharine Ross who provides Garner both an ingenue and a possible twist... One of several moments where THEY ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS wakes up from its episodic daze and becomes the Old School Detective/Neo Noir Mystery it strives for (but not quite often enough).

This film does feature a striking opening: a Doberman struggling with a woman's body in the ocean water. The dog (we find out his name is Murphy) was the woman's pet, but he's assumed to have killed her. That is, until an autopsy reveals that she died of drowning. In FRESH water, no less. This presents a fairly interesting case for cranky small town police chief Abel Marsh (James Garner, solid as always), who reluctantly takes possession of the dog after the canine has been cleared. He also falls in lust with the assistant (Katharine Ross, looking quite fetching) who works for the local veterinarian (Hal Holbrook).

Set in a coastal California town called Eden Landing, but largely filmed on the MGM backlot, "They Only Kill Their Masters" is no great shakes when it comes to the murder-mystery genre, but it kills (pardon the expression) time adequately enough. The filmmaking is competent, but lacks distinction. Lane Slate (also writer of "The Car") scripted, getting some mileage out of a small town setting where there's some seedy things going on behind the picture-perfect facade. His sense of humour, present in many scenes, does help to keep the picture watchable. The main problem is that some people may find the whole thing simply too easy to predict.

The film boasts an incredible cast, including some old-school veterans (June Allyson, Tom Ewell, Peter Lawford, Edmond O'Brien, Arthur O'Connell, Ann Rutherford), but some of them are sorely under-utilized. Garner makes up for that a bit with his effortless charisma, and Ross is appealing. Harry Guardino is a decent foil for Garner as a State Police captain with whom Garner butts heads. Also, a round of applause for the well-trained Dobie who plays Murphy; he can be as sweet as pie, and turn on a dime and become vicious.

If you adore this genre, you'll likely enjoy this one, even if you bemoan the wasting of some of the veteran talent.

Seven out of 10.