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This "Tough as nails" John MacDonald novel was filmed at the perfect time in American Film History. Rod Taylor (an Aussie) who starred in many American films (as well as high support in GIANT and others) plays Travis MaGee, the lead, with the beautiful, intelligent and TALENTED Suzy Kendall (who nobody I know ever heard of), even though she was in TO SIR WITH LOVE and had a "Julie Christie" kind of appeal in the Kingdom in the 1960's and 70's AND was married to Dudley Moore (ARTHUR) AFTER Tuesday Weld wss married to him. ANyway, Theo Bikel is great - this is like an old Bogie or John Garfield film from the 40's or 50's about corruption and honest, tough private eyes who AREN'T James Bond or TV private eyes who wait for Inger Stevens to save them.

Well-done, tough MacDonald story (well cast) and I'm not even sure if it's on Vid OR DVD. Check it out.

Outstanding action film that builds up like movies used to in the 70s. Unfortunately the DVD version is cut for television so the fight scenes are missing.

I did manage to see a poor, uncut version with Dutch subtitles burned into it a few years ago, but that's about the closest you'll find to it. Not the best shape but you can see the fight scenes in all their bloody glory.

I'm hoping somebody like Vinegar Syndrome will issue a remastered uncut version of it someday. Here's hoping that will happen.

2 for cut version 7 for uncut version.

PS: I heard Taylor actually hurt Smith in the fight scene. That's very possible, it's that brutal.

Girl hustler, working Ft. Lauderdale with two musclebound thugs, is tossed off an overpass into the river with a weight strapped to her foot...fortunately, part-time detective Travis McGee is out fishing with his buddy and comes to her rescue. Crime drama, adapted from the novel by John D. MacDonald, has plenty of over-the-top action and tough talk, but it loses all credibility by the second-half as McGee formulates a revenge plot aboard a cruise in the Bahamas. As McGee, Rod Taylor--jowly but agreeably brawny--hasn't lost his twinkle, and bleached-blond William Smith is a scary-cool adversary. Directed with swagger and an artistic eye by Robert Clouse. John Parker is responsible for the offensive music score. ** from ****

I saw this movie 30 years and the memory of the Climatic fight is still in my memory banks. Probably because I went back to see it with my friends. Nowadays fights scene like this are commonplace, but back then this fights only close comparison was Bond's fight in From russia with love. I rented it about five years ago and was disappointed to find that it was an edited tv version with the best scenes cut. A restored version of this movie is a time capsule of Florida, fighting and Females in the late 60's. And a darn good yarn.

I had the privliage of being in this picture. I was a 20 year old college kid going to Miami-Dade Jr. College. I was majoring in theater and one of my teachers was also a working actor. He got auditions for a bunch of his students and we went to the Ivan Tors studio on the appointed day and I was lucky enough to get cast as an extra. I'm on the dock at the end of the picture for the end of the fight scene. I was reading John D. MacDonald at the time and was a big fan of Travis McGee. Not many people know that Chuck Conners had bought the rights to the character after this picture came out.

In 2000 I had cast William Smith in my picture STAGE GHOST and we discussed DARKER THAN AMBER. He said that it is absolutely true that he and Rod went at it in the fight scene and did some damage to each other! However, they were and are great friends and I hope some how this picture is transfered to DVD. There is a DVD copy available off the internet but it won't play very well. This a cult classic that deserves to be seen by a wider audience, re-mastered in DVD.

Darker Than Amber stars Rod Taylor as Travis McGee, a Florida part time detective and scavenger who witnesses an attempted murder of a young woman, played by Suzy Kendall, saves that woman, has a short affair with her only for her to later get killed by the very men who tried killing her the first time, then are tracked and hunted down by McGee.

The film is a bit uneven with some parts being awkward and some parts being very good. That said I found Taylor great in this and for me he along with William Smith made the film very enjoyable. There is a James Bond like quality to the movie and William Smith is very convincing as a psychotic killer and altogether great villain. The film is most noted for the fight scene between Taylor and Smith which evidently turned real as both men sustained injuries during the fight. Heck, none other than Bruce Lee was impressed with the fight as he wanted Robert Clouse to direct his film Enter The Dragon, solely on the fight scenes alone.

It is shame the film flopped at the box office because I would have enjoyed more from Taylor playing McGee, as it stands, this film enjoys a cult status and I hope it will someday get a dvd or blu ray release.

This movie is the only cinematic Travis Magee movie made. It has a strong cast and was written by John D. himself but the "hipness" prevents the realism from coming out. The casting of Rod Taylor is of a questionable choice and the movie lacks the technical expertise that a first class author should have been given.

Miss Agnes is the only concession to class and the "flush" is appropriate as well. All in all a disappointment to those John D. fans. Too bad that those responsible for "Cape Fear" didn't sign on to do this flick!! Lori and Paul WA state

This is indeed a good movie--a tidy, well-acted and -directed thriller with a good "take" on Travis McGee by the rock-solid and dependable Rod Taylor. But it is a tough one to get to see in its entirety, as some of the other reviewers have noted. Even the commercial prints have a running time of 91 minutes, and they are obviously and clumsily cut (here's a clue: the background music and sound jump drastically). No doubt this is because the violence is graphic for a film of this vintage, although that doesn't explain why it almost impossible to find a complete 93-minute copy here in the 21st century. I found one through a guy who knew a guy and so on--a Dutch copy with Dutch subtitles--and after 30 years of poking around (I was doing other things, too, during these decades) I finally got to see the whole movie. And it was worth it, as it almost always is to see the entire work, as the director (Clouse's next film was "Enter the Dragon") intended it. Some might think 2 minutes out of a film is no big deal (although they might gripe if you handed them a novel with 2 or 3 percent of its pages torn out) but this is too good a movie to snip. And although there have been bigger, longer, bloodier, more you-name-it fights, no two men on screen have ever looked like they are really, desperately trying to hurt each other as much as Rod Taylor and William Smith in the climactic fight in this movie. If you can find it, watch it. Good luck.

Or how about 'More Chocolaty than Orange'? Perhaps even 'Paler Than Hazelnut'? The title of this film makes no sense at all. I have subsequently read that this film is about a detective who has been written about frequently and so I assume a series was intended. Knowing this, the film makes sense as this is what it feels like – a pilot for a TV series. However, that is all that makes sense. The story doesn't. It has plot holes aplenty and is way too complicated as nothing is properly explained and the audience is just left thinking 'what is happening now'? It has cool music, though.

Jane Russell pops up on a boat – why? What a complete waste of time. She shouts "Hi" from a boat and that's it. Could have done without paying that fee, I suspect, especially as this film made a loss. The film has some violent moments so fans of violence will be pleased. At the end of the day a fight is a fight. One bloke hits another, etc. It's not a winning recipe for normal people to satisfyingly digest and score the film 10/10. Bunch of lunatics!

All the characters are here, and in fine fashion too: Trav, The Alabama Tigress, Meyer, and of course Miss Agnes. At times steamy and violent, this one captures the essence of the author's tale and moves along at a swift pace. As in all of the McGee stories we have a "broken bird" a mystery to be solved, and antagonists whose "wires are crossed." Smith is outstanding as the body building, demented Terry Bartell, and a fine musical score make this one fine viewing.

"And speaking of that... What about that?" is some of the clunky dialogue in Robert Clouse's hit/miss cinematic venture for pulp author John McDonald's beach bum/salvage seller Travis McGee, here played by an aged-to-granite Rod Taylor, more befitting a suit during the cruise ship second half than bulky shirtless on his own boat... a balmy Florida Keys Neo Noir during an intriguing set-up when Taylor's McGee rescues a beautiful blonde dumped off a bridge with weights...

The kind of colorfully psychedelic counter-culture clashing an otherwise gray-toned detective-style thriller, and especially vivid is the young girl, all open-minded and groovy in Suzy Kendall, who, despite pretty enough to fall for quickly, there's too little chemistry between her and Taylor for such severe depression after her death...

Quickly followed by a contrived resurrection as Kendall plays a different character to trick muscular bleach-blond psycho villain William Smith: And what DARKER THAN AMBER is known for is the climactic fight between Taylor and Smith that wound up real, captured by director Clouse that landed him Bruce Lee's ENTER THE DRAGON...

Which also featured blonde bomshell Ahna Capri who, like Smith and beautiful African American actress Janet MacLachlan as well as pinch thug Robert Phillips, isn't given enough screen time in a deliberate b-movie that's more a collection of scenes.

A great detective film. The usually underrated Rod Taylor gives a gripping performance, holding his own against scene stealer William Smith. The ending features one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed involving ,basically, only two men. I was not too framiliar with Travis McGee before this film but have since become a fan. And Suzy Kendall is always fun to look at

Not having known of this movie's existence until reading about John D. MacDonald when IMDb'ing "Cape Fear", I was delighted to find out that there was a movie made from his Travis McGee series. It was hard to find (had to procure from one of those "hard-to-find video" businesses), but, like the others here who have seen it, was glad to have seen a cinematic portrayal of Trav. I too think Rod Taylor did a good job in portraying Trav, as well as Theodore Bikel in portraying Meyer. I was mildly disappointed in some of the changes made from the book to the movie. It seems as if some screenwriters think that they MUST make some changes, JUST for the sake of making changes. Some I can understand: for example,the book's "Ans Terry" to the movie's "Terry Bartlett" is easier to hear. But WHY the "Alabama Tigress"? Why couldn't they left the book's "Alabama Tiger"? Also, Vangie shouldn't have been portrayed as a blonde, because her ethnic heritage is where the title "Darker than Amber" came from; it was Trav's comment on the color of her eyes. There was no tie in the movie to the title at all. However, all that being said, as a big fan of the Travis McGee series, who re-reads them every few years, I would recommend this to all other McGee fans.

John McDonald's Travis McGee comes to life when one of his McGee novels Darker Than Amber comes to the big screen. Rod Taylor essays the role of the salvage beachcomber who does an occasional turn as a detective.

What Taylor attempts to salvage here is Suzy Kendall who would like very much to get away from William Smith who on the big screen and small is usually one evil dude.

Kendall is the come-on, one of many women Smith uses as a come-on in a cruise ship badger game racket. How evil this guy we only find out toward the end of the film.

Taylor makes a fine private detective and Theodore Bikel is good as the intellectual sidekick Taylor has and apparently needs to keep him centered on what's good in life. But the one you won't forget is William Smith. His bleached blond appearance for this film only accentuates the evil in a truly evil man. The final scene is a fight with Taylor and Smith and about 15 others get in the way. It ranks up there with The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre for realism.

Definitely for fans of the principal players.

The he of course is the blonde villain supreme William Smith. Meanwhile self appointed avenger of beautiful women, Rod Taylor, is determined to bring justice. After a bang bang beginning, where Taylor saves Suzy Kendall who is doing an excellent imitation of a boat anchor, a carefully constructed revenge plot is conceived. No police are involved until the very end, so it is Taylor vs Smith, and what a confrontation it is. The infamous brutal fight is just that, perhaps the most realistic beat down on film. Don't blink though, as it doesn't last long. Theodore Bikel is excellent as always, and Jane Russell puts in a brief gratuitous appearance, which has nothing to do with the plot. The VHS print I have runs 97 minutes, and I have no idea how much, if at all, it is edited. - MERK

Darker Than Amber is a sort of B Grade,cult classic of a film. You can see the effort to make something stylish and entertaining but overall it fails to meet its goal. Despite some decent moments it remains a subpar picture. While still a good lead, Rod Taylor was past his peak when did this picture. Being a fairly illustrious actor his talent is noticeably above his costars'. One of the most notable aspects of this picture is the fight at the end between Rod Taylor and William Smith-though initially choreographed the fight turned real.

Darker Than Amber is thriller that makes a real attempt to be original and declamatory but it never amounts to more than a bland film that drags.

If you are a Travis McGee fan, this is one film which belongs in your collection. The movie mirrors the book and the fact leading man Rod Taylor has the role is no surprise as he is perfect for the part. In short the story is of Travis McGee, a Private detective hired to investigate the death of a woman who's sister has been murdered. McGee discoverers the murderer is none other than William Smith who plays Terry Bartell. Smith is awesome in this role and anyone who gazes on that extraordinary physique of his will be impressed his good looks match his formidable strength. Adding to the interest of this film are sympathetic Theodore Bikel as Meyer and Suzy Kendall who doubles as Vangie/Merrimay. Travis and his friends plan an elaborate scheme in which the victim will return to haunt her murderer. What they don't know is that their intended mark is as explosive, unpredictable and dangerous as a lit bundle of dynamite. The final physical confrontation is one of the finest ever recorded on film. So fiercely brutal and bloody that many versions of the movie are highly edited. Rod Taylor at his best and a must film for Taylor fans. ****

Rod Taylor is best known for "The Birds" and most recently had a brief appearance in "Inglourious Basterds" as Winston Churchill. Over the years, he's appeared in various other flicks, including "Darker Than Amber". I had never heard of Travis McGee, so this was totally new to me (in fact, "DTA" is so far the only Travis McGee novel adapted to the screen). There were some fairly interesting fights, but I found the erotic factor far more appealing. It's a fairly routine detective story, although we do get a look at the Florida Everglades. This isn't the movie that I would recommend above all others, but it's still worth seeing. Also starring Suzy Kendall, Jane Russell, Janet MacLachlan, Theodore Bikel and William Smith.

PS: director Robert Clouse also directed "Enter the Dragon".

I saw Darker Than Amber 34 years ago, and it made an indelible impression on me. Perhaps it was because the realistic fast paced action and suspense, which is commonplace today, was a breakthrough at the time. I would compare it with some of the action scenes in Steve McQueen's Bullitt. I was reading John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels long before this movie came out, and being a Rod Taylor fan, this was the icing on the cake for me. Taylor brought McGee to life, a no nonsense, tough as nails guy, a Bond without the gadgets and gimmicks. I certainly wish the Production Company/Distributors would put it out on DVD, so everyone else could enjoy it. It could most assuredly become a cult classic.

I've never read any of the novels by MacDonald so I can't comment on book to film accuracy.On the other hand,I'm a huge fan of both Rod Taylor and William Smith.It took me almost ten years to get my mitts on a copy of this manly movie masterpiece.It's got some foreign subtitles on it but who cares,this movie's climactic brawl lived up to every bit of it's hype.No goofy chop sockey stuff just good old fashioned, beat the living hell outta the other guy moves.Taylor and Smith use every thing but the kitchen sink on each other.It's true that the only movie fights that come close are From Russia With Love (who doesn't love seeing two football hooligans like Connery and Shaw trying to kill each other but I digress) and the final throwdown between Rod Taylor and Peter Carsten in Dark Of The Sun.This movie is a holy grail for manly movie fans but all the way worth it.Let's hope it finds it's way to DVD in it's pure,unedited form soon,hopefully with commentary by Taylor and Smith.

I really wish Darker than Amber had done better at the box office. I would have loved to have seen a whole string of testosterone infused Travis McGee films with Rod Taylor as McGee and Theodore Bikel as sidekick Meyer. I know there are a slew of detractors out there, but Darker than Amber worked almost flawlessly on me.

After a really groovy musical intro, the film begins with McGee and Meyer fishing at night under a bridge. Unbeknownst to them, a couple of really bad dudes are on the bridge with a drugged out young woman. After tying 80 pound weights to her ankles, they chuck her overboard. McGee goes in to save her. He takes the woman, Vangie (Suzy Kendall), back to his boat. She tells McGee that she doesn't want the police involved. Travis knows the girl is mixed up in something bad, but she's very mysterious about the details. Over the next few days, Travis and Vangie develop a relationship. So when Vangie is killed by a hit-and-run driver, Travis is determined to get to the bottom of who Vangie really was, what she was involved in, and, most importantly, who killed her. There is so much more to the story, but this little synopsis is a start.

I'm not going to get into the whole discussion of whether or not Darker than Amber is faithful to the books. I've read a few Travis McGee novels over the years, but it's been so long, I'm not qualified to discuss this. Instead, I'm just going to write about the movie on its own. I think that one of the things that makes Darker than Amber so enjoyable to me are the actors and their characters. Rod Taylor is perfect as Travis McGee (again, I'm not saying he is or is not the Travis McGee of the books). He's believable whether he's playing the beach-bum who steers his boat with his feet while sipping on Scotch or he's disarming a piece of white trash in a diner or he's engaging in a wildly over-the-top, but completely believable, fight scene. However, as macho as all that is, Taylor also played the more sensitive parts of his role expertly. When Vangie is killed, you can see the hurt in his face. He's just good. William Smith plays the main baddie, Terry. Like Taylor, he's also perfect. Smith made a career out of playing bad guys, but none better than here. Add his character Terry to the list of best movie psychos. What a sick, twisted piece of garbage. It's awesome. Finally, I'll briefly mention Suzy Kendall as Vangie. She may not be as good as the others, but I still enjoyed her performance. She has a natural vulnerability to her that works in role of Vangie. Rounding out this excellent cast are Bikel and Robert Phillips. Neither has a very large role, but both are outstanding. A rock solid cast playing interesting, entertaining characters - I loved it.

As much as I want to credit the actors, director Robert Clouse also did some outstanding work with Darker than Amber. For me, the movie is perfectly paced. I've read complaints about some of the slower scenes in the second act. While there may have been some slow moments, I never found it dull. Clouse handles the legendary final fight scene expertly. I've already mentioned it once, but this fight is a real showstopper. Watching these two guys beat the living crap out of each other is as good a fight scene as I can remember. It works because it all looks and feels so real. I think with that last sentence I've stumble on what I like about the whole thing - it feels so authentic and real. Darker than Amber is a winner with me.