Murder Can Hurt You!

Every once in a while, TV will really fool you.

Just when you think everything on the tube is so stupid that it isn't worth your time...along comes something REALLY stupid that's more worthy than you think.

"Murder Can Hurt You" is a TV film in the good old "Airplane!" vein (and in the same year, no less!) about how TV's top detectives (or their reasonable facsimiles, anyway) are trying to solve the mystery of The Man in White (Kreindel) while he in turn is knocking each of them off.

Such a good-natured put-on would be impossible to pull off without a game cast, and the actors herein certainly are game. MacLeod, Danza, Young, Farr, Byner, Owens, Stevens and Buono (a surprise to find him on TV, but a pleasant one) all play deft parodies of such stalwart TV gumshoes as Starsky and Hutch, Ironside, Kojak, Columbo, Pepper Anderson ("Police Woman"), McCloud and Baretta, all of them going for every cliche and sight gag in the book.

It has been years since I saw this gem but I can remember almost every scene like yesterday: Buono strapped by his wheelchair to the top of a car, MacLeod's near-fatal experience with a lollipop, Owens trying to ride through the big city on his horse only to have a thug hitch it to a post when he wasn't looking, Young doing a deft Peter Falk impersonation (if without his mirror image's common sense), all the nonsensical clues left by The Man in White. And Roz Kelly as Virginia Trickwood. Ahhhhh.... Why do I remember her so fondly? If you had seen the dress she was wearing you'd remember, too.

I WAS only 15 at the time, you know.

But for TV-rated laughs, this one delivers like no one else could at the time. Now why couldn't EVERY TV movie be so good that you still remember it over 20 years later?

Ten stars and a gold-plated cockatiel for "Murder Can Hurt You" - definite proof that TV is the perfect venue for such silliness.

When a mysterious Man In White kills one of their number, members of the World's Greatest Detectives Club band together to track him down.

It's a spoof of the 1970s TV cop shows, ranging from McCloud to Columbo. Intended as a reply to Murder By Death, this TV movie is lazily written and badly performed, despite the cast being quite capable. They have little to do but repeat the most obvious bits of their characters and mug. Only Li Torres, playing "Mrs. Palumbo" has much to do that is actually funny and performed with comic energy. With Victor Buono, Jamie Farr, John Byner, Gavin McLeod, Buck Owens, Connie Stevens, and Jimmy "JJ" Walker.

When I was a kid growing up all the detectives depicted in this film were replayed over and over again. This film was a gem and it deserves to be held in the highest esteem, right up there with Airplane!, (Known as "Flying High" here in Australia), and was a damn sight better than all the "Movie!" send-ups of the late 90's and early, and continuing, 2000's. This was what a parody film was all about. As opposed to the "Movie" parodies of late, this film was actually enjoyable, and more importantly, funny! I would much rather spend my weekend watching Murder Can Hurt You, Airplane, The Naked Gun, and any other pre 1999 spoof-comedy, than the tripe that is produced every few months nowadays! I Guess my point is, if you're going to make a parody film, put some thought into it, make it genuinely funny, and most importantly, make it relevant and understandable to your viewing audience!

Thank you for listening to my rant!

My sister and I saw this as kids (me, 10; her, 7) and we still talk about it to this day. We've tried to rent it, but of course it is not available, but my parents had taped it for us the second time it was on (on Beta) and we watched it over and over again. Very clever parody of murder mysteries with a funny cast and silly plots that twist into a surprising and fun ending. Can't say enough about it....

Hey qhavcnwv, So glad to hear you still have a copy. I would love to see your digital copy. How would one go about getting a copy from you?

Sometimes silly movies are good for a laugh.