The Corpse Had a Familiar Face

Though the cast is generally great, especially Montgomery, Farina & Kotto, the movie was obviously shot in L.A. The cinematography slips at times by keeping shots with the San Gabriel mountains in the background as well as extras who are obviously Mexican, Central American or locals of said descent as opposed to Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican or South American Latins which by far are representative of Miami's Latino community. There are no scenes of the Everglades or of Miami Beach or any others that would be telltale of South Florida or anywhere in Florida, for that matter. The movie line does (mostly) adhere to the book version otherwise, thus a good not great one overall. Worth keeping as part of a file or as a get one free as an extra in rental.

Elizabeth Montgomery IS Edna Buchanan in this TV-movie based on Ms. Buchanan's book of the same name and her career as a Miami Herald reporter. Lee Horsley's daughter is missing, but after months of headlines and people talking about it with nothing new, it becomes old news. But Edna still goes after her story and she still cares, if no one else does. Dennis Farina, who has always been charming, charismatic and being just plain cool in everything he does, is a cop, who finds Edna attractive. All the elements are letter-perfect and fall into place. The mood, the music, the laid-back acting - they all capture Miami in motion and happening. She opens the film with the narrative that tourists come and go, but the true native is a proud native. It's a shame she didn't get to make more of these Edna movies, as they would have been a perfect fit for her and they were very entertaining. She would make only one more ("Deadline for Murder" without Dennis Farina.) Her premature death makes viewing this a little sad, but all the whole the movie itself is so enjoyable. Audra Lindley as her mother and Yaphet Kotto as the cop she pesters for the story help to make this a good time with Elizabeth Montgomery.

Elizabeth Montgomery is, as usual, perfect in her role as the real life journalist and Pulitzer Prize Winner Edna Buchanan in this film loosely based on her book, which highlights her 18 year career as a crime reporter in Miami, where she covered about 5000 violent deaths, more than 3000 of them, homicides. The film and the book, however, don't follow the trodden path of so many real-life crime stories, thanks to the detachment and humor which Buchanan imbues her work with, which gives a droll slant to her otherwise macabre stories. Furthermore, the script deals with only one case, which captures the spirit of both the author and the book, as Edna and some friends in the Miami Police Department (Dennis Farina, Yaphet Kotto) search for the missing teenage daughter of a distraught father, played by Lee Horsley. (The film has been retitled abroad as Daddy's girl).