Murder 101: College Can Be Murder

I just finished watching Pierce Brosnan in Murder 101... a MUCH better whodunit set on the campus scene... Great turns at every turn with a surprise ending even after the surprise! And the context is better than a criminology class, much more believable than the usual Dyke and Barry Van Dyke show (which parallels the Diagnosis Murder TV whodunit show which ALSO stars Dick Van Dyke as the sleuth and his son Barry as the constable detective!) The comment here that THIS TV Murder 101 is a bit of a cheesy crime solver is, unfortunately, true, and I think I liked the characters a LITTLE better in Diagnosis Murder! The BEST way to find out about the Brosnan TV movie Murder 101 is to look up Pierce Brosnan here on IMDb and look up his filmography.

Dick Van Dyke plays a lovable Professor, at the University of Southern California, solving a mystery there. The murder happens early in the picture. There are a good amount of suspects with the varying motives. There is plenty of misdirection to keep the mystery fan guessing.

As is often the case in the Van Dyke TV episodes, there are plenty of attractive women. As well as some action. Dick and his son Barry, play characters pretty similar to what they played on diagnosis murder. So if you liked that show you'll like this one. I really wish they would've made a few more of these. Unfortunately, it's too late now given the age of the protagonist.

What is really good about the murder is if you use logic it's pretty solvable, but it's not easy to solve. Overall very good and enjoyable there are a lot of shots of the USC campus so I'm sure that alumni of that school would really enjoy it.

When fellow lecturer Archer Coe (Alex Hyde-White) drops dead during a meeting to discuss tenure Dr. Jonathan Maxwell (Dick Van Dyke) is more suspicious than the rest of the staff who seem happy to pass it off as a heart attack. With the help of best friend and private investigator Mike Bryant (Barry Van Dyke) they start snooping around and find that several people from a bookie to an angry father of a student who Coe was bedding had reason to murder him. As they try to work out why and who Jonathan is also having to deal with an over eager journalist who uses anything he says in her articles and he's also on the hunt of a young man who stole his antique push bike.

Dick Van Dyke lifts this murder mystery from an average mark with his comic shenanigans and shrewd manner. He's absent-minded with his bike but not where crime is concerned. He's ably supported by his real life son Barry, who plays a private investigator and a much lighter character than the one he plays in Diagnosis Murder. It's a good mystery with a nice list of suspects, and a satisfying denouement.

Although it's not exactly suspense and drama, there is something quite pleasing in watching the father-and-son duo Dick and Barry Van Dyke. It borrows a lot from Diagnosis Murder but then I quite like that so I don't mind. It's the same sort of set-up: miraculously someone gets murdered in the close vicinity of Dick van Dyke's character and he just has to solve it. It never ceases to amaze how the local police force can be so useless that they always seem to need his help in solving murders but I suppose that might be part of the charm of programmes starring Dick. He is always the gracious and charming old gentleman who has time for his day job as well as a bit of crime solving on the side.

I doubt it will be winning any awards but it's well worth watching if you like a bit of cheesy crime solving...