Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest

1997 "It began as a cross country train trip. It became a Federal case-- of murder!"
7.2| 1h40m| NR| en
Details

Jessica Fletcher searches for a woman who witnessed the murder of a man trying to expose a serious flaw in a top-secret government satellite code.

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FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.
Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.
ctyankee1 This story full of suspense. It starts off with a man being murdered and a woman walking her dog sees the murderer. The woman tell the police she is afraid because the killer knows what she looks like.JB Fletcher goes on a train a makes friends with a Mrs Taylor not knowing the lady is the witness to the murder who later disappears.There are men that get on board and they all look suspicious. You start to think maybe they will kill Mrs Taylor.The story is about secret codes for Satellites that are worth a lot of money. They are being sought by a number of people some working for the government and some from other countries. The man that was killed was meeting a reporter because the codes where in error and the higher ups would not listen to him to correct the problem so he was going to give the reporter the story.It kind of reminds me of what happened recently with the NSA. The NSA was spying on people and countries and Snowden not like what the NSA was doing so he started to reveal internal things that happened to news reporters.The story has a lot of suspense and action that takes place on the train. It has lots of persons of interest. Good to watch.
Goingbegging Anyone who has viewed more than two or three of Jessica's 40-minute TV episodes can set their watch by the little scene where she stops and says "Now let me see if I've got this right" - her chance to help all the dumbos to keep up with the plot.Well 80 minutes is very different from 40 minutes, and I personally would have welcomed at least one of these idiot-board updates in the course of this bigger and busier version of 'Murder, She Wrote'. No fewer than 37 characters are listed, and their names flung about like confetti, so we only dimly understand who's who in the zoo. But don't let that put you off; the masterly ending will make the same impact anyhow.The story takes us by rail into the baking sands of Arizona, about as far as you can get from Cabot Cove, both geographically and spiritually. Trains are always good for murder mysteries, with plenty of enigmatic strangers and chance meetings. And with Jessica on board, it's a safe bet that one or two passengers won't quite make it to their destination.By about the midpoint, we've learned to mistrust every snarling male, but not, of course, certain gracious females who are so keen to confide in Jessica. (This view takes a bit of a knock in the closing stages.)We can't reveal much more without giving away some key twists that are vastly superior to anything seen in the standard episodes. As for the murder-motive, this relates to a hi-tech agenda that manages to look just as fresh and topical now as it would have done in 1997 - a singular achievement. There are some pleasing touches, like a wacky hotel receptionist (Susan Blommaert) who turns out to be one of Jessica's most devoted fans. And only the inaudible dialogue at a key moment in the dining-car scene lets down the production values.At the end, Jessica is pointing out the murderer's careless mistakes in her best schoolmarm style. (But regular viewers may like to know that we're spared the usual spluttering "But that's ridiculous..." protest from the other party this time round!)
SceneByScene Without a doubt the best! of the 4 spin-off TV movies from the 'Murder, She Wrote' TV series.Superb styling. A great story that pans out well, with a couple of surprising plot twists at the end. More worthy of Lansbury's dramatic scope than, sadly, the rest of the TV spin-offs, this is one film that is well worth setting the set-top box to record.With wonderful subtle references to other 'train crime' movies: the film noir 'Double Indemnity'; 'The 39 Steps' (the rural train station at which Jessica Fletcher disembarks is amusingly named 'Hannay' after that film's lead character Richard Hannay); and of course another famous Hitchcock train movie: 'North by Northwest'. Plus there are elements of 'The Lady Vanishes' when one of the lead characters disappears; all the more poignant, of course, as Angela Lansbury herself starred as 'the lady' in the 1978 film version of the 'TLV'!Indubitably a fun film for die-hard fans of the TV series. And the most watchable of the spin-offs. Maybe this is because it was the first (made in 1997) of the 4 movies. But in any case the other 3 spin-offs in this TV franchise are little more than self-indulgent, rambling & soporific TV 'dross'. This initial TV movie, however, is a more 3-dimensional film.A well-scripted story in which the plot gives Lansbury the chance to really act. Enjoy. It offers a fun couple of hours' viewing.
edwagreen Disappointing show that doesn't showcase the acting talent of Angela Lansbury as sleuth Jessica Fletcher.The show starts off well with Jessica on a train bound for El Paso Texas. There, she is supposed to deliver one of her lectures. While on the train, Jessica becomes involved with absolute mayhem. A woman, who witnessed a killing is on the train, and soon disappears. A newsman on the trail soon gets killed. Jessica had befriended the woman and soon finds her and goes on quite an adventure with her.The show deals with sub-plots about important information being stolen, and as a result the FBI got involved. It reaches the point that you don't know whose good and who the bad guys are. Everyone seems to have an agenda, but in the end, nothing really works here.