Darker Than Amber (1970) User Reviews

Under-rated Cool Film of the Era!

[shepardjessica · 7/10 · 14 August 2004]

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.

Acceptable private eye business...violent and jaded, with a well-cast lead

[moonspinner55 · 5/10 · 22 August 2015]

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 ****

good movie/ great time

[vintagevalor-2 · 7/10 · 27 May 2009]

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.

Only rental copy available is an edited TV version.

[zorroch · 11 September 2002]

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.

Close, in some ways, but not in what really matters...

[Muskox53 · 6/10 · 14 July 2012]

Taylor is likable as McGee, but neither imposing (he's 5' 11", not a 6' 4" ex-defensive-linebacker) nor gentle enough. Bikel never displays Meyer's formidable intelligence, nor his astonishing personal magnetism; he's just a sidekick, who also looks wrong (Meyer is described in the books as having the pelt of a black bear). The Flush is...well, a houseboat, nothing special. Miss Agnes probably is, but we never get a really good look at her. The Alabama Tigress...a great excuse for Jane Russell to come out of retirement, for a few seconds on the screen. Kendall is beautiful, but not right at all for Vangie, who was Hawaiian and a hard-as-nails totally self-absorbed hooker from a pretty grim background. The music score is also distracting and inappropriate—a mix of badly done late-cool jazz and TV-movie clichés.

The plot is closer to the book than Hollywood usually allowed its writers to adhere. But a couple of significant changes are senseless. The bad guys trace clues to a friend of McGee's and kill him, to no point whatsoever. (They're smart enough to get that far, but too stupid to keep the guy alive so they can get further...) McGee goes back to the fishing hole and dives to pull up...a barbell. (Replacing the novel's cinder-block, why? Would a bodybuilder ever be so stupid? Or did he just have an extra lying around that he wanted to throw out?)

Most annoying was the rewrite on McGee's relationship with Vangie, I guess so that he could look as much as possible like Bond (i.e. have sex with every woman who wanders through the script). Given who McGee is (and how well readers of the book know his principles and his habits of self-reflection) and what he thinks of Vangie, any devotee of the books will look at this strange Taylor-inhabited character, and wonder who it really is. Certainly not the Travis McGee that we wanted to see in a decent film.

better than I had expected

[myriamlenys · 7/10 · 27 October 2019]

Two men, long-time friends, are fishing peacefully in a quiet area. To their surprise, they witness someone throwing a young woman from a nearby bridge. The woman's feet have been bound to a heavy weight. Bravely, one of the fishermen dives into the water...

Now this turned out to be a better movie than I had feared. It's not one of the cinematic masterpieces of the twentieth century, but it's a well-made thriller/action movie moving along at a good clip. As you may have guessed from the first paragraph, it's also got a cracking beginning. Protagonist Rod Taylor does very well as Travis McGee, striking the right balance between laid-back laziness and fearless purpose.

Suzy Kendall too does well, but it was a logical mistake to cast her as both "Vangie" and "Merrimay" : these parts should have been performed by two different women.

"Travis McGee" was the hero of a whole series of wildly popular detective/action novels. (Unless I'm mistaken, only a few of these novels have been filmed, which is quite strange.) Watching the movie, one gets a good idea of the kind of male wish fullfillment involved. McGee lives the carefree life of a rich beach bum ; spends much of his time tanning, diving, fishing ; has interesting and loyal friends ; meets stunning women ; does not shy away from a challenge ; knows how to use his fists ; is kind to small children and animals ; and so on. And on and on and on...

Not a who done it, more like a he did it ..........

[merklekranz · 7/10 · 22 February 2020]

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

Could be so much better!

[paullori · 5/10 · 5 November 2004]

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

Good movie, but hard to see

[bobhay · 8/10 · 25 February 2004]

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.

Cruise ship badger game

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 7 March 2014]

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.

Brighter than green

[AAdaSC · 4/10 · 23 February 2017]

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!

Tecumseh, OK

[bux · 10/10 · 28 June 1999]

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.

As Good As Could Be, I Guess.

[ray_kuryla · 6/10 · 3 May 2008]

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.

At least they got some of the names right

[DottoreHolliday · 2/10 · 17 November 2013]

Had the director or the principal actors (Rod Taylor and Theodore Bikel) bothered to read the novel(s) before the script, it would have been vastly improved. However, Travis McGee with an Australian accent, played by an actor whose skills are in playing himself in every role? Theodore Bikel was slightly better, but he took his cues from Mr. Taylor's performance unfortunately.

The plot line made it worth watching despite the best efforts of the lead actors and director. Either John D. MacDonald was drunk or given points in the production to give it the review he did. The names were the same and some of the settings, but the Travis McGee novels are character driven and the tone is crucial to the story. This movie, and I use the term lightly, had none of the tone or character that makes McGee beloved and a long-lived mystery/action series. It followed the plot line and had a brutal fight scene, but is really, thankfully, eminently forgettable.

After watching the movie, the changes and director's method showed no concept of the story and I got a clear vision of the director, a.d., and studio execs responding over and over "What's the diff?" When queried about Taylor's Aussie accent, Travis McGee wearing coat and tie readily, Bikel's eastern European accent, killing off the Alabama Tiger to cameo Jane Russell, and wiping Trav's repugnance and distaste at shopworn hooker Vangie's attempts at seduction, etc. etc. etc.

All in all a very poor movie, unworthy of the plot line and story. If you watch it, you'll realize what a superior story teller John D. MacDonald was and how untalented this crew of filmmakers were in telling a story. It's no wonder during the 60's and 70's most of the films rewrote the basic story totally. You can see how badly they did with filming a good story and plot line in this effort.

It doesn't even come near the original story.

great film with one of the best fight s evaer seen.

[graveguy55 · 30 July 2002]

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

Rod Taylor Vs William Smith

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 14 June 2021]

"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.

halfway between "The Birds" and "Inglourious Basterds"

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 25 December 2009]

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".

Don't Mess With Travis McGee

[brileyvandyke · 7/10 · 28 March 2022]

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.

Mystery on the Rocks

[thinker1691 · 9/10 · 28 June 2006]

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. ****

It's cat and mouse with the mouse chasing the cat, gets roughed up a bit, then swallows the cat.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 10 March 2022]

What would you do if you had to fish a girl out of the water and found out that she had a fish hook inside her? Find out who was responsible, especially when later, a victim ends up brutally killed, simply grabbed, kissed then tossed into speeding traffic by the psychotic William Smith. Rod Taylor has a terrific role as the man who witnesses the near murder, having seen the girl tossed into the water, and having got any information out of her decide it's worth investigating. Smith truly is one of the crazy of all crazy villains in the movies, suave and charming it seems, but truly dangerous when his violent side comes out. Taylor is suave, but only violent when necessary, so he is a mouse while Smith is the cat as he does his best going to exotic locations after he finds out the information he needs to stop Smith in in his tracks.

It appears that Jane Russell may have been nearby when they shot this film because she has a few minutes on screen as a socialite aboard a yacht throwing a party as apparently been going on for a very long time, yelling things to Taylor from her bow to his, and that's basically how Taylor begins to put pieces together. He's surrounded by an ensemble of lovely ladies including Suzy Kendall and Ahna Capri, with Theodore Bikel also making a cameo appearance. Terrific location footage, a fun bond-like theme song and plenty of the actionengages the viewer throughout, and just when Smith thinks that he's beaten Taylor and gotten away, his cat like a villain is surprised that the mouse has not given up. Fantastic conclusion that is actually quite frightening when you see Smith after he's been startled by the mouse.

A classic . Way ahead of its time.

[shai6935 · 8/10 · 25 June 2006]

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.

Darker Than Amber

[flynn1066 · 8/10 · 8 April 2006]

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 would have loved to have seen a whole string of testosterone infused Travis McGee films

[bensonmum2 · 8/10 · 22 June 2017]

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.

Confusing at times, but worth watching

[gerdeen-1 · 10 January 2013]

Maybe this movie got chopped up a bit after its original release, as I've read, but it was not a model of clarity to begin with. By sheer chance, I saw it when it was having its world premiere in the summer of 1970, and I couldn't always follow what was going on.

I was a college student visiting downtown Miami for the first time when I noticed the marquee. I knew nothing about the "Travis McGee" character. The only reason I walked into the theater was because I had never seen a world premiere before.

I couldn't keep a handle on the plot, and I think that weakened the impact of the ending for me. Still, I was favorably impressed overall, because the action was so gritty and realistic. I especially liked the performances of Rod Taylor and William Smith, who were both well known to me. Their big fight scene was as memorable as everybody says.

Suzy Kendall, whom I had never heard of before, was easy on a young man's eyes. But her character was undefined. She seemed like a decorative jewel that men were willing to die for, and I never got a sense of her as a real person.

Since that afternoon so many years ago, I have had the pleasure of reading several Travis McGee novels. I like them very much. If I ever wind up seeing the movie again, maybe I'll understand it better.

"A blonde from Brazil?"

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 22 February 2011]

When a friend of mine told me a year ago that there was a rare film,which had been made in 1970,that was based on the Travis McGee books with Rod Taylor playing McGee,I have to admit that I was very surprised to hear about the casting,since the only film that I had seen of Taylors before,was the very enjoyable adaptation of The Time Machine.

Recently,I was at last able to surprisingly get hold of this film,with the added bonus of it being the full-uncut version!.Although,At the start of the film,I was unsure how it would be with Taylor,by the end credits,I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun this great film is.

The plot:

As Travis McGee sits on his boat fishing,he suddenly notices that a young woman has been thrown over board from a boat near by.After having risked his life by diving in to save he,when Travis gets the girl (whose real name is Vangie Bellamer,although due to her being an ex-prostitute she gives him a fake name)When he tells Vangie that she should go to the police,she keeps saying no to his idea,which leads to her running away from McGee.

A day or two later,Travis finds out that someone has murdered the girl.When Travis starts investigating the people that lived near with Bellamer,he discovers that the pimp that Vangie used to work for was,trying to get her to return to "the business",due to the pimp having planned some very big cruise ship robberies,where the girls get rich loners to go with them on cruises,so that no one will notice when the loner has been killed,and has had his cash stolen.After McGee finds out that a robbery is going to happen on a cruise ship in a few days,he realises that he needs to get hold of a ticket right away..

View on the film:

For his performance as Travis McGee,I feel that Rod Taylor does a very entertaining performance,with cleverly giving Travis a charming witty side,that really works well with the focused,invented investigating side of the character.With his performance as the evil pimp,William Smith gives a fun performance,which shows that whilst he is a bit of a slime ball,he is still able to use plenty of pressure,to get the girls to agree to working with him.

Although director Robert Clouse (whose next film would be the Bruce Lee classic Enter the Dragon) keeps the film moving at a very pleasant pace,which includes a surprisingly extremely intense final fight between Taylor and Smith. (which it is was actually done for real!)

The screenplay by Frank V.Phillips sadly gets the film a bit muddled,with the first half of the film,feeling like it is trying to set up a future series of films, (which I think would have been a lot of fun if they had been made)with some characters not being given a moment or two to introduce themselves to the plot,but instead just casually entering and leaving the story.

Final view on the film:

An extremely entertaining film,with very good performances,excellent fights and a fun second half,let down by a slightly muddled first half.