Jessica sets out to clear the name of a friend who is a prime suspect in a murder case.Jessica sets out to clear the name of a friend who is a prime suspect in a murder case.Jessica sets out to clear the name of a friend who is a prime suspect in a murder case.
Photos
- A.D.A. Mel Comstock
- (as Pat Harrington)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe characters of "Helmsley Post" -an aggressively macho writer of war stories - and "Adrian Winslow" - a waspish, perhaps homosexual author of historical novels - may be intended as outrageous caricatures of the real-life writers Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal, whose long-standing literary feud had been very much in the news shortly before this was filmed. The name "Post" for the Mailer character is another clue.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Horace Lynchfield: Now, what I need is some cigarettes and a stiff drink. Let's get out of here, okay?
Jessica Fletcher: Oh! At the risk of sounding like a nag, Horace, you're gonna have to do something about your drinking.
Horace Lynchfield: Are you saying to cut back? That would be like depriving a race car of its gasoline.
Clerk: Oh. May I help you?
[Horace pulls out his gun-shaped lighter, the clerk sees it, screams and presses the alarm]
Jessica Fletcher: You might also consider giving up, uh, cigarettes.
- SoundtracksMurder She Wrote Theme
Written by John Addison
"Footnote to Murder" is not one of Season 1's best, like "Lovers and Other Killers", "The Murder of Sherlock Holmes", "Paint Me a Murder" and "Murder Takes the Bus", but not one of its lesser ones, such as "Murder to a Jazz Beat", "Deadly Lady", "It's a Dog's Life" and "My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean" which are still not bad episodes at all, far from it (which is testament to how solid Season 1 is).
There is not really much wrong with "Footnote to Murder", it's just missing the extra special something to make it one of the best, occasionally is a little silly (though there are certainly far sillier 'Murder She Wrote' episodes) and lacks suspense. Otherwise, it is a hugely entertaining episode that does a good job showing the dark and less than glamorous side of being an author and being in the publishing industry. Not a new idea, pretty old actually even then, but an interesting one.
It's a good-looking episode as always. Nicely shot and attractive fashions that makes one nostalgic for the 80s period (even to those who weren't even alive yet). The music has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune.
The script is often charming and amiable, while the story has some good conflict and is compelling mostly with a clever final solution that sees a not so common (for the show) case of feeling sorry for the murderer, it's actually the victim one hates from the start.
Angela Lansbury is terrific in one of her best remembered roles one of the roles that is most closely associated with me at any rate), with Robert Reed, Diana Muldaur, Pat Harrington, Morgan Brittany, Talia Balsa and particularly Kenneth Mars having a lot of fun.
Overall, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox
- TheLittleSongbird
- Jul 16, 2017