The would-be producer of the movie adaptation of Jessica's latest book dies.The would-be producer of the movie adaptation of Jessica's latest book dies.The would-be producer of the movie adaptation of Jessica's latest book dies.
Photos
- Caroline Pryce
- (as Lar Park Lincoln)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJessica investigates a murder on the set of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). In the opening credits there is a burst of the theme tune from Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955) and a man that looks like Hitchcock crosses the street. This is a nod to the cameos that Hitchcock made in most of his films.
- GoofsWhen Jessica looks out of the Bates house's kitchen window she sees the motel below. The kitchen is at the back of the house and faces away from the motel.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Ben Miller: So what do you think about this place now? I was right, wasn't I? Of all the places for a murder to take place, it would happen here.
Jessica Fletcher: I disagree. Pain, anger, murder, they have no borders, no geography. What happened here was simply another chapter in the sad tragedy of human affairs. I mean, it could've happened anywhere. No, Ben, there's nothing wrong with that house. It isn't evil or strange. It's just a set.
Ben Miller: Maybe so.
Jessica Fletcher: [noticing curtains move] Ben, is- is anyone supposed to be inside there?
Ben Miller: No. We locked it up good and tight. Why?
Jessica Fletcher: Never mind.
- ConnectionsFeatures Psycho (1960)
- SoundtracksMurder She Wrote Theme
Written by John Addison
When Universal Studios, in Hollywood, California, sets to adapt the non-fiction novel "Messengers of Midnight" to the screen, they welcome its author, Jessica "J.B." Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to tour the facility.
Jessica meets Production Head Ben Miller (Stuart Whitman) on the lot before Secretary Caroline Pryce (Lar Park-Lincoln) ushers her to a meeting with self-serving Producer Darryl Heyward (Ron Leibman), his Agent Willy Montego (Jackie Gayle), and Screenwriter John Cavershaw (Daniel Bardol), who plans to embellish the script with automobile chases and fact changes, to Jessica's objections, until she convinces him otherwise.
Actress Leonora Holt (Paula Prentiss) is cast to play the role patterned after J.B. Fletcher and, therefore, requests plenty of time with Jessica to capture her character and mannerisms, sprinkling a few clichés along the way, to Jessica's surprise. Leonora demands of Darryl that he not hire the unseen actor Kevin Mason to co-star opposite her, but Darryl goes behind her back after promising to respect Leonora's wishes.
Monica Chase (Michelle Johnson), a woman whom Darryl has been seeing during his unexplained absences from the studio, has been given favors for her husband's benefit in exchange for seeing Darryl, but now that Darryl dumps her, Monica seeks revenge.
Oliver Thissle (Henry Gibson) sneaks onto the Universal Studios lot via a plant nursery truck, and into the Bates Hotel (the setting of the 1960 Hitchcock Thriller "Psycho") building atop a hill on Lot 7, before Ben Miller gives Jessica a tour of its exterior premises. He later sneaks into Leonora's office, drawing a prop pistol.
But after Darryl returns from ditching Monica, he returns to the Studios to fire Willy Montego, in the commissary, and to usurp Ben Miller's position as Head of Productions, on a sound stage.
When Jessica returns to enter the Bates Hotel, to discover a body in a pool of blood, Lieutenant Hanrahan (Ron Glass) is summoned to investigate this "Incident in Lot 7."
The cast is rounded out by Police Woman (Christina Rich) and T.V. Anchorman (Larry Carroll), who also broadcasts by the name "Larry" as he reports the murder in Tinseltown, customary to his acting forte.
- WeatherViolet
- Oct 31, 2009
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Psycho House, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA(The entire episode is centered on the house & the Hitchcock film)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro