Review of Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan

A mob member, his moll and the person called to tow them, after their car breaks down are killed in this entry of the Edna Buchanan mystery movie series, which would be the last Elizabeth Montgomery would make as Miami Herald reporter Edna Buchanan. The plot is very intricate and involving, making this very entertaining and fast- paced. By the end, you'll be very impressed with its intelligence and its ambitiousness for such a multi-layered story. (You do notice something rather strange right off, if you're very observant, as the murders are taking place.) The only thing really found lacking in the movie compared to "The Corpse Had a Familiar face" is that Dennis Farina is nowhere to be found. Without him it does lack a certain pep, but Ms. Montgomery still delivers a good performance with that usual twinkle in her eye. This was her last TV movie she would complete. In fact, during the making of this, she ignored what she thought was the flu, or just a cold, to finish filming it, and by the time she went to the doctor, her colon cancer had already progressed too much to do anything about it. I wish I could review this without getting into that, but it is part of her story and very relevant to this movie. Watching this may make you sentimental for her "Samantha" and "Bewitched," but her long career of TV-movies trying to break that clean image made her the Queen of the TV-Movies in the 1970-1990s and this is a great example of why she remains a favorite of many today.