"The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" A Matter of Murder (TV Episode 1964) Poster

(TV Series)

(1964)

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8/10
The Lightest of Black Comedies
arthursranch18 July 2015
This program is well-written, well-paced, and fun from the start. No drama here. Even in grind-'em-out TV, "A Matter of Murder" shows that if the writing and acting are good, inexpensive on-studio-grounds productions can be excellent.

Telly Savalas, Patricia Crowley and Darren McGavin are the lead players, and I liked Marc Rambeau who looked like a star to me. His career and life were short. Likewise for Lee Kinsolving of the same era.

For me, "A Matter of Murder" ages better than most 1950's and 1960's material because Patricia Crowley's character is smart, complete, and even dominant. She isn't the white-glove-wearing housewife that are seen so much in this period (see, for example, Julie Adams in "A Little White Frock").

Have fun.
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7/10
Darren McGavin and Telly Savalas
kevinolzak23 December 2011
"A Matter of Murder" is a black comedy of errors, guest starring Telly Savalas as Philadelphia Harry, leader of a small group of car strippers, who get more than they bargained for when they make off with a car belonging to Sheridan Westcott (Darren McGavin), who has just murdered his shrewish wife and hidden the corpse in the trunk, while checking the nearby lake for the proper depth to dump the body. Not panicking, Westcott tells the police that his wife was in the stolen car, victim of a kidnapping and still alive, while Harry realizes that the best way to get rid of their problem is by installing the stolen vehicle in Westcott's own garage. In cahoots with his wife's pretty young niece (Pat Crowley), Westcott gives the car a makeover before abandoning it on a lonely deserted road, where Harry's gang unwittingly steal it a second time! Forging a ransom note to throw the police off the track, Westcott withstands a search of his home, threatening a possible lawsuit, which might actually succeed unless Harry can find another way to avoid a murder rap. Pat Crowley was best remembered for her starring role in television's PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES, and Darren McGavin, Kolchak himself, was well cast against type as the arrogant killer.
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8/10
An ethical car thief?
planktonrules27 May 2021
When the story begins, as a man is puttering about on a dock, a gang of car thieves quickly steal his Rolls-Royce. But the thieves are in for a surprise...there's a body in the trunk. It seems that the man at the dock (Darren McGavin) was actually figuring out how to sink his wife's body in the lake...as he'd killed her. But the murderer isn't panicked....he decides to use the car theft to his advantage. He actually tells the police information that will lead to the thieves...and then he plans to blame the thieves for the murder. The trail leads to a car thief who is, according to the police, a professional...a man with a conscience. The police cannot believe that Philadelphia Harry (Telly Savalas) would ever physically harm anyone. The rest of the episode essentially is the husband working hard to pin the thieves and the thieves working hard to give the body back....pinning it on the husband.

This is a nice, darkly comic change of pace for the series. Not a brilliant episode but a clever and enjoyable one. My wife, by the way, thought the ending was too vague....though I didn't think so.
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Twisty Road, But Worth Traveling
dougdoepke27 February 2017
You may need a score card to keep up with all the maneuvering. Seems Westcott (McGavin) prefers the adorable Enid (Crowley) to his shrewish wife. So in good Hitchcock fashion, guess who ends up in the trunk of the family car. But that's when the fun starts. Philadelphia Harry (Savalas) and his bumbling crew specialize in stealing cars. So they unknowingly steal the incriminating vehicle before Westcott can get rid of it and the body. Now it's back and forth between the two culprit crews as each tries to stick the other with evidence of murder. And somewhere behind, the cops are trailing.

Solid Hitch—murder, suspense, and irony, all done with a touch of black humor. I like the way it's really glamour girl Enid who does the planning for Westcott. Now there's a switch since cuties are usually just airhead décor. But here she's in low-key charge. However, keep the score card handy since the narrative is both tricky and complex.
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10/10
SPOT ON HITCHCOCK BLACK COMEDY OF ERRORS
tcchelsey20 June 2023
I am sure this little gem was taken from news headlines, somewhere or the other. How many crooks who steal cars end up with something (they don't want) in the trunk?? Of course, if you are a Hitchcock fan, you know that a body has to be in the trunk, and the car in question is a beautiful Rolls Royce! Telly Savalas is perfect, and in a change of pace role, playing a calculating con man who heads a gang of car thieves. Naturally they have their eye on the Rolls, owned by equally crafty Darren McGavin --who just killed his nagging wife and stuffed her neatly in the trunk. Why not? Now what? Good question for both parties and just sit back and watch what happens... Hitch style. I disagree with the last reviewer, as the music score isn't all that bad, and actually is fun to listen to at precisely the right OR wrong moment. You be the judge, but all in all, this is campy fun. Filmed on the Universal western back lot, if it looks familiar. Not that long after this episode a lot of this land would be razed to make way for Universal's Theme Park and City Walk. SEASON 2 EPISODE 23. CBS dvd box set.
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9/10
Really Funny
Hitchcoc21 May 2023
I wish they had showed us the police dragging the lake. This is one of those shows where one door closes and another one opens. Or the last man standing bit. A car is stolen with a woman's body in it. It is a Rolls Royce. Soon several moves and countermoves are played by a man played by Telly Savalas and his youthful associates. They are joyful and dumb. Each group does its best to try to come out on top and not get blamed for the murder. The police are a third entity who try to keep up with the point counterpoint of the principles. They have things figured out but can't really act on their observations.
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6/10
good plot, OK production.
HEFILM24 June 2013
It's pretty much an out and out comedy, not all that funny but the story twists keep it lively and amusing. McGavin and Savalas were, of course, soon to be TV stars in their own right. Both kind of do what you'd expect but the story robs them of any direct conflict which is too bad as it'd be fun to see them react off each other.

Show has a pretty dated and obnoxious 60's comedy music score, that seems to be pieced together from the music library. Does feature a fair amount of on location scenes, including one where you can see that it's raining for real in a scene--this helps keep the show moving.

Savalas gang scenes aren't really convincing, as the dumb stooge guys just aren't very funny. McGavin is more successful in his blustering scenes.

Police elements are treated fairly seriously which seems odd in this context and the ending of the show is too abrupt, the real pay off being left off camera.
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5/10
A Hot Body
kapelusznik1821 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Honest as the day is long car thief Phildelphia Harry, Telly Savalas, and his gang get stuck with this stiff-FeBee Westcott- who was murdered and hidden in the trunk of her murderous husband the slimy Sheriden Westcott, Darren McGavin, car. It was Sheriden and his squeeze or girlfriend Enid Bentley's,Pat Crowley, plan to deep six FeBee in a nearby lake but it was Phildephia Harry and his gang of car thieves, by showing up unexpectedly, that interrupted their plans.

Finding the stiff or body in the trunk after stealing the car P.Harry soon realizes that there was a murder involved which he and his boys if caught would be held responsible for. Playing the distraught husband Sheriden makes like he's looking for his wife but at the same time tries to recover her body by tracking down where P.Harry hid the car and ,by cremating it, destroying the evidence of his crime. It's the police who feel that FeBee is dead and her body was dumped in the nearby lake and plan to have it dredged which is just fine with Sheriden and Enid who know that it's not there and would let them get away with their crime; But P.Harry has different ideas.

****SPOILERS**** Shjeriden & Enid's plan backfires or boomerangs on them with P.Harry and his boys recovering FeBee's body and putting it where the police can find it. And together with the body is all the evidence that the police or courts would need to convict the two murderers. It was car thief P.Harry by being honest and exonerating himself of FeBee's murder that brought the truth, or FeBee's body, to the surface in this at first kidnap and later murder case.
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5/10
"You build up a decent reputation - pow!"
classicsoncall11 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I guess my problem is that I was viewing this episode as if it was supposed to be a serious drama, when all the while the Hitchcock gang was spoofing the audience with the most non-sensical stuff to keep this story going. Otherwise, it would have been even dumber than the program that aired two weeks prior back in 1964, "Anyone For Murder?" For one thing, how was it Sheridan Westcott (Darren McGavin) accurately described Philadelphia Harry (Telly Savalas) to the authorities as having stolen his car at the beginning of the story, when Harry wasn't even there? Without knowing for sure that Harry's gang was behind the car theft, Enid Bentley (Pat Crowley) suggests writing a ransom note on Harry's behalf for the return of Westcott's (dead) wife. Westcott just so happens to have the equipment in his home garage to paint his car over after Harry's gang bring it back to his house! Harry pays a guy named Lopez (Lewis Charle) a hundred bucks to get rid of the eighteen-thousand-dollar Rolls-Royce when they could have done it themselves??!! To my mind, if the writers intended a screwball comedy, they should have put a little more thought into it and come up with something that made a little more sense. As it is, even Hitchcock couldn't offer any words of advice in his closing monolog the way he usually would to explain what happened to the guilty party.
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