MovieChat Forums > They Only Kill Their Masters (1973) Discussion > So So 1970's thriller...

So So 1970's thriller...

posted 14 years ago by hannahp1
7 replies | jump to latest

James Garner was the real reason to watch this-he's great! Otherwise run of the mill thriller that was full of plot holes but still kind of fun to watch. Katherine Ross looked like she did not know what she was doing in this film-maybe she was stoned-although she has the same glaze she always does in all of her movies especially The Legacy and Stepford Wives.

I think the stupidest thing that happened was when one person gets shot and James Garner says he did not do anything to the other police officer that shot him when he just tried to kill him!

Still okay watch for slow Sunday afternoon.

5 out of 10.

[–] WarpedRecord 13 years ago

I liked this a bit more than you did, but I found it rather underwhelming despite the strong start. This felt more like an episode of a TV cop show, specifically "The Rockford Files," rather than a theatrical film. James Garner was good, but the highly of the film was Murphy the Doberman (they don't use "pinscher" anymore). Too bad his connection to the plot is tenuous. 7/10 stars from me.

[–] breathOair 10 years ago

Murphy the Doberman was CENTRAL to the plot. He was the star witness and provided the clues that led to the Vet. Watch the film again, and you'll notice that he did react to several things that Abel Marsh misses. Specifically, in the "Tit for Tat" humorous scene, Murphy reacts to watching the second cop lick an envelope. Clearly, the intent was to signify that he had watched people partying and rolling joints, and he was familiar with people falling down laughing. It was supposed to be another set of clues, but standards and practices didn't want to promote drug use, so the scene was left in, but the discussion of what it meant was cut.
PS: This is the third of three movies that featured Dobermans in the early 1970s. The other two were B-pictures called "Those Daring Dobermans" and "The Doberman Gang". Someone clearly thought they were more of a draw than they were, but some animal trainer made a lot of dough on these few pictures!

[–] Devans00 10 years ago

To me, the best part of the movie was all the characters. Like Ernie from the diner and the woman secretary who worked in the police station. Makes you realize how bland and/or over the top most character actors are these days.

No two persons ever watch the same movie.

[–] breathOair 10 years ago

Agreed! I think this was supposed to be a pilot for a continuing series based in "Eden Place", where beneath the surface of this sleepy Californian coastal town were episodic crimes mixed with a bunch of human drama. Sort of an updating of Mayberry RFD....and the concept was finally successful as "Pickett Fences" in a couple of decades later!
I think the sprinkled all these colorful character actors throughout the film to create a supporting cast for future episodes, but instead, Garner went with the cheaper to produce formula of private eye Jim Rockford, which began about this time.

[–] MoneyMagnet 9 years ago

That's interesting about the idea for this spawning a TV series - because the town was pretty much the only thing about the movie I liked (that, and Garner's world-weary, irritated performance - definitely not Jim Rockford!) Certainly the plot was nothing to write home about...

Just to be clear, I don't think this film had any creative connection with The Rockford Files at all, which if I'm not mistaken, was born from a failed TV series called Toma.

[–] breathOair 10 years ago

Abel Marsh's statement that "he didn't do anything" is correct. The Vet did NOT kill nor attempt to kill anyone. He had several opportunities to kill Abel BUT DID NOT. As a vet, he knew the amount he had injected Marsh with would not kill him, but put him to sleep... he drugged him to get away. When Marsh runs the Vet off the road, the Vet clearly does not pick up the wood to beat him...nor does he take Marsh's gun and shoot him... instead, he just uses it for traction to get underway again back to his wife.
Marsh was trying to argue with Daniel the County Sheriff that the Vet wasn't the killer... he had killed no one, as he protested within the house... he just went around cleaning up and protecting his wife of many years. She murdered the Campbells, she attempted to stab Abel, she set the fire, and she was the deranged one. Note how the film keeps repeating the phrase, "They turn on their master". We see two instances of this in human behavior. Abel turned on Kate when he suspects her of being the other woman.... and in the final arrest, we see Mrs. Watson, sad and weepy over her husband's dead body lamenting that "she couldn't just let us be...first it was we two, then three, and then more..." She says, "She was the Bitch".... but as she is put into the car, Mrs. Watson turns on Abel and snarles, "You're so smart, you figure it out," when he asks her where they have hidden her car. This was an example of how quick she was too anger and lash-out. "The Turn on you...." It's a subtext of criminal activity behind the sleepy exterior of the small resort town. That's why I think this was a pilot for a continuing series like Rockford Files, but lost out to the more simple formula and smaller cast.

[–] Jones70 (6195) 2 years ago

I'll have to watch this sometime.