Touches You

That was an excellent one.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Not having known of this movie's existence until reading about John D. MacDonald when IMDb'ing "Cape Fear", I was delighted to find out that there was a movie made from his Travis McGee series. It was hard to find (had to procure from one of those "hard-to-find video" businesses), but, like the others here who have seen it, was glad to have seen a cinematic portrayal of Trav. I too think Rod Taylor did a good job in portraying Trav, as well as Theodore Bikel in portraying Meyer. I was mildly disappointed in some of the changes made from the book to the movie. It seems as if some screenwriters think that they MUST make some changes, JUST for the sake of making changes. Some I can understand: for example,the book's "Ans Terry" to the movie's "Terry Bartlett" is easier to hear. But WHY the "Alabama Tigress"? Why couldn't they left the book's "Alabama Tiger"? Also, Vangie shouldn't have been portrayed as a blonde, because her ethnic heritage is where the title "Darker than Amber" came from; it was Trav's comment on the color of her eyes. There was no tie in the movie to the title at all. However, all that being said, as a big fan of the Travis McGee series, who re-reads them every few years, I would recommend this to all other McGee fans.

I saw Darker Than Amber 34 years ago, and it made an indelible impression on me. Perhaps it was because the realistic fast paced action and suspense, which is commonplace today, was a breakthrough at the time. I would compare it with some of the action scenes in Steve McQueen's Bullitt. I was reading John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels long before this movie came out, and being a Rod Taylor fan, this was the icing on the cake for me. Taylor brought McGee to life, a no nonsense, tough as nails guy, a Bond without the gadgets and gimmicks. I certainly wish the Production Company/Distributors would put it out on DVD, so everyone else could enjoy it. It could most assuredly become a cult classic.

This "Tough as nails" John MacDonald novel was filmed at the perfect time in American Film History. Rod Taylor (an Aussie) who starred in many American films (as well as high support in GIANT and others) plays Travis MaGee, the lead, with the beautiful, intelligent and TALENTED Suzy Kendall (who nobody I know ever heard of), even though she was in TO SIR WITH LOVE and had a "Julie Christie" kind of appeal in the Kingdom in the 1960's and 70's AND was married to Dudley Moore (ARTHUR) AFTER Tuesday Weld wss married to him. ANyway, Theo Bikel is great - this is like an old Bogie or John Garfield film from the 40's or 50's about corruption and honest, tough private eyes who AREN'T James Bond or TV private eyes who wait for Inger Stevens to save them.Well-done, tough MacDonald story (well cast) and I'm not even sure if it's on Vid OR DVD. Check it out.

A great detective film. The usually underrated Rod Taylor gives a gripping performance, holding his own against scene stealer William Smith. The ending features one of the greatest fight scenes ever filmed involving ,basically, only two men. I was not too framiliar with Travis McGee before this film but have since become a fan. And Suzy Kendall is always fun to look at