The Corpse Had a Familiar Face

Elizabeth Montgomery IS Edna Buchanan in this TV-movie based on Ms. Buchanan's book of the same name and her career as a Miami Herald reporter. Lee Horsley's daughter is missing, but after months of headlines and people talking about it with nothing new, it becomes old news. But Edna still goes after her story and she still cares, if no one else does. Dennis Farina, who has always been charming, charismatic and being just plain cool in everything he does, is a cop, who finds Edna attractive. All the elements are letter-perfect and fall into place. The mood, the music, the laid-back acting - they all capture Miami in motion and happening. She opens the film with the narrative that tourists come and go, but the true native is a proud native. It's a shame she didn't get to make more of these Edna movies, as they would have been a perfect fit for her and they were very entertaining. She would make only one more ("Deadline for Murder" without Dennis Farina.) Her premature death makes viewing this a little sad, but all the whole the movie itself is so enjoyable. Audra Lindley as her mother and Yaphet Kotto as the cop she pesters for the story help to make this a good time with Elizabeth Montgomery.