Darker than Amber

John D. McDonald was not altogether pleased with what Hollywood did to his novel Darker Than Amber, but audiences were generally satisfied. Private eye Travis McGee (Rod Taylor) and his cohort Meyer (Theodore Bikel) rescue the beautiful Vangie (Suzy Kendall) from drowning. Vangie has been targetted for death by a couple of disreputable types who, as it turns out, were her former partners in crime. When Vangie is murdered, McGee hires a lookalike (also played by Suzy Kendall) to corner the killers. As is usually the case in the ouevre of John D. McDonald, nothing is quite what it appears to be on surface. Jane Russell, reemerging from one of her period retirements, is fun to watch as "Alabama Tiger". Current prints of the R-rated Darker Than Amber have been modified to qualify for a "PG."