The Man in the Brown Suit (1989)

Crappy film

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

***SPOILERS*** Much too confusing and complicated in watching the first time around movie that has to do with diamond smugglers globe hopping operation from Africa to Europe to South America with this man in a brown suit Harry Lucas, Simon Dutton,having something to do with all this mysterious goings on. It's Lucas who was spotted by American tourist Anne Beddingfeld, Stephanie Zimbalist,in Cairo Egypt at the airport where she witnessed a fatal car accident. It' turns out that the person who tried to come to the accident victim's aid was non other then Harry Lucas who after going through his jacket suddenly checked out of sight. Playing detective Anne soon runs into all kinds of troubles where she ends up on a ocean cruise to Africa and then is kidnapped and threatened with death by the Colonel, the mystery man in the movie, as well as ends up exposing a major diamond smuggling ring run out of South America with white South African hoods.It's Anne together with her dizzy friend Suzy Blair, Rue McClanahan, as well as Lucas who track down who's behind this smuggle ring-The Colonel-but only after a number of member of the cast end up getting murdered by him and one of his henchman Rev. Edward Chichester played by Tony Randall in a Doctor Strangelove-paying three different people-type role. As for Anne herself she escapes to murder attempts herself one on the cruise boat and another on land when the killer, The Rev- rolled a one ton bolder in her direction that had her fall almost to her death down a waterfall. ****SPOILERS****We also have the CIA involved in all this in that one of the characters in the film and the person who everyone thinks is the Colonel is working for the agency and uses both Anne and Lucas to expose the smuggler as well as killer. The not so unpredictable ending has to killer blow his cover in feeling he'll never get caught only to have the wool or rug pulled from under him and leave him, by losing his firearm, in a helpless situation. As for Anne and Lucas, who's really an English Barron, they decide to get married with Suzy, who been married six times before, taking off with the CIA agent who developed the hots for Suzy the moment he first saw her!

This is one of the few Agatha Christie novels that I have not read so I am not in a position to say how faithful or otherwise this adaptation is. It's a fast moving TV movie starring many famous TV faces of the time (late eighties). Although a thriller, the emphasis is mainly on comedy with Stephanie Zimbalist very likable and endearing as 'girl in search of adventure' Anne Beddingfield. She has a suitably square jawed, handsome hero to team up with in Simon Dutton and is surrounded by an assortment of rather two dimensional 'suspects' including Edward Woodward being VERY English and Rue McClanahan being VERY Southern and basically replaying Blanche from 'The Golden Girls'. Tony Randall shows that he is definitely NOT a master of disguise and there is a very funny episode towards the end when the ladies 'fail to recognise him'. There are a few moments like this (Anne escaping from the worst cell ever, the prat-fall over the edge of the waterfall etc) which one is never quite sure if they are meant to be funny or not.On the whole this is quite enjoyable fluff but I must now read the novel which I believe is a far superior tale.

This movie definitely reinforces my policy of watching a movie before reading the book that it is based on. This movie is fine if you watch it and then read the book, almost like a warm up for the actual story. Rue McClanahan and Edward Woodward save this movie! Without their believable quirkiness so much of this movie would have been both over the top and silly. They keep it moving in the right direction when at times it can feel like it's trying to veer off course a little. The book itself is Wonderful! One of my favorites of Agatha Christie's. But I don't know if my review of the movie would have been as favorable if I'd gotten my hands on the book first.

MOST PROBABLY CONTAINS *SPOILERS*STARRING Stephanie Zimbalist, Edward Woodward, Tony Randall, Rue McClanahan, Ken Howard, Simon Dutton, Nickolas Grace, María CasalI must start by saying that I have loved Agatha Christie's works for as long as I can remember. As a teenager I spent ages (and a berluddy fortune) tracking down her books at book exchanges and book fairs, and was always there with a tape in the VCR to record any Agatha Christie movie that came on TV.Every Christie-phile worth their weight in doughnuts absolutely loves the Christie film classics: You know, Murder on the Orient Express; Death on the Nile; The Mirror Crack'd; Evil Under the Sun. David Suchet's Poirot series (though plodding at times) has proven very popular, as has Joan Hickson's wrinkly Miss Marple series. And there is of course an audience for the lesser Christies: The TV-movie adaptations, for example, Dead Man's Folly; Sparkling Cyanide; Murder in Three Acts; and, The Man in the Brown Suit - the subject of this review.While not the best Christie film, and by no means the most colourful, The Man in the Brown Suit makes for pretty good TV-movie fodder, with a fairly engaging plot, decent enough production values, and interesting African locales. What really makes this TV-movie watchable is the fantastic cast of actors. And, I mean, who really gives two hoots that most of them are TV Land Staples. Witness ... if you dare: Stephanie "Remington Steele" Zimbalist; Edward "The Equalizer" Woodward; Tony "The Odd Couple" Randall; Rue "The Golden Girls" McClanahan; Ken "Dynasty" Howard; Simon "The Saint" Dutton; Nickolas "Robin of Sherwood" Grace. Phew!American actress Zimbalist plays lead character Anne Beddingfield (an Englishwoman in the book, by the way) as a kind of tough, adventurous and resourceful heroine in a nod to the Indiana Jones series, and is ably supported by Suzy Blair, played by McClanahan (who doesn't seem to mind playing her Golden Girls character, Blanche - Or maybe she was forced at gunpoint to do just that??). Dutton plays man-on-the-run Harry Lucas, a handsome Brit who possesses not only some important information, but a secret hankering for some down-and-dirty time with foxy Anne. Woodward has a ball (and I do mean a ball) playing crook Sir Eustace Pedler, and Tony Randall amuses as the fumbling, bumbling, and mumbling Pedler henchman/chameleon.What's hilarious is that throughout the movie the characters keep running into each other, like, Africa's the equivalent of some small town, you know, where bumping into one's neighbors is a sure bet.And finally, no review of The Man in the Brown Suit would be complete unless it included comment on that zingy little Spanish starlet María Casal, who plays bad girl with matching bad haircut, Anita. Casal's Anita spends most of her screen time writhing around in the back of a beatup taxi staring at a scrap of paper with some ridiculous code scribbled on it, all the while beaming from ear to ear like some grinning idiot! Now that's what I call acting! Pity she gets blown away by bad guy Pedler moments later. That'll teach her not to wear her seatbelt!SEE IT OR ELSE!