MURDER, SHE WROTE: THE LAST FLIGHT OF THE DIXIE DAMSEL (TV)
Summary
One in this murder mystery series about an unassuming Maine mystery writer turned sleuth named Jessica B. Fletcher who uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases. In this episode, Jessica is stunned to receive a call from her friend Bonnie explaining that "they found it," the plane out of which her late husband Frank bailed during an ice storm in the Korean War, later being rescued along with his friends from the frozen wilderness. She travels to the Air Force base and meets up with Bonnie and her lieutenant husband Clint, looking for answers about the mysterious recovery, also meeting up with Lee Goddard, the pilot. They are all "interrogated" by the no-nonsense Major Cooper, including Jessica, and they eventually learn that the engineer, Gagliano, thought lost after he bailed out of the plane, was in fact found still in the aircraft, shot in the chest. Cooper vows to find the killer, and Gagliano's cousin Rossi and daughter Sylvia arrive to find answers. General Havermeyer, whose personal belongings were being shipped in the downed plane, calls to say that he will soon be arriving for his things, and Jessica talks to Sylvia, who admits that she hated her deadbeat father and is only there to confirm his death for her own peace of mind. Later, Jessica dines with Goddard and runs into Dressler, the other man on the plane, who offers a few choice racial slurs in reference to both Cooper and Gagliano before revealing that they are to take a polygraph test the next day about the murder.
As Clint undergoes to the test, Bonnie admits that she suspects Dressler, and Jessica agrees, noting that Gagliano and Dressler had a serious fight the night before the fateful flight. Cooper then summons Jessica and Goddard and reveals that all of the men passed the test, implying that Jessica's husband Frank was in fact the killer. She strongly denies the charges, and Goddard vows to fight the claims, refusing to allow it onto Frank's record. Jessica decides that either one of the men beat the test or there was a sixth man aboard the plane and begins to investigate. When she examines the cargo from the plane, she finds holes drilled in the trunk of Havermeyer's expensive car and guesses that the stowaway hid in there while onboard the plane. She inspects Gagliano's personnel file and Sylvia views his body, though she states that she does not want to claim it. Jessica's friends debate her sixth-man theory at the bar, and she questions Dressler again, though he is unhelpful and soon leaves. Outside, he is approached by two men calling him "Sarge," who then stab him and flee. In the hospital, Jessica asks Dressler how the men knew of his military rank when he was dressed as a civilian, suggesting the "mugging" was really related to the Gagliano mystery. He then reveals that Gagliano had been blackmailing Clint after catching him at a brothel, forcing him to let him stay aboard the plane despite his bad behavior.
Clint and Bonnie prepare to leave, as does Rossi, who requests Gagliano's personal effects as a memento for Sylvia. Remembering that Sylvia had no affection for her father, Jessica tells Cooper to search Gagliano's bag, and inside they find a large number of diamonds. Cooper later explains that the so-called "Rossi" had been running a smuggling scam with Gagliano and stowed away on the aircraft, eventually killing him when the deal went bad and later claiming to be his cousin to recover the goods. Cooper apologizes to Jessica for suspecting Frank, and she leaves. She then tells Goddard that Rossi ordered the attack on Dressler because he may have seen him sneaking aboard the aircraft that day and wanted to prevent his remembering. They then depart for the airport together, and Jessica is surprised when Goddard announces his plans for an impromptu trip to Tuscon with her in tow. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: December 18, 1988 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:00:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:33886
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Promos - "A Very Brady Christmas"
CREDITS
- Peter S. Fischer … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
- Robert F. O'Neill … Supervising Producer
- Robert Van Scoyk … Producer
- Anthony J. Magro … Associate Producer
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Vincent McEveety … Director
- David Bell … Music by
- John Addison … Theme Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
- Michael Ansara … Cast, Nicholas Rossi
- Jane Greer … Cast, Bonnie Phelps
- Clifton James … Cast, Ray Dressler
- Martin Milner … Cast, Lt. Clint Phelps
- Richard Roundtree … Cast, Maj. Kevin Cooper
- Robin Strasser … Cast, Sylvia Gagliano
- Efrem Zimbalist Jr. … Cast, Gen. Marcus Havermeyer
- Danny Hassel … Cast, Lt. Gaynes
- Doug Dupuy … Cast, Polygraph Technician
- Mark Costello … Cast, Guard
- Scott Richard Ehredt … Cast, Sergeant
- J. Michael Warren … Cast, Young Officer
- Colleen McDermott … Cast, Young Woman
- Gerry Okuneff … Cast, First Man
- John Newberg … Cast, Young Frank Fletcher