MURDER, SHE WROTE: DEAD EYE (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, in 1963, several men at a bar watch a news report about Jack Ruby’s televised murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of President Kennedy. In the parking lot, two men meet and one demands money in exchange for some photograph negatives, but then tries to flee and is shot dead. In present day, in Miami, Jessica arrives at a hotel to give a mystery seminar, and sees a story in the paper about the discovery of the skeleton of a detective, Bernie Callan, who went missing in 1963. In Chicago, Garrett receives a threatening phone call from his bookie, but when he sees the same newspaper story, tells the man that he will have his money soon. He journeys to Florida and goes to the police, saying that the dead man owed him $3,000 plus interest, but the chief, Gillis, reveals that Callan was likely murdered, meaning that the money found in Callan’s possession is evidence and Garrett is a suspect. When he returns to his motel, he finds a man attempting to plant a “bug,” and he gets away after a brief fight. At the hotel, Jessica observes a ransacked room belonging to Laura, Callen’s daughter, who is investigating his death. When Laura learns that she is the famous Jessica Fletcher, she tells her about the case, saying that it must have been a random killing, as her father had no enemies.
Gillis questions Laura about her father, who says that he was very loving. He then admits that he dislikes Jessica’s books, finding them “too messy,” but Jessica says she is only there for moral support. Garrett arrives, having been arrested for the brawl, and Gillis notes his infamously bad reputation. Jessica and Laura go with him to lunch, however, and Laura shows them some photos that her father sent to his mother for safekeeping right before his disappearance, adding that his office burned down shortly thereafter. When they look at them, Jessica realizes that the pictures are of a famous mobster, Santo Angelini, standing with Lee Harvey Oswald himself. They quickly inform FBI Agent Whitman, assuming that whoever searched Laura’s room knows about the photos. They soon find that Laura’s safe has been broken into and the photos stolen, and the report comes back on Callan’s remains, confirming that he was murdered right around the time of the assassination. A history professor, Dr. Farrow, arrives and asks to be “a fly on the wall” for the proceedings. Jessica guesses that Callan may have been using the photos to blackmail Angelini, who then killed him and burned down his office, an idea which disturbs Laura. Elsewhere, Angelini meets with his associate, Hemet, and tells him that he needs to recover the negatives as well. Whitman reveals that Callan never contacted them, which supports the blackmail idea, and Jessica demands to know Angelini’s whereabouts. He tells her not to “rewrite history,” but she insists that everything is connected.
Jessica then realizes that they are being followed by Hemet and confronts him, but he makes a quick getaway. She then realizes that her room too has been searched. Laura tells Garrett about her father’s possible extortion of Angelini, and he apologizes for getting involved. Later, Hemet meets with an unseen figure and agrees to sell the negatives to Angelini for a high price, but he is then shot. When Laura and Jessica hear about his death, they suspect that he was involved from the beginning and call Whitman. Gillis denies that Hemet could have been involved, but they look into his past and discover that he resigned from the Dallas police force right before the assassination because of alleged involvement with organized crime, meaning Angelini. Jessica suggests that they run a ballistics test to see if the same gun killed Hemet and Callan. She then goes to see Angelini and reveals that they know about his involvement with Oswald, but he scoffs at the idea that anything can be done about it. Dr. Farrow warns Jessica about the “potential consequences” of her involvement with the case, but she counters that she knows that he is soon to release a book that supports the Warren Commission’s findings, and forces him to admit that he was in Kennedy’s motorcade and changed his story about what he observed. She is then surprised to receive the negatives in the mail, and Garrett arrives and explains that he had them for many years without noticing Oswald and only put the pieces together after the discovery of Callan’s body. Just then, they receive a phone call from Laura, who has been captured by Angelini, to come meet her and bring the negatives, and Jessica realizes that their room was bugged. Garrett and Jessica attempt to take down Angelini at the pier when they meet, but he escapes and Laura and the negatives are thrown into the water. They realize that they cannot now prove Angelini’s involvement with Oswald, but Jessica reveals that it was Laura who killed Hemet, which she then proves through several shrewd observations. Laura admits it, saying she convinced him that she hated her father and shot him with his own gun when he confessed to killing Callan. Before she is taken into custody, she allows Garrett to keep her father’s money. They then learn that Angelini was killed in a suspicious car accident, suggesting that the conspiracy continues. Garrett apologizes for sending Jessica the dangerous negatives and admits he should have figured it all out sooner, and they agree that the mystery of JFK’s death endures. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: CBS
- DATE: February 7, 1993 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:47:20
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:46401
- GENRE: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, mystery/suspense
- SERIES RUN: CBS - TV series, 1984-1996
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Angela Lansbury … Executive Producer
- Al Kraus … Coordinating Producer
- Bruce Lansbury … Supervising Producer
- Mark A. Burley … Supervising Producer
- Tom Sawyer … Producer, Writer
- Todd London … Co-Producer
- Peter S. Fischer … Created by
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Jerry Jameson … Director
- Steve Dorff … Music by
- John Addison … Theme Music by
- Angela Lansbury … Cast, Jessica Fletcher
- Lonny Chapman … Cast, Frank Hemet
- Julian Christopher … Cast, FBI Agent James Whitman
- Ben Masters … Cast, Police Chief Herman Gillis
- Stewart Moss … Cast, Dr. Abner Farrow
- Linda Purl … Cast, Laura Callan
- Wayne Rogers … Cast, Charlie Garrett
- Al Ruscio … Cast, Santo Angelini
- John Petlock … Cast, Michael
- Webster Williams … Cast, Hal Fredericks
- Kevin Quigley … Cast, Bernie Callan
- Tom Alan Robbins … Cast, Assistant Manager
- Jason Stuart … Cast, Motel Manager
- Dennis Paladino … Cast, Bartender
- Martin Goslins … Cast, Houseman