Travis Mc Gee *** (1983, Sam Elliott, Richard Farnsworth, Gene Evans, Barry Corbin, Geoffrey Lewis, Amy Madigan, Vera Miles, Katharine Ross, Marshall R Teague) – Classic Movie Review 14,018

Sam Elliott stars as Travis McGee, who investigates the apparent drowning of Hub Lawless in a boating accident, but his $2 million insurance policy suggests he may have faked his death.

Director Andrew V McLaglen’s 1983 American TV movie Travis McGee is written by Stirling Silliphant, based on the 1978 novel The Empty Copper Sea by John D MacDonald, the 17th novel in the Travis McGee series by John D MacDonald.

It is the second film adaptation of the Travis McGee series, following Darket than Amber.

It is made by Warner Bros Television, clearly as a pilot for a TV series that didn’t happen, and first shown on ABC in America on May 18, 1983.

Sam Elliott stars as cynical unofficial private investigator Travis McGee, who is called on by his sailor friend Van Harder (Richard Farnsworth) to save his reputation and to determine if a missing man is really dead. This leads McGee to look into the apparent drowning of Hub Lawless in a boating accident when an apparently drunk Van Harder was steering the boat. Hub Lawless’s $2 million insurance policy leads some to believe he has faked his own death but his ‘widow’ Julie Lawless believes he is well dead and that she herself was the only person who wanted him dead.

Sam Elliott takes a good shot at the character and keeps the film entertaining. Some of Stirling Silliphant’s script is tremendous, some not so much. Re-locating the book’s setting to California and changing the houseboat The Busted Flush into a sailing boat are key mistakes, but not terribly damaging. California and the sailing boat have their own charms, but they are not the charms of the novel. The flavour of the novel and of John D MacDonald is here but it’s askew.

Gene Evans is good as McGee’s old buddy Meyer. It would all be very gay if Elliott and Evans weren’t playing it. Special guest star Katharine Ross has a lot to do as Gretel Howard and does it capably, even if she’s stuck with merely being McGee’s love interest. Vera Miles doesn’t have enough to do as the supposedly dead man’s disappointed widow Julie Lawless, but brings cynical allure. Barry Corbin is excellent as the none too nice, but then too nasty either Sheriff Hack Ames. The fine actor Richard Farnsworth has way too little to do, though compelling, and all at the start, as the guy who sets the plot off by hiring a reluctant and uninterested McGee. They could have given him a nice little scene at the end, couldn’t they? There’s too much of Geoffrey Lewis as Gretel’s troubled brother John Tuckerman. Amy Madigan as the pianist/ singer Billy Jean Bailey (more lovey dovey) and Marshall R. Teague as Nicky Noyes seem to be struggling along. plodding along anyway.

Something’s lacking. Something’s missing. It’s hard to say what. It’s a reasonable attempt but it needs more, and then still more, and maybe some more. Don’t go looking for a surprising twist ending. It’s not that kind of story. It unravels inevitably not surprisingly. It’s all a bit downbeat and sad, tragic even, offering few actual excitements, and little action, just a couple of punchups, that’s about all. But, hey, it’s a mystery movie, and there is plenty of murky mystery .

Maybe it’s the TV movie problem, expecting too much from an Eighties telefilm. That said, it’s entirely watchable, quite enjoyable. and mainly thanks to John D MacDonald’s plotting, characters and dialogue, and Sam Elliott’s manly performance, a real tough guy, even if that incredible monument of a moustache gets in the way of taking him entirely seriously.

There were obviously script problems. Elliot disliked Stirling Silliphant’s script, so Alan Sharp was hired, then a couple more writers, and then Kenneth Johnson. Elliot recalled: ‘Eventually, we went back to the Silliphant script and filmed that, with a few additions from the Sharp script. I just decided to do the best I could, but to do it.’

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 14,018

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