Brett Bayne Full disclosure: I am a fan of the Travis McGee novels, so that can't help but factor into my appraisal of this picture. The original novel was taut, suspenseful and intricately plotted. The movie version shoehorns, shorthands and simplifies virtually every aspect of the story, further burdening it with an inferior script and some of the worst acting I've ever seen on screen. The horrible direction is about as laughable as the embarrassingly dated musical score. Honestly, it's difficult to imagine a time when this could have been viewed and honestly enjoyed by anybody, having been so awkwardly put together. Reading the Travis McGee novels, you have a certain expectation of what our hero might look like brought to life -- a Tom Selleck sort, perhaps, or Sam Elliot (who played Trav on TV). But...Rod Taylor? Was Lloyd Bridges unavailable or something? There's a wholly unnecessary cameo by Jane Russell playing someone named Alabama Tigress, who is not a character in the novel and who, in the movie, is relegated to shouting her lines from one idling boat to another. The movie is COMPLETE trash, poorly conceived and missing so much of plot, characterization and nuance of the novel that anybody who wasn't already familiar with the story would never be able to make sense of this confusing and wretched mess. (It will be interesting to see what future filmmakers will do with Travis McGee, but Leonardo DiCaprio is no fan's idea of McGee, so I predict fans will accept him in the way Jack Reacher fans accepted Tom Cruise in the role.)

gwnichol Suzi Kendall as Vangie was the only misstep in this film.As a long time Travis McGee fan I thought this film was close to perfect a representation of McDonald's work as you will ever see. The "Empty Copper Sea" T.V movie was the worst piece of dreck I've ever seen.Too bad this movie wasn't more successful at the box office. It received good reviews when released but I guess McDonald didn't have enough McGee fans to make this series viable. I can't think of any contemporary actors that could be cast as well as these actors were. I have a Dutch copy of the film with subtitles but unfortunately it is pan and scan and not the best quality.

flynn1066 I've never read any of the novels by MacDonald so I can't comment on book to film accuracy.On the other hand,I'm a huge fan of both Rod Taylor and William Smith.It took me almost ten years to get my mitts on a copy of this manly movie masterpiece.It's got some foreign subtitles on it but who cares,this movie's climactic brawl lived up to every bit of it's hype.No goofy chop sockey stuff just good old fashioned, beat the living hell outta the other guy moves.Taylor and Smith use every thing but the kitchen sink on each other.It's true that the only movie fights that come close are From Russia With Love (who doesn't love seeing two football hooligans like Connery and Shaw trying to kill each other but I digress) and the final throwdown between Rod Taylor and Peter Carsten in Dark Of The Sun.This movie is a holy grail for manly movie fans but all the way worth it.Let's hope it finds it's way to DVD in it's pure,unedited form soon,hopefully with commentary by Taylor and Smith.

shepardjessica This "Tough as nails" John MacDonald novel was filmed at the perfect time in American Film History. Rod Taylor (an Aussie) who starred in many American films (as well as high support in GIANT and others) plays Travis MaGee, the lead, with the beautiful, intelligent and TALENTED Suzy Kendall (who nobody I know ever heard of), even though she was in TO SIR WITH LOVE and had a "Julie Christie" kind of appeal in the Kingdom in the 1960's and 70's AND was married to Dudley Moore (ARTHUR) AFTER Tuesday Weld wss married to him. ANyway, Theo Bikel is great - this is like an old Bogie or John Garfield film from the 40's or 50's about corruption and honest, tough private eyes who AREN'T James Bond or TV private eyes who wait for Inger Stevens to save them.Well-done, tough MacDonald story (well cast) and I'm not even sure if it's on Vid OR DVD. Check it out.