Murder 101 (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews

Nifty Whodunit

[Lechuguilla · 7/10 · 14 March 2005]

Pierce Brosnan plays Charles Lattimore, a crime writer/college lecturer who assigns his students the task of writing the perfect crime. Shortly thereafter, one of the students is found murdered, and Lattimore becomes the main suspect.

The film's underlying premise is fine. The main problem here is that the film has a fairly high "fluff" factor. Its elemental, no frills screenplay, perhaps the result of budget constraints as a TV movie, makes the film seem shallow, too casual, and of low import. There is nothing wrong with fluff films, as they can be very entertaining. But some viewers dismiss them as unworthy of attention. In addition to having a plain vanilla screenplay, "Murder 101" contains some creative humor at the end, which further amplifies its fluff quotient. The result is that some viewers perceive the film as a spoof, or satire, of the murder mystery genre.

But I found "Murder 101" to be a viable whodunit puzzle worthy of my time to try and solve. The plot does contain a few flaws, but they do not detract from the overall effect. Clues to the identity of the killer are very subtle, as one would expect in a good whodunit. One seemingly irrelevant scene is actually a major clue to the killer's motive.

Viewers looking for razzle-dazzle special effects, innovative cinematography, fabulous costumes or set design, or unusual cinematic gimmicks will need to go elsewhere. What "Murder 101" offers is a basic, but nifty, whodunit puzzle. It will take all of your analytic skills and cunning to figure out the correct solution. And, if you're like me, you will really like that exit scene with actress Dey Young. It's a nice final touch.

Fitting title for a useful movie.

[NolanSorrento · 7/10 · 15 December 2000]

This is probably one of the coolest made for TV suspense movies I've ever seen. The movie walks you through the whole formula on how to do a suspense/murder movie and even with all this knowledge you still get surprised on who the actual killer is, even though all the answers are being handed to you in a step-by-step formula. I really recommend this movie to anybody who has a friend that your always stuck having to explain Usual Suspects to.

Good TV movie

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 5 April 2008]

After Remington Steele ended, Pierce Brosnan made some big miniseries and a couple of very good movies for television. In the two that I've seen, he plays a college professor - he's a woman's perfect fantasy of one for sure, plus his accent makes him sound erudite.

In this movie, "Murder 101," he's Professor Charles Lattimore, teaching students to write a murder story while he tries to reconcile with his ex-wife, who caught him cheating with one of his students. When a beautiful member of his current class is murdered, Lattimore finds himself a prime suspect. He has to find out who's framing him - and there is more than one possibility and more than one murder to complicate the situation.

"Murder 101" has a few twists in it and makes for an above-average experience. If you like it, try to see the TV movie where Brosnan plays an English professor, "Victim of Love," which costars JoBeth Williams and Virginia Madsen. Both films make for good suspense and good viewing.

An above average thriller

[MIKE-WILSON6 · 19 August 2002]

Pierce Brosnan is one of the few actors that can move from role to

role with ease. He has never been restricted by the James Bond

role. From the volcano expert in Dante's Peak, to Mrs Doubtfire,

and the Russian spy who fights Michael Caine in ‘The Fourth

Protocol. In Murder 101, an ingenious thriller, Brosnan plays Charles

Lattimore a succsseful author, who has written a best seller, about

a famous murder trial. While he is giving a series of lectures at a

local college, a student in his class is found murdered, while she

is spending the night with Lattimore. With his alibi dead, and the

police hot on his trail, Lattimore begins to suspect that the subject

of his book, is behind the killing. Along with his ex wife, and the other students, he sets out to

unmask the real killer. An enjoyable thriller, with a good twist in the tale. I would

recommend anyone to see it, but don't miss the final scene, it's

wonderful.

Breaks its own rules.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 14 October 2004]

"Murder 101" is a not-bad made-for-TV mystery movie. Some of its red herrings are a bit obvious, but the final revelation is indeed a surprise. However, the WAY the movie manages to surprise you is, as someone else on this page has already said, by breaking its own rules. At one point, college professor/mystery writer Brosnan teaches his students that when they reveal the villain in a mystery story, they must have left enough clues for the reader/viewer to make him say "Of course! How didn't I think of that?". That's exactly what this movie DOESN'T do. It leaves out the clues that are essential for someone to discover the real culprit behind the crimes. So I guess you could say that it cheats. But if you like Brosnan, you may not mind. (**)

Who gets set-up here? The professor or the viewer?

[helpless_dancer · 7/10 · 27 February 2002]

Slick whodunnit keeping the viewer wondering which of several suspects committed a series of brutal slayings. At more than one point I had the killer all figured out only to have my brilliant deductions dashed to bits. In the end I really had my brilliance dashed, what a surprise! This reminded me of another film I saw several years ago with a similar surprise ending.

You'll never guess the ending!

[sol-kay · 8/10 · 19 April 2007]

***SPOILERS*** Gem of a whodunit that will keep you guessing right up to the closing credits and even then make you wonder just how those making the film "Murder 101" came up with it. Creative writing professor Charlie Lattimor, Pierce Brosnan, has been writing both fiction and true life crime stories where he's now one of the most read and celebrated crime novelists in the country. It turns out that a book Charlie just had published about a good friend of his Tim Ryder, J. Kenneth Campbell, whom he with the evidence he unearthed for the police help convict of his wife's Mrs. Anne Ryders, Terry Markwell, murder would later in the film come back to haunt him.

With Ryder put away for life and Charlie's book about his crime hitting the top of the best sellers list things couldn't be better for Charlie but due to circumstances beyond his control they aren't with his estranged wife Laura, Dey Young. Laura is engaged to the pompous and sneering Harry Potter, Mark L. Taylor, who besides being a big pain in the behind to Charlie is now his boss at Hempstead Collage as it's head of its English Department. It's there where Harry ins in the perfect to make Charlie's life miserable. The very handsome and witty Charlie is also not immune to the romantic feeling and fantasies that some of his young attractive and sexually active female students have for him, which he can hardly resist. One of those students is Francesca Lavin,Kim Thompson, who's really got the hots for Charlie and doesn't mind, in fact she wants, the entire town to know about it even his wife and soon to be husband the obnoxious and snooty Harry Potter.

All these what seems like unrelated items soon fall into place when Charlie decides to have his students write an essay on pulling off the perfect crime. One of Charlie's students the nerdy Robert Miner, Raphael Sbarge, decides in his work assignment that the now convicted Tim Ryder was the victim of one; a perfect crime that he was framed by the person who committed it to take the blame for. Charlie not finding Robert's accusations of him being part of Tim Ryders frame-up funny at all tries to disprove his absurd theory. As hard as Charlie does in trying to disprove it that fact that Ryder was set-up and framed for his wife's murder it becomes more and more evident with Charlie ending up in the same boat later in the movie; a pasty for a murder that he didn't commit but can't prove that he didn't.

The movie, or Mrs. Ryders real killer, slowly sets Charlie up for the kill by having him spend the evening with hot to trot Francesc who's maneuvered, without her or Charlie knowing, into not only having an affair with him but being strangled in the same motel-room that she and Charlie are spending the night together! With Hampstead police chief and good friend Mike Dowling, Antoni Corone, having no choice but to arrest Charlie for Francesc's murder Charlie becomes a fugitive from the law having his wife hide him out until he can find out who set him up. Still the biggest surprise is yet to come when the man who Charlie feels curtain was the one who murdered Francesc and framed him for it turns out the be the killers next victim with, as you would expect, Charlie also being the prime murder suspect.

The film leads up to where we find out just who the killer of both Mrs. Ryder and Francese as well as another person, that shall remain nameless, really is. The biggest and most unexpected surprise in the film is that the whole string of events,and murders, were skillfully and unknowingly planned far in advance with everyone, but those of us watching the movie, somewhat subconsciously knowing just what the outcome would be! That more then anything else is what makes "Murder 101" the real shocker that it eventually turned out to be.

P.S There was one glaring inconsistency in the movie that almost ruined it for me and that was when Charlie was on the run from the police he found time to visit the convicted Tim Ryder in prison! This without the prison administrators guards and not to mention the local police not as much as having a clue that Charlie was at the time a fugitive from justice!

A Pleasant Surprise

[atigercub · 8/10 · 25 May 2002]

I purchased this title with some apprehension; TV movies are not high on my 'Must See' list. I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised after viewing this little-known gem! It has a little bit of everything: plot twists, suspense, action, sex, and a roughly bearded Brosnan (for Brosnan fans)!

Good satire

[Honajz · 18 August 1999]

I saw this movie in terrible Czech dubbing, but there are good jokes and satire in this movie which is difficult to erase. Slow motion in story but great in atmosphere, cast and in total feeling. And if you are a fan of Pierce Brosnan, don't miss this movie.

A slick, suspenseful, well plotted tale

[hnt_dnl · 9/10 · 11 July 2008]

MURDER 101 is one of the better made-for-TV movies that you'll see. It's a notch above most and one of the few that I will stop and watch when it's on. Frankly, it's one of the best things that Pierce Brosnan has done. I liked him as James Bond, don't get me wrong, but he is really good in MURDER 101. For some reason, Prof. Charles Lattimore resonates with me more than James Bond, I think it's because this character reminds me more of Brosnan's portrayal of the cheeky, mischievous Remington Steele, which I really enjoyed. I feel like Brosnan is more comfortable playing this type of character. Brosnan is his usual charming, slick self and plays the role with his natural slyness and appeal.

MURDER 101 is actually a rather intricate, complex tale of Lattimore (played by Brosnan), who gathered evidence that helped convict his best friend, a doctor, of his wife's murder. He subsequently writes a best seller about it becomes famous. While working on his 2nd book, Charlie takes job at local university to teach class with the same title, Murder 101, as the film. The student's job is to write essay where they plan the perfect murder. While this is going on, actual murders are occurring and Charlie gets himself caught in the thick of it all.

This is a really entertaining movie with a complex plot and tongue-in-cheek style, thanks to the charming Mr. Brosnan. A really nice one to see late at night if you want to be entertained.

The Twist atop the Whodunit Twist

[jdanr1950 · 8/10 · 20 March 2018]

Pierce Brosnan is a college professor who teaches a creative writing course that requires students to actually write a plausible murder scenario. A complication is that the prof himself actually wrote a book implicating a friend in a murder, for which his friend is found guilty and sent to prison. There is a twist at the very end of this really good-cinema quality-movie that has had only passing reference here among the User reviews, so this critique seeks to explore that twist in more detail.

Spoiler A number of reviewers have mentioned the twist at the end without specifying whether they are alluding to the conventional penultimate twist-the one we never suspected-or the finale in the last 30 seconds leading up to the credits.

One reviewer found this the same device as in Chicago Joe and the Show Girl, but in fact that movie was content to keep jiggling the fourth wall. Murder101 does not do that until the last moment, where the wall is not merely jiggled but sort of turned into the conceptual equivalent of a time-loop. It seems the outer movie, the one we are watching on our screens, is but a tableaux to present a movie-in-the-making, a movie that lo and behold was based on a screenplay developed from the murder-assignment of one of the Prof's students, who plays an integral part in the piece himself.

I can't think of this as nothing so much as a cinematic analogue of Escher's mutually drawing hands. Everyone character in the movie is in fact also an actor playing... their own part, and to make that clear at the close, the dolly-shot backwards reveals not merely the set boom-mike, but some of the 'dead' victims as very well and alive.

This leads to a furious amount of re-thinking, after the movie, of everything presupposed, including plot-'holes' (eg. It had bothered me that the clever student had a cast-iron alibi-he was giving a presentation, at the time of Francesca's death, so the Prof had let off his suspicion; so why did he re-adopt his suspicion later on?), yet are these holes in the movie itself? Or are they defects in the self-referencing 'student's' self-referencing assignment-turned-movie script?

And it would explain something that bothered me: the student had written an absolutely STELLAR assignment; probably the most block-buster assignment any undergrad had ever written anywhere, ever. I was expecting with its impending cover-page reveal to see an "A+". Why only an "A"? Because a few... plot-holes?

YOU HAVE TO SEE IT!

[lautus · 8 October 1999]

The first time i saw the movie was in summer 1995 on TV (France 3) and i loved it. I'd just finish a class of screen writing one month before. This movie is a feast for screenwriters! The art of the drama is completely explained, the spectator is many time warned how it works, it is exalted! The atmosphere of the campus gives you envy to go back to school! I look it at least once per year!

Murder 101

[coltras35 · 8/10 · 31 July 2023]

Charles Lattimore, an English professor played by Brosnan, gives his class an assignment to plot a murder, but after a student and someone else dies, he becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Realising that the theoretical murder plot has been used to set him up - Lattimore has no alibi, and he begins to suspect that the subject of his book has arranged the killing to get back at him for the evidence Lattimore gave during the trial. He is faced with finding a way to foil the plan he helped create.

Before donning a tux and a Walther PPK, Pierce Brosnan starred in some good TV movies, and this murder mystery is one of them. It's slickly-plotted, gripping, well-written and the killer is the least likely - Pierce Brosnan is excellent as the professor, smooth as ever but human. He's ably assisted with a good cast.

Not bad for a film coming from Goodtimes.

[PatrynXX · 8 September 2004]

(spoilers??)

While I did think it was obvious that MD had something to do with it, this movie wasn't too bad. Especially since its on the Goodtimes label on DVD. Normally Goodtimes have less than stellar movies. And normally the actors would love to forget them. But this one stands out. Probably because Brosnan is so good, this movie wouldn't have worked without him. The ending, while not done often, has been done before. most memorable with Chicago Joe and the Showgirl. But interesting.

It did surprise me that this movie was done in 1991. Long before James Bond. I'd simply assumed this was a newer movie. Oh well. I recommend this. I'll probably buy it.

7/10

Quality: 8/10 Entertainment: 6/10 Replayable: 7/10

Funny. This movie actually seems like a course of mystery writing !

[thebigmovieguy · 18 June 2003]

"Murder 101" is by far one of Pierce Brosnan's best performances in an almost tailored role for his Irish personality. I think I haven't seen him in a better movie before he played James Bond in 1995. Brosnan plays a writer who teaches how to write mystery stories. He's a little crazy about perfection in his novels and is very interesting to listen to when he gives writing lessons to his classes. I love Brosnan's performances and hope he could get back to this kind of role after he gives up the Bond role.

*SPOILERS*

"Murder 101" tells the story of mystery writer Charles Lattimore (Pierce Brosnan) who recently wrote a highly successful novel about the true story of Timothy Ryder (J. Kenneth Campbell) who murdered his wife. Lattimore spent time with Ryder to understand his story and didn't believe that Ryder was guilty. But success was more important than friendship for Lattimore as he betrayed Ryder and wrote that he killed his wife. Lattimore is hunted by the betrayal he did to his friend and finds out that the murders occurring on campus where he works are destined to frame him. So he thinks Ryder is setting him up with a student from Lattimore's class (Raphael Sbarge). Lattimore tries to prove his innocence with the help of his ex-wife (Dey Young) and settle the score with Ryder before things get worst.

This is a great TV-movie who could of been successful in theaters. It's a shame that it was broadcast on TV instead. It really is a wonderfully written movie that shows a difference between reality and fiction. Performances by Dey Young and Raphael Sbarge are excellent and make this movie shine on your TV. Rent it. I rate it 9/10.

Full of suspense

[QTPie3334 · 4 March 2001]

I just saw this movie on tv, and I must admit, it was much better than I thought it would be. In the past, I have not been a huge fan of Pierce Brosnin, but he was really good in this movie. He played a much different character from the action movies I remember him for. It was a nice change. The movie grabbed your attention and kept you wondering how it would all play out in the end. It was one of the best TV movies I have seen. I highly reccomend this movie!

One of the best..

[amurphy1 · 7 August 2003]

Of the Murder thrillers out there, there's nothing bad about this excellent mystery. Peirce Bronson is excellent. As are the others. Also it has a great surprise ending!!!

Amazing Movie

[George-67 · 2 July 1999]

I saw this movie on the French TV Channel TF1. Although it was dubbed in French, I enjoyed very much. Its one of the best TV movies I have ever seen. There is plenty of suspense.

Breaks its own rules

[Judith-4 · 4 June 2002]

This movie has a professor teaching students how to write a good mystery story, yet it doesn't play fair with its audience. SPOILER MAYBE. When I first saw this movie, I could tell halfway through that it wasn't playing fair, so I was able to figure out who the killer was, someone you not only wouldn't suspect but someone you shouldn't have suspected. Someone gets murdered in the movie, but it doesn't accomplish the killer's purpose, whereas killing someone else would have. There are also implausible incidents where the killer has opportunity or when they don't really have time to show up when they do. Also, the professor behaves stupidly when first confronted with his dilemma. Finding a body does not automatically make you the prime suspect. All in all, a badly written plot and the characters are not interesting enough to make up for it.