Or how about 'More Chocolaty than Orange'? Perhaps even 'Paler Than Hazelnut'? The title of this film makes no sense at all. I have subsequently read that this film is about a detective who has been written about frequently and so I assume a series was intended. Knowing this, the film makes sense as this is what it feels like – a pilot for a TV series. However, that is all that makes sense. The story doesn't. It has plot holes aplenty and is way too complicated as nothing is properly explained and the audience is just left thinking 'what is happening now'? It has cool music, though.Jane Russell pops up on a boat – why? What a complete waste of time. She shouts "Hi" from a boat and that's it. Could have done without paying that fee, I suspect, especially as this film made a loss. The film has some violent moments so fans of violence will be pleased. At the end of the day a fight is a fight. One bloke hits another, etc. It's not a winning recipe for normal people to satisfyingly digest and score the film 10/10. Bunch of lunatics!

Rod Taylor is best known for "The Birds" and most recently had a brief appearance in "Inglourious Basterds" as Winston Churchill. Over the years, he's appeared in various other flicks, including "Darker Than Amber". I had never heard of Travis McGee, so this was totally new to me (in fact, "DTA" is so far the only Travis McGee novel adapted to the screen). There were some fairly interesting fights, but I found the erotic factor far more appealing. It's a fairly routine detective story, although we do get a look at the Florida Everglades. This isn't the movie that I would recommend above all others, but it's still worth seeing. Also starring Suzy Kendall, Jane Russell, Janet MacLachlan, Theodore Bikel and William Smith.PS: director Robert Clouse also directed "Enter the Dragon".

If you are a Travis McGee fan, this is one film which belongs in your collection. The movie mirrors the book and the fact leading man Rod Taylor has the role is no surprise as he is perfect for the part. In short the story is of Travis McGee, a Private detective hired to investigate the death of a woman who's sister has been murdered. McGee discoverers the murderer is none other than William Smith who plays Terry Bartell. Smith is awesome in this role and anyone who gazes on that extraordinary physique of his will be impressed his good looks match his formidable strength. Adding to the interest of this film are sympathetic Theodore Bikel as Meyer and Suzy Kendall who doubles as Vangie/Merrimay. Travis and his friends plan an elaborate scheme in which the victim will return to haunt her murderer. What they don't know is that their intended mark is as explosive, unpredictable and dangerous as a lit bundle of dynamite. The final physical confrontation is one of the finest ever recorded on film. So fiercely brutal and bloody that many versions of the movie are highly edited. Rod Taylor at his best and a must film for Taylor fans. ****

This is indeed a good movie--a tidy, well-acted and -directed thriller with a good "take" on Travis McGee by the rock-solid and dependable Rod Taylor. But it is a tough one to get to see in its entirety, as some of the other reviewers have noted. Even the commercial prints have a running time of 91 minutes, and they are obviously and clumsily cut (here's a clue: the background music and sound jump drastically). No doubt this is because the violence is graphic for a film of this vintage, although that doesn't explain why it almost impossible to find a complete 93-minute copy here in the 21st century. I found one through a guy who knew a guy and so on--a Dutch copy with Dutch subtitles--and after 30 years of poking around (I was doing other things, too, during these decades) I finally got to see the whole movie. And it was worth it, as it almost always is to see the entire work, as the director (Clouse's next film was "Enter the Dragon") intended it. Some might think 2 minutes out of a film is no big deal (although they might gripe if you handed them a novel with 2 or 3 percent of its pages torn out) but this is too good a movie to snip. And although there have been bigger, longer, bloodier, more you-name-it fights, no two men on screen have ever looked like they are really, desperately trying to hurt each other as much as Rod Taylor and William Smith in the climactic fight in this movie. If you can find it, watch it. Good luck.