In the Rocky Mountains, Harry Kenyon (Mike Farrell) seeks out his missing wife Chris Kenyon in the Winter Parade. Harry meets Lieutenant Rudameyer (Elliott Gould) and tells that he is from San Francisco and has just married Chris, who is from Philadelphia, in Las Vegas. They traveled to the Rockies in honeymoon and they had an argument on the previous day and Chris left their isolate cabin driving her car. Harry also tells that he is worried with her disappearance since she is not a good driver. Harry returns to his cabin and receives a phone call from the local priest, Father Macklin (Fred Gwynne), who summons him to go to the church. Father Macklin tells that Chris (Margot Kidder) is in the church waiting for him. When Harry sees Chris, he tells that she is not his wife; but the woman knows details of their lives and Harry is discredited by the evidences. Is a stranger impersonating Chris or is Harry delusional?"Vanishing Act" is one of my favorite movies ever and very difficult to be found. I saw this movie in the 80's, borrowed on VHS from a video rental, and since then I have not had the chance to see it again. The VHS is rare; it was inexplicably not released on DVD or Blu-Ray; and is not available for download. Yesterday I found a Youtube with "Vanishing Act" divided in three parts and that was the chance to see it again."Vanishing Act" has a top-notch screenplay, with several plot points and the truth is only disclosed in the last scene. Elliott Gould has one of his best performances in the role of the witty New Yorker Lieutenant Rudameyer and Joel Cohen built in "Fargo" the character Marge Gunderson performed by Frances McDormand that recalls the cool behavior of Rudameyer. Margot Kidder is very gorgeous and Fred Gwynne is very funny. Mike Farrell gives credibility to his character and makes the viewer sympathize with his situation. Maybe I have exaggerated a little giving a ten to this movie, but I really love it and I believe it will please any viewer. My vote is ten.Title (Brazil): Not Available

Elliot Gould, Fred Gwynne, Mike Farrell and Margot Kidder turn in reasonably good performances but the script is the factor that kills this TV movie. Farrell leads as a man whose wife went missing on their honeymoon. Elliot Gould holds his own as a cop transplanted from the Bronx to the Rocky Mountain boonies. The identity of the characters played by Margot Kidder and Fred Gwynne figure heavily into the mystery (such as it is) so I won't go into detail here.This is not a total disaster -- it is watchable and somewhat interesting. Ultimately, though, it falls apart under the weight of the inferior script.

I'm shocked by all of the positive comments about this movie. Yes, it does have one surprise that was kinda interesting. But, the plot does not hold together. It relies on a large set of completely unbelievable coincidences and mystery story cliches. Only a script writer could get these characters to do exactly what they needed to when they needed to do it and ignore routine things that normal people would do because they would end the story right away. Why did the detective never simply have the wife's drivers license picture wired to him, or, should you think you are sure of the answer to that one, why didn't the husband insist on the same? Were there any deviation, they plot would have all fallen apart. I won't get into any spoilers, but after you get the big surprise, you'll find yourself beginning to ask "what about...?" and "But...". There's a big "but, what if" there that I love to think of the consequences of.

Levinson and Link, the Columbo and McCloud guys threw together this modern mystery and it's too bad (that it's thrown together), because the story is quite marvelous, actually.The film suffers from limited locations and characters. The casting is TV-Movie all the way with Mike Farrell, Margot Kidder, and Eliott Gould getting the bulk of the screen time. Fred Gwynne (don't we all love Fred Gwynne?) does a nice turn in a smaller role..If you make it through the first 20 minutes of needless expanse, you'll wonder into an interesting little mystery with plenty of surprises.Well worth watching on a rainy afternoon.