McMillan & Wife (TV Series) Once Upon a Dead Man (1971) User Reviews

Worth seeing for standout chase

[heedarmy · 7/10 · 3 March 2014]

This pilot movie for a popular 70s series is pleasant, undemanding viewing for the most part. It is, however, worth watching for one standout sequence, a chase down the famous hills of San Francisco. Of course, we've seen plenty of Frisco car chases in films over the years. This one, however, takes place on BICYCLES - something I've never seen before in a movie or TV show.

Amusingly, the sequence uses several tropes normally associated with car chases in the cinema - so we see the villain shooting at McMillan whilst on his bike and the cyclists, at one point, veer onto the sidewalk, scattering pedestrians in their wake.

Most importantly, the chase is extremely well filmed and staged and looks genuinely dangerous at times, especially when the cyclists narrowly avoid hitting cars or travel down steep hills at alarmingly high speeds. One hopes that the stunt performers were well paid.

fine police mystery with odd little touches

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 5 September 2014]

Sally (Susan Saint James) is the wife of San Fransico Police Commissioner Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson). She organizes a charity auction. She and her husband are at the auction when a valuable sarcophagus gets stolen. It's an embarrassment for the new commissioner. Then a antique dealer from the auction is killed right after talking to Sally and discovered by their ex-con driver.

It's a movie that serves as the pilot for 'McMillan & Wife'. For a TV production of that era, it's well made. The best aspect is the light fun loving chemistry between Hudson and SSJ. Hudson displays his charming leading man skills. SSJ shows her fun flighty side but keeps her character smart. The action isn't always the best. There is a run through San Franscio that turns into a bicycle chase. It's odd to see two guys in suits going downhill in a couple of 10 speed bikes. It's not the usual police chase. This movie is peppered with odd quirky touches like that.

Auberjonois week: day three

[Chip_douglas · 7/10 · 3 June 2014]

To celebrate this weeks birthday of René Auberjonois, this reviewer is having a week long look at 7 guest starring roles from the 70's by the incomparable Mr. Auberjonois. Today is day three: McMillan and Wife: Once Upon a Dead Man.

Since this is the pilot episode, the first 30 minutes are spent getting to know the title characters Stewart and Sally McMillan. Stewart is the San Francisco police commissioner and his chief is played by Grandpa Joe from Willie Wonka. Susan is explained to be the daughter of the late criminologist Fred Hull, setting up a knack for crime solving in her as well as him.

We also get to witness the moment where Mrs. M is first introduced to (who will become a) recurring character Sergeant Enright. The couple has several scenes filled with humorous banter before we get to the actual crime, including some which concerns Stewart's lack of clean underwear. Apparently all the scenes set in the McMillan home were filmed in Rock Hudson's actual house so it shouldn't really have been a big problem finding some...

The coffin of Caesarion, son of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra is stolen while it is being auctioned and of course the high society mingling McMillans are already present on the scene. Various suspicious looking character actors are introduced, including Dr. Smith from Lost in Space and actor Kurt Kasznar, but it takes until well after the crime has been committed until we finally get to see our hero, the Great Auberjonois. Just a few seconds shy of the 42 minute mark, he finally bursts on to the scene as only he can, playing André Stryker, a theater producer with a nervous tick.

Sally and her mother Emily attend one of André's post premiere parties and Mrs. M almost walks into a glass window. Do you think this will be important later? Shortly they are joined by Mr. M, who expresses frustration about being unable to identify the mastermind behind the sarcophagus theft. Guess who we cut to? A big close up of our man René. Coincidence, or just a Red Herring? Possibly a bit of both?

After some more people turn up dead and an exciting chase seen that begins on foot and ends on two bicycles, the Commissioner and his trusty Sergeant figure out what the director and editor have been trying to tell us all the time: André has to be the one behind it all. But his nervous tick gets the best of our man Auberjonois and his stunt double crashes through the plate glass window that was so nicely for-shadowed earlier. So now every last suspect is dead and there's still no trace of Caesarion.

So it turns out René's part, despite being fourth billed, only consists of three scenes. Further more, although he was definitely one of the bad guys, he's not the one that gets his satisfactory comeuppance in the final act. That honor goes to another actor, but his identity cannot be revealed in this review just in case we might decide to spend a week's worth of IMDb comments on him some time in the future.

7 out of 10

Lets hope R.A. will have a larger part when we return tomorrow to review his guest starring role in Man from Atlantis: Crystal Water, Sudden Death.

Pilot for "McMillan and Wife"

[bwaynef · 19 May 2003]

With his film career beginning to sag, Rock Hudson decided the time was right to try his hand at TV. This NBC World Premiere Movie aired in September 1971, and served as the pilot for "McMillan and Wife," which would debut as one-third of the original NBC Mystery Movie later that month. Obviously inspired by MGM's "Thin Man" series, this tele-film cast Hudson as San Francisco's commissioner of police whose kooky wife, the always appealing Susan Saint James, sometimes made his cases more difficult through her unexpected involvement. Except for the presence of Hudson, "Once Upon A Dead Man" is pretty standard stuff for its day. It has that unmistakable look that all Universal movies and TV shows had at the time (which may now give it some nostalgic appeal), but the film is made memorable by the cast. Hudson was a truly gifted light comedian, and both the film and the series gave him a regular opportunity to demonstrate that talent in ways he had not been able to do since his successful pairing with Doris Day in "Pillow Talk," "Lover Come Back," and "Send Me No Flowers." Susan Saint James (who had just ended a three season run as the "girl Friday" on "The Name of the Game") was no Doris Day, but she complements him splendidly. Then there's a fine supporting cast headed by John Schuck whose Sergeant Enright would continue as a regular in the series. Recommended overall.

The Stolen Sarcophagus

[profh-1 · 7/10 · 24 October 2023]

During an auction of many rare, expensive items, a small Egyptian sarcophagus is stolen from a secure vault while another item was being bid on. Someone knocked a hole through a brick wall, leading to a narrow utility tunnel, but checking the obvious route it becomes obvious no one could have gotten the item away in the time involved.

NO, this isn't an episode of BANACEK-- it's the pilot for McMILLAN AND WIFE! The NBC Mystery Movies, which consisted of rotating series of TV movies in either a 90-minute or 2-hour time slots, debuted on a Wednesday night in September 1971. Most of the 90-minute episodes were preceded by a 2-hour pilot that aired around 6 months earlier. But oddly, McMILLAN AND WIFE's pilot debuted on a Friday night, just 2 days after the 1st season of the rotating series premiered, with the first regular episode airing only 2 weeks later. While researching these shows, I found this very odd, as M&W may be the only "Mystery Movie" series whose pilot didn't air months before the rest of the episodes. Perhaps this explains why it was one of the very few I managed to see when it was first-run. Of the 3 "main" series, the others being McCLOUD and COLUMBO, M&W was the only one I actually saw right from the beginning. I was instantly hooked.

Looking back on it decades later, this is unquestinably the most "low-key" and "laid-back" of the 3 main series, something I'm not sure I actually noticed back then (it takes a lot to be more laid-back than COLUMBO!). I think the main draw of this series has always been the 2 main characters. Rock Hudson (various Doris Day films, ICE STATION ZEBRA and THE MIRROR CRACK'D) is brand-new San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart McMillan, who we're told spent 12 years practicing criminal law. (Perry Mason never looked this young and handsome-- not even in the 1930s PM movies.) Susan Saint James (THE NAME OF THE GAME, LOVE AT FIRST BITE) is his younger, vivacious and somewhat flaky wife "Sally", daughter of a famed criminologist ("Fred Hall"), who grew up around crime-solving and has it in her blood. The easiest way to describe this is a 70s reincarnation of "Nick & Nora Charles"-- except, without all the drinking, and with LOT more sex. "G"-rated TV sex, to be sure, but I can scarcely think of another married TV couple from that era who spent so much time winding up in bed together. I've probably been looking for a girl like her for the last 52 years.

Also in the cast is John Schuck (the movie M*A*S*H, STAR TREK 4 and STAR TREK 6) as Sgt. Charles Enright, as good-natured an assistant as anyone could ever possibly want. The pilot also features James Wainright as "John Patterson", the ex-con chauffer; Jack Albertson (CHICO & THE MAN) as Police Chief Andrew Yeakel (who has the chauffer at the top of his list of suspects; the part was recast in later episodes); and Linda Watkins as "Emily Hull", Sally's mother (who disappeared after 3 1st season episodes).

The series was created by Leonard Stern, who had previously been in charge of another show involving a happily-married couple: GET SMART.

The guest-cast, as on many of the Mystery Movies, is top-notch. Herb Edelman (STRIKE FORCE) is "Gregory Constantine", in charge of the auction house and perpetually annoyed at Sally's presence; Rene Auberjonois (M*A*S*H, DEEP SPACE NINE) as "Andre Stryker", a flamboyant producer of failed stage plays; Kurt Kasznar (LAND OF THE GIANTS and the 1959 NERO WOLFE pilot) as "Edmond Corday", an antique dealer; and Jonathan Harris (THE THIRD MAN, LOST IN SPACE) as "Mr. Wortzel", the auctioneer. Harris really gets to shine in his part, being his usually fussy self without over-doing it the way he did too often when he played "Dr. Smith". (He's the only actor in this I ever got to see once in person, at a sci-fi convention, where he held a room of fans absolutely mesmerized with his hilarious stories.)

As I said, most of this is VERY low-key, people standing around or walking around as bits and pieces of the mystery slowly, almost painfully come together. But then right in the middle, there's this incredible high-speed chase over the streets and steep hills of San Francisco-- on BICYCLES. When in the course of a foot chase the 2 men involved suddenly STOLE the bikes, I was reminded of the climax of COOGAN'S BLUFF (1968), except, in there, it was motorcycles. It also seems like a tribute to the car chase in BULLITT (also 1968), except, somehow, more insane.

And then of course, there's the climax, when Stewart figures out WHERE the missing coffin really is, and WHO stole it-- before he and Sally are nearly killed by the culprit, which leads into a frantic knock-down drag-out fight between Stewart & the bad guy.

I keep wondering how and why this pilot aired so late in relation to the start of the 1st season. Also, if I seem less than thrilled in some of my descriptions, keep in mind that for much of its run, I loved this show far more than I did COLUMBO. Most of these I haven't seen since they were first-run. Now, thanks to the miracle of DVD box sets, I'm able to relive watching the NBC Mystery Movies all over again, in the order they were broadcast. I'm so looking forward to it.

One Upon a Time, There was McMillan and Wife!

[Sylviastel · 9/10 · 1 January 2019]

Rock Hudson was a huge movie star but he made a successful transition into a television star as the lead San Francisco Police Commissioner McMillan in a television series with Susan Saint James as his wife, Sally. Hudson and Saint James are believable as the couple. Rock Hudson played the police commissioner in San Francisco, California. There are shots on location in the wonderful city as well. The cases are a bit more complicated with a great cast. The series was an enjoyable with the cast. Nancy Walker would later join as Mildred, their housekeeper. The first case is about a valuable sarcophagus on auction that gets stolen midway.

Run of the mill!

[mm-39 · 3/10 · 11 September 2022]

The pilot episode for McMillan & Wife is was Once Upon a Dead Man. N B C use to have murder mystery Sunday or something like that and I remember Mc Cloud, Columbo, and others. My sister and I would gleeful watch who was on each week and their T V spin offs. Watching Once Upon a Dead Man is dated. Did not age well. I guess as I aged we see genre has been over played. There is the usual event or daily happening and the characters come across a murder. The obvious has a few inconstancies and McMillan & Wife are on it. There is a plot twist, which protagonist either draws out of finds some missing evidence to solve the crime. Once Upon a Dead Man is like watching a movie or reading a book second time over. Kind of loses the luster from the first time. Like many things in life. What works with the pilot episode is the banter an relationship between McMillan & Wife. The charisma and personality of the strong protagonists are worth watching. Well the story was better the first time, but I can see why the series lasted 6 years. 3 stars.