Detective John Traveller (Peter Coyote) is convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover. His partner and friend, Detective Matthew Ransom, becomes very upset, affecting his marriage that was not working well. The lover of John's wife was the son of Luke Williams, a detective of the same department, and he does not accept the death of his son. After the trial and conviction of John, Matthew separates from his wife Mary Ramson, being sexually arrested by John's daughter Jude. Meanwhile, a serial killer kills the enemies of John, leaving clues in the crime scenes relatives to Sherlock Holmes tales and Matthew suspects of Jude.
Reviews
Supposedly set in Cally Forny Eh, this crapfest has ZERO palmtrees, has ONE black actor who plays the Lieutenant in charge of the Police Squad, and a few characters who are supposedly latinos. It's so realistic!Peter Coyote was desperate to make his mortgage payment, so he took on the role of the guy inside a cell (inside another room) in the "Metropolitan Detention Center". Seriously!As for the story - or lack of it - I had it figgered out in the bathroom. AVOID!
I wanted to see this because I liked the show "The Pretender" starring Michael T. Weiss, who appears in this film, "Written in Blood." Weiss plays Matt Ransom, a police detective. In the beginning, we see clearly that he and his wife are not getting along. He gets a call from his partner, John Traveler (Peter Coyote), telling him to get over to his place. There, Ransom finds Traveler's wife and lover dead in the bedroom, and Traveler is holding the gun. The man murdered was the son of another detective. Traveler is convicted, found guilty, and imprisoned for life. Ransom's testimony helped get the conviction.Though his boss wants him to go on leave, Ransom wants to keep working, especially due to a couple of strange new cases. His boss doesn't think they're connected; he does. He brings the details to Traveler as a way of reconnecting with him and also to keep him going while he's in prison. Traveler points out that the clues left at the scenes are from Sherlock Holmes stories. On the personal end, Ransom's marriage is over, and Traveler's daughter is attracted to him and wants a relationship.This is a low budget film with parts probably filmed at a 19.99 per night LA motel. Some of the acting isn't very good, particularly from the actress who played Ransom's wife, and Peter Coyote's role should have been bigger to give the film a little gravitas. Weiss is good, sporting a long greasy haircut one might wear undercover, but he wasn't.An interesting story, not a bad film given the cast and finances.
...to validate whether my hunch is correct. I think there is a really interesting and intriguing mystery thriller story here. It's a shame that an American TV director and American TV actors were used for the production of this movie. There is an obvious TV cliché feel to many of the scenes and overall plot navigation of this movie. The director seems to pull his feeling of the scene in comparison to movie chemistry that has worked well in other films. For example, the relationship between the two partners while John Traveller is in jail. It attempts a similar feel to the chemistry between Agent Starling and Hannibal Lector...but undoubtedly less intriguing performance.Another aspect of the movie to reinforce the TV feel of it, is the lack of continuity to the filming styles throughout the movie. There are not drastic differences but enough subtle nuances to the lighting and scene cut styles, it leaves the viewer in limbo to the overall feeling of the movie.I look forward to when this film is redone by a different director and cast.
When the wife of Detective John Traveller (Peter Coyote) and her lover are executed in bed and John takes the blame, his partner and friend, Detective Matthew Ransom (Michael T. Weiss), becomes very upset, affecting his marriage that was not working well. The lover of John's wife was the son of Luke Williams (Steve Rankin), a detective of the same department, and he does not accept the death of his son. After the trial and conviction of John, Matthew separates from his wife Mary Ramson (Nancy Valen), being sexually arrested by John's daughter Jude (Maureen Flanigan). Meanwhile, a serial killer kills the enemies of John, leaving clues in the crime scenes relatives to Sherlock Holmes tales and Matthew suspects of Jude. "Written in Blood" is a good low-budget contemporary Film-Noir. The story is great, but there is a lack of a previous development of the key elements of the plot, since the characters and their relations are disclosed along the story. This is the great flaw of the screenplay of a movie that deserves to be watched at least once. I would like to know the nationality of this film, which is not indicated in IMDb. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Escrito em Sangue" ("Written in Blood")