Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sundays, I will be reviewing the made-for-television movies that used to be a primetime mainstay. Today’s film is 1977’s Death Cruise! It can be viewed on Tubi and YouTube.
The thing with the Love Boat is that it promises something for everyone. It’s a place where you set a course for adventure and put your mind on a new romance.
The same cannot be said of the Death Cruise.
Death Cruise opens with three couples winning an all-expenses paid trip on a luxury liner. None of the couples are in a happy marriage. Sylvia Carter (Polly Bergen) is tired of her husband, Jerry (Richard Long), and his philandering ways. Elizabeth Mason (Celeste Holm) is frustrated with David Mason (Tom Bosley) and his loud dinner jackets. Mary Frances Radney (Kate Jackson) is fed up with James (Edward Albert) and his smug refusal to start a family. Of course, it’s not just martial problems that connects these passengers. It’s also the fact that someone on the boat is stalking and killing them, one-by-one. Can Dr. Burke (Michael Constantine) and Captain Vettori (Cesare Danova) track down the killer before it’s too late?
Death Cruise is an enjoyably twisty little murder mystery. It aired in 1974, a good two years before the first Love Boat pilot film appeared on television. However, both Death Cruise and The Love Boat were produced by Aaron Spelling so the two productions definitely have a shared DNA. The Love Boat is basically Death Cruise with the addition of a laugh track and considerably less murder. That said, I have my doubts as to whether Doc Bricker would have been as effective a detective as Dr. Burke.
One of the most interesting things about Death Cruise is how little anyone on the boat really seems to care about the fact that the passengers are turning up dead. In fact, one widower is asking a widow to be his date to dinner within a few hours of the deaths of their spouses. Of course, the murderer makes sure that dinner date is canceled but it’s still hard not to wonder whatever happened to an appropriate time of grieving. Then again, I guess if you’re on a boat for a weekend, you just do whatever feels right at the moment.
(And certainly, if they were on The Love Boat, the walking HR nightmares that was Doc Bricker wouldn’t have wasted any time asking the widows to come by his office for a examination.)
Of the victims and suspects, Richard Long and Edward Albert are memorably sleazy while Tom Bosley plays up just how annoyed he is with the whole situation. Michael Constantine is a good detective and the movie’s final twist is nicely executed. Personally, when it comes to cruises, I will always prefer the safety and romance of The Love Boat but Death Cruise was an entertaining nautical diversion.
