Mystery Woman: Wild West Mystery (TV 2006)

When former TV star Clint Taylor brings his Wild West show into town, murder becomes the featured attraction for bookstore owner Samantha Kinsey. Samantha is chairperson this year of ... See full summary »

Director:

David S. Cass Sr.

Writers:

Michael Sloan (creator), Joyce Burditt,

Stars:

Kellie Martin, Clarence Williams III, Nina Siemaszko

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview:
Kellie Martin	...	Samantha
Clarence Williams III	...	Philby
Nina Siemaszko	...	Cassie
Casey Sander	...	Chief Connors
Bruce Boxleitner	...	Clint Lawson
Joe Stevens	...	Dogie
Barbara Niven	...	Annie
Charles Dierkop	...	Zeke Foster
Wings Hauser	...	Strother Elam
Jason Brooks	...	Jeb Fletcher
Barry Livingston	...	Otis

Storyline

When former TV star Clint Taylor brings his Wild West show into town, murder becomes the featured attraction for bookstore owner Samantha Kinsey. Samantha is chairperson this year of Walden's annual Wild West Days and it's quite a coup bringing the ruggedly handsome Taylor and his band of cowboys into town for the event. The actor hasn't been in the limelight for years, but with a big comeback movie in the works he has gathered together much of the cast of his old TV show for his arena extravaganza. After Taylor stages an accident for publicity, Samantha learns this is not one big happy family. When somebody shoots Taylor's stand-in during a performance, Samantha calls upon her friends, Cassie and Philby, to help her find out which cowpoke pulled the trigger and why.

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Genres:

Crime | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 March 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fonos sti Dysi

Filming Locations:

Southern California, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Entertainment, Alpine Medien Productions, Larry Levinson Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend (2005)

User Reviews

Reasonable - all the usual weaknesses but the cowboy gimmick works well to make it feel a bit fresher and livelier than it really is

Typically for her, Samantha Kinsey is the chair of the committee organising a wild west show in town featuring some stars from the big and small screen westerns. It is all going well but when a stunt goes wrong, former TV star Clint Taylor is badly hurt. An accident it is assumed but Philby finds that Clint's saddle was deliberately cut, suggesting a deliberate mistake at best, attempted murder at worst. A bit of investigation reveals that Clint had intended to take a fall all along to drum up media interest in him again and Sam is affronted by the cheek. However at the next show Clint falls again – but this time it was his stand-in and the fall is real, because he has been shot. The mystery is set and Sam starts her own investigation while Chief Connors goes down a more formal route.

I first watched the Mystery Woman series and found it to be a bit like cheap toilet paper – it isn't anything special but it does what I need it to do and it never pretends to be doing anything other than the basics. However with the last few films I had found the weaknesses were becoming more overwhelming while its value was diminishing as it just churned out the same old ideas and style again and again. With this entry things are a little better than the last few films because it does feel a bit fresher because of the setting. Of course a lick of paint can only do so much and typically the weaknesses are still there. The delivery is so very "safe" with a basic mystery, obvious dialogue, cardboard cut-out characters, annoying incidental music and so on. It is very daytime television but those watching it will probably have forgiven it for that.

The cast deliver the usual collection of characters. Martin continues to be as bland as normal and doesn't seem to have any interest in making her character more than a young version of Jessica Fletcher. Siemaszko is unconvincing as usual and Martin and her have no chemistry. Williams sleepwalks his way through a half-baked character while Sander is as dry and humourless as always. The guest cast features reasonable turns from Boxleitner, Dierkop, Stevens, Niven and others.

A reasonable entry in a series of films where that should be considered to be the standard to be hoped for. All the usual weaknesses are present but, unlike some other MW films I had seen, the cowboy gimmick works well to make a typical mystery feel a bit fresher and livelier than it really is.