''Murder Can Hurt You'' (stylized onscreen as ''Murder Can Hurt You!'') is a 1980 American

made-for-television A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

that parodies

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

and

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

TV shows of the 1960s and 1970s, much as ''

Murder by Death ''Murder by Death'' is a 1976 American comedy mystery film directed by Robert Moore and written by Neil Simon. The film stars Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, M ...

'' spoofed literary detectives. The film was directed by Roger Duchowny.

Plot

A mysterious "Man in White" is out to kill famous detectives in bizarre ways, and the heroes are obvious parodies of ''

Kojak ''Kojak'' is an American Action film, action Crime film, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theophilus "Theo" Kojak. Tak ...

'', ''

Baretta ''Baretta'' is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a revised and milder version of a 1973–1974 ABC series, '' Toma'', starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police ...

'', ''

Starsky and Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a '' Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired ...

'', '' Ironside'', '' Police Woman'', ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originall ...

'', '' Mrs. Columbo'', and '' McCloud''. The movie starts with the Man In White killing Lambretta, after which Lt. Nojack calls a meeting of all the best detectives in the city. During this meeting the man in white threatens to kill them all, locks them in their meeting room, and sets a bomb to kill them all while he makes his escape. The Aaron Spelling Productions logo at the end pays homage to

Mark VII Limited Mark VII Limited (formerly Mark VII Productions, pronounced "Mark 7") was the production company of actor and filmmaker Jack Webb, and was active from 1951 until his death in 1982. Many of its series were produced in association with Universal Tel ...

, using a hammer and stamp.

Cast

References

External links

* *
Murder Can Hurt You
' at

MSN MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps provided by Microsoft. The main webpage provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnere ...

Movies 1980 television films 1980 films 1980s parody films American parody films 1980s comedy mystery films Films scored by Artie Kane Films with screenplays by Ron Friedman 1980s English-language films 1980s American films American comedy mystery films American mystery television films English-language comedy mystery films {{US-tv-comedy-film-stub