Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Absolutely the worst movie.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

SPOILER ALERT: The simple plot point you used in your example was covered when the Priest and Mrs. Kenyan stated "clearly" that her car was stolen, along with her purse and I.D. The Detective knew all along about the truth of his wife, let's not forget that, so he "wouldn't" want to prove otherwise about the "other" Mrs. Kenyan. He could simply say he put in an order for the Driver's license but it's pending, and stall. Harry Kenyan wouldn't necessarily act any certain way, being that he's cornered himself into a specific set of rules so as not to reveal "himself". So he might not act as you'd think he should. Plus, he's a criminal, and criminals make mistakes. Neither side knows what the other is doing, and both sides are trying to work it out without revealing what "they" know. That's the brilliance of this "plot". The unraveling of incidents "is" frustrating, but that's why it draws you in "with" the characters. Don't you think they'd be frustrated as well? This is a wonderful movie, and it is a plausible plot that could, and in part has, happen(ed) in real life. I wish they'd remake this.

Elliot Gould, Fred Gwynne, Mike Farrell and Margot Kidder turn in reasonably good performances but the script is the factor that kills this TV movie. Farrell leads as a man whose wife went missing on their honeymoon. Elliot Gould holds his own as a cop transplanted from the Bronx to the Rocky Mountain boonies. The identity of the characters played by Margot Kidder and Fred Gwynne figure heavily into the mystery (such as it is) so I won't go into detail here.This is not a total disaster -- it is watchable and somewhat interesting. Ultimately, though, it falls apart under the weight of the inferior script.

Margot Kidder (Superman), Fred Gwynne (My Cousin Vinny), Elliot Gould (MASH), Mike Farrell (MASH), and Graham Jarvis (Journyman Project 1-3), lend their collective acting talents to this fine made for tv movie. Great effort.

Levinson and Link, the Columbo and McCloud guys threw together this modern mystery and it's too bad (that it's thrown together), because the story is quite marvelous, actually.The film suffers from limited locations and characters. The casting is TV-Movie all the way with Mike Farrell, Margot Kidder, and Eliott Gould getting the bulk of the screen time. Fred Gwynne (don't we all love Fred Gwynne?) does a nice turn in a smaller role..If you make it through the first 20 minutes of needless expanse, you'll wonder into an interesting little mystery with plenty of surprises.Well worth watching on a rainy afternoon.