Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

When I was in college a series came on TV on Tuesday nights called Remington Steele. I fell in love with it. This series features a young woman named Laura Holt who opens a detective agency. But in the male dominated private investigator field she has no clients. So she invents a male boss. "Suddenly there were cases around the block." No one ever saw the mystery boss Remington Steele. Until, as seen in the pilot, a conman/thief with no name enters Miss Holt's life and through circumstances assumes the identity of Remington Steele. The fun continues from there.Laura Holt is portrayed by the stunningly beautiful Stephanie Zimbalist. In case you wonder I had a huge crush on this lady. She is bright, funny, a workaholic and a great detective. Irish actor Pierce Brosnan is introduced to America as the dashing Remington Steele. He assumes the role with the expertise of a conman, impeccably dressed in the latest men's fashion, and a deep knowledge of old movies.Together these two take cases with Holt doing the real detective work and Steele making public appearances to promote the high standards of the agency. There is humor, romance, mystery, and at least once in every episode we hear Steele tell us about the plot of an old movie that helps cracks the current case. I my opinion some of the most fun episodes are when actress Zimbalist real life father appears on the show. Efrem Zimbalist Jr plays an old partner of Remington Steele mystery man past. As the series progresses we find out more about what Remington Steele did before he became Mr Steele. We learn he was a conman with multiple fake names, a cat burglar, art expert, he knows his way around alarm systems, and charmed multiple women. The banter between these characters is so much fun to listen to. There is a physical attraction that creates sexual tension. Will they or won't they? Even when Laura Holt is screaming at Mr Steele for interfering with the current case they work well together. When the character Mildred Krebs is introduced in season 2 she is a wonderful addition to the cast. Played by Doris Roberts she is a motherly figure who keeps watch over Holt and Steele. She soon runs the office in such an efficient manner that she is vital to each case. The series lasted just over 4 years and could have gone on for many more, but everyone must move on, so I enjoy the reruns when I can.

I'm sure anyone from the 80s remembers this show. A piece of trivia:Pierce Brosnan signed on to play James Bond in the late 80s, but then had to back out when this show (which everyone thought had been cancelled) got renewed at the last minute, and was able to take the role in the 90s. It involved a lady who created a detective agency and put her name on the door;when no one would hire a detective agency with a woman's name, business boomed when she created a fictitious boss and put HIS name on the door. Problems arouse when they started wanting to meet him, which were solved when a thief with a mysterious past (which, along with his real name, was never revealed) assumed the boss's identity.This show had a good combination of drama, mystery, comedy, and romance. It was funny to see Brosnan's character struggle to learn the detective trade and act out classic movie scenes to help solve cases, and the episodes featured fun cases. Anyone curious about 80s TV mystery dramas should watch this to satisfy their curiosity.*** out of ****

...That is, when I saw these in syndication on KDOC and PAX TV in the 90's, I would have definitely given the show a 10 or an 11. Re-watching the show at age 30, the flaws are apparent. Stephanie Zimbalist and Pierce Brosnan are one of the most gorgeous TV couples of all time, but it doesn't make up for the relative fluff of most of the show's mysteries past the first and second season. Frankly the show was more mentally bracing at the start, and just a tad more realistic (someone with no investigative training is naturally going to fumble some cases, like Steele did in the maiden season). Season 3-4 mysteries are low budget spy capers and Bond thrillers (I really suspect as early as 1984 word that Roger Moore was on the outs had reached Pierce's ears) and every case can be solved by a film only Steele has seen, or by an international jewel only he can pilfer. After awhile I frankly got sick of watching Brosnan strut and solve essentially action hero situations. In one episode, he literally rides in at nightfall on a white horse. Zimbalist's Laura Holt is dumbed down to accommodate the change, just as her friends and allies Bernice and Murphy from Season One are dumped to bring in Steele worshiping secretary Mildred Krebs. Laura Holt becomes an unlucky in love prude who takes an hour to solve clues that in Season 1 she would have solved in five minutes. This concludes with the sad S4 Laura hating marriage episode in which Steele sits in an immaculate tuxedo watching his bride-to-be Laura getting drowned in a pile of mud by a rather large man, grinning ear to ear. Funny and romantic? I find it richly ironic that a show that was supposed to be sympathetic to a woman not getting her due ended up mirroring the predicament in real life. But let me shut up and say what I'm supposed to: long live James Bond.

Remington Steele is one of my favorite TV series. It had everything: fun, romance, mystery, suspense, and three great leading actors, Stephanie Zimbalist, Pierce Brosnan and Doris Roberts. They were a winning combination. I would love to have the entire series on DVD. Although, I have some complete episodes on video tape, tapes wear out, and I'm hoping for a DVD set to preserve such a wonderful series for posterity.Stephanie Zimbalist played Laura Holt beautifully. She was a character I admired, a woman striking out on her own, even though she initially had to use deception to get her business on track. Pierce Brosnan was charming as the mysterious con man. Who can forget the wild antics of Doris Roberts as Mildred Krebs, especially the time she was involved in the Steele, Inc. scheme to open a chain of Remington Steele agencies without the knowledge of Laura or Steele?This is a series that MUST find a place on DVD shelves everywhere.