The Jigsaw Murders

This routine Cop vs. Psycho thriller stars handsome veteran Chad Everett ('Medical Center') as Joe DaVonzo, a detective who gets assigned to a murder case. Some cretin has been leaving assorted female body parts strewn around L.A. When Joe realizes that the victim has modeled for a nude jigsaw puzzle, it provides him with his first big lead.

If you watch this, you'll notice that the filmmakers aren't attempting to make their movie a whodunit. It becomes clear early on who our culprit is, and the balance of the movie will have Joe and his young partner Elliot (soap opera actor Michael Sabatino, 'Days of Our Lives') put their efforts into proving that this guy did it. Meanwhile, Joe is an alcoholic (this script does fall back on some clichés), and is having a hard time getting along with his hottie daughter Kathy (Michelle Johnson, "Blame it on Rio"), an aspiring actress.

Some loyal B movie enthusiasts will appreciate this more than others, mainly for an element of sleaze as we see young ladies pay their rent with modeling gigs, and take up with ultra sleazy photographers such as Ace Mosley (Eli Rich). They'll be happy to see such familiar faces as Michelle Bauer, Brinke Stevens, Carla Baron, and Laura Albert.

The movie makes good use of some L.A. locations, and does have a sense of humor: the main running gag is the fact that Joe and Elliot have to park their police car in a shady area to visit Mosley's studio, and it repeatedly gets targeted by local lowlifes. The main value, however, lies in the presence of guest star Yaphet Kotto, cast as a coroner with many witty comments to make.

The performances are basically sound, with Everett making for a reasonably sympathetic flawed hero. Buffs will recognize supporting players such as Jill Jacobson ("Nurse Sherri"), Paul Kent ("Ruby" '77), and David Wells ("Society"). Rich is amusing as a particularly smarmy photographer wearing a toupee that you'll keep wanting to snatch off his head.

At least "The Jigsaw Murders" can boast an unlikely scene where the guys present at a bachelor party put everything else on hold so they can put together a jigsaw puzzle.

Six out of 10.

Everett makes Dirty Harry look like Corky Romano. Michelle Johnson is so hot. Yaphet Kotto is great as always. Great LA locations too. Shoulda swept the Oscars.

The Jigsaw Murders (1989)

** (out of 4)

Detective DaVonzo (Chad Everett) is years past his prime and is suffering from an alcohol problem but he's put on the case of a woman whose body parts are being discovered throughout the city. He and his partner begin to investigate the case and it doesn't take long for them to zoom in on a local photographer.

THE JIGSAW MURDERS is one of those thrillers that probably got a limited theatrical release but the majority of the people saw it on video or perhaps late night cable. I say that because the film is pretty much a low-budget thriller that follows all the rules in the book in regards to how films like this play out. You've got the drunk cop. You've got him on his last case. There's a young partner. The cop's daughter just happens to be in the business that the killer is stalking.

In fact, I'd argue that a lot of this film seems to have been influenced by 10 TO MIDNIGHT but sadly this isn't nearly as great. The biggest problem with this movie is that it really doesn't try to do anything fresh or original and we're pretty much left with a film that doesn't have any thrills and in most ways is pretty forgettable. It's really too bad that there wasn't something more going on here but the film remains mildly entertaining if you've got nothing better to do.

I will say that I enjoyed the performance by Everett and thought he at least kept the film moving. Michelle Johnson plays the daughter and is at least easy to look at. Michael Sabatino and Yaphet Kotto are also good. With that being said, people really don't watch these types of movies for their performances. The film lacks any violence, there are only a couple death scenes and there's nothing sleazy either. THE JIGSAW MURDERS is a mild entertainment but that's it.

This film essentially begins with a homeless person finding a severed leg of a woman in a dumpster. In response to this, the Los Angeles Police Department opens up a homicide investigation with "Detective Joe DaVonzo" (Chad Everett) and "Detective Elliott Greenfield" (Michael Sabatino) being assigned to the case. It is then revealed that Detective DaVonzo has a problem with alcohol which he is trying to keep under control. Likewise, his partner, Detective Greenfield is supposed to be getting married soon and as a result his upcoming wedding is having to take a backseat to this investigation--which creates its own set of issues for the two of them as well. Meanwhile, as more body parts from the female victim are discovered, Detective DaVonzo begins to suspect that his adult daughter "Kathy DaVonzo" (Michelle Johnson) may be the serial killer's next target. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that, despite the solid actors presented in this film, the overall movie seemed rather bland and ordinary with hardly any suspense or mystery featured at all. That being said, while I don't consider this to be a terribly bad film by any means, I wasn't all that impressed with it, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

I guess you could say that this 1989 crime/mystery/thriller may have been okay when it was first released but having just watched it some 28 years later the film looks pretty tired and the story line is awful thin.

Middle aged and divorced Detective Sergeant Joe DaVonzo played by Chad Everett who is the former TV star of the seven (7) year running drama show "Medical Center" was not exactly as appealing as lets say Clint Eastwood's performance as Detective Harry Callahan and I guess that is why there was no sequel to The Jigsaw Murders.

We observe that the middle aged and divorced Detective Sergeant Joe DaVonzo has a drinking problem and he also is an estranged father to a 20 something rebellious daughter named Kathy DaVonzo played by the attractive Michelle Johnson who may just happen to be an intended next target of the serial killer Detective Sergeant Joe DaVonzo is searching for if she does not start listening to her "drunken daddy" as Kathy describes her detective daddy's social position.

Of course Detective Sergeant Joe DaVonzo has a reliable partner and a good friend named Detective Elliot Greenfield played by Michael Sabatino who I thought would have been entrusted with a bigger role in the film but I guess the film's producer and director preferred to frame their picture around their TV star Chad Everett, and not necessarily allow Michael Sabatino to play Robin to Chad Everett's (somewhat drunken) Batman-like character.

All in all this film was an okay time waster but do not expect any surprises throughout the film and especially I for one did not consider The Jigsaw Murders to be in the film genre of a thriller.

I give it a 6 out of 10 rating for at least giving the story line a best effort attempt, but the film quality was dated and the actors themselves including a few cameo appearances by Yaphet Kotto as the quirky coroner Doctor Fillmore could not raise the film's bar for me any higher than a 6 out of 10 rating.