User Reviews

Between the final two "MSW" series "Bookend" episodes (both featuring Dennis Stanton and company), Jessica conducts a five chapter block, leading her from and to Cabot Cove via Texas, Missouri and Kentucky. "From the Horse's Mouth" represents the only "MSW" episode set in the Commonwealth of Kentucky although the series includes Kentuckians in the form of Sheriff Amos Tupper and his kinfolk.

In addition to Jessica's travels and murders along each journey, we may also observe various recurring themes throughout this series, such as widowed parents who sacrifice for their children, including widows whose young sons must become "the man of the house," widowers whose daughters "are too good" for their suitors, and widowers whose greedy children dispute wills and gold-diggers who try to enter his good graces.

Here, we find a variation of the theme, with wealthy horse breeding widowers opposing each other's operation, which their children seek to unite through marriage although the sister of the fiancé who's not good enough for his fiancée also opposes the gold-digger engaged to her father, and another Kentucky style feud rides on....

On one side of the stable fence rides Lamar Morgan (Gregory Walcott), the other the wealthy Randolph Sterling (Kevin McCarthy), who has acquired a British-bred prize stallion, which he intends to race in the upcoming Derby.

Lamar's daughter, Veternarian Doctor Christie Morgan (Debra Sandlund) tends to horses throughout the community of Peachtree, Kentucky, which also houses the Sterling estate and stables, plus her fiancé, Tod Sterling (John Allen Nelson) and his socialite sister, Diana Sterling (Patricia Charbonneau), who stands at odds with Althea Mayberry (Tricia O'Neil), the fiancée of Randolph, her father.

Derek Padley (Maxwell Caulfield), a groomer/jockey under Sterling employ, tends to the Thoroughbreds, which draw the attention of Justin King (James Bartz) and Attorney Mark Mason (Michael Ayr), who represent the interests of horse owners.

The ladies' club of Peachtree, including Emmaline Bristow (Nanette Fabray), Martha Jane Stokes (Helena Carroll) and Edie (Patricia Huston), get along well enough with the Morgan and Sterling families although many may consider Emmaline Bristow somewhat eccentric in style and manner. Plus, she claims to communicate with horses on a verbal basis.

It is into this "unstable" environment which Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) pays a visit to the Sterling household, she meeting the families and associates of Tod and Christie, and putting in a good word about young love to their feuding fathers, when who should pay a visit to the community but Jessica's long-time acquaintance from Boston, Harry McGraw (Jerry Orbach), on an assignment to investigate allegations that races are somehow fixed, by substituting a champion stallion for a Thoroughbred.

Soon enough, a body is discovered in the Sterling stables, and Sheriff Tyrone McKenna (Robert Donner) arrives to investigate, amid a gathering of "experts" who submit their theories as to the hows and whys of the murder.

Jessica and Harry again join forces as they discuss various possibilities with the Sheriff and suspects alike, such as the riding rod and stirrup used to bludgeon the victim, and traces of blood and shoe polish uncovered beneath the hay, indicating that the body had been moved, but why the shoe polish?

Judge Harley (Melvin Belli) is brought in to the final showdown, he deciding in Jessica's favor to permit Emmaline Bristow to question the sole witness, a stallion, to obtain valuable information "From the Horse's Mouth."

The cast is rounded out by Kathy Hartsell as Young Woman, and Richard Balin as Coroner.

This episode marks the last acting appearance by Melvin Belli, a real life Hollywood attorney to the stars, who, here, portrays a Kentucky judge. This also marks the first television acting credit by Kathy Hartsell, and the most recent television role to date by Gregory Walcott, who has been acting since 1952.

This also represents the first of two "MSW" roles for Debra Sandlund, the second of two each for Richard Balin, Maxwell Caulfield and Robert Donner, the second of three each for Kevin McCarthy and James Bartz, the third of three for Gregory Walcott, the fourth of five for Tricia O'Neil, and the fifth of six "MSW" guest appearances for Jerry Orbach, in his role as Boston P.I. Harry McGraw.

Patricia Huston, acting since 1958, Robert Donner, acting since 1959, Jerry Orbach, acting since 1961, and Melvin Belli, acting since 1968, have unfortunately since passed.

Two rival families, The Morgans and The Sterlings feud over a horse breeding matter, Jessica calls on the help of Harry McGraw, but things get worse when murder occurs.

After some very, very strong episodes, this one doesn't quite have the same level of impact, intrigue, or even interest. It's more a middle of the road episode, with nothing hugely memorable happening, but it's watchable, and there are some interesting characters.

The murder itself is one of the more obvious ones, the first suspect is a given, you'll know instantly who's going to get arrested, but the actual killers identity is not without imagination.

The horse whisperer is an interesting character, she's a bit of a crank, but she's put to amusing use, the scene of the horse's interview was bonkers. I hope that horse had a fee.

Nice to see Harry McGraw, good episode for him, I wasn't always blown away by some of the stories he features in, but he was great here.

6/10.

Have always been quite fond of 'Murder She Wrote'. It is a fun and relaxing watch that makes you think as you try to unwind in the evening. If one wants more complex, twisty mysteries with lots of tension and suspense 'Murder She Wrote' may not be for you, but if you want something light-hearted and entertaining but still provide good mysteries 'Murder She Wrote' fits the bill just fine.

"From the Horse's Mouth" is neither among the best or worst episodes of Season 7, or even of 'Murder She Wrote' in general. It is a decent, above-average effort but falls short of being anything more than decent, and a bit disappointing following on from one of the finest 'Murder She Wrote' episodes "Who Killed J.B. Fletcher" and one of the most surprising episodes (in that it was one of those episodes where the how and why are not obvious or guessable until all is explained) in a while in "The Taxman Cometh".

It is the cast that elevates "From the Horse's Mouth" to a better level. Can't fault Angela Lansbury, nor Jerry Orbach. Their chemistry, as ever whenever they were together (which to me wasn't anywhere enough) is very charming. Kevin McCarthy, Maxwell Caulfield and Nanette Fabray are particularly good in support and Robert Donner is a very convincing sheriff, the tension between him and Lansbury's Jessica every bit as much.

Liked the setting a lot too, with the episode doing well in capturing the excitement and tensions. The horses look wonderful.

Production values as always are slick and stylish with some nostalgia induced. The music has energy and has presence but also not making the mistake of over-scoring, while it is hard to forget or resist the theme tune. The writing shows signs of being thoughtful and amiable, though most other episodes do better in maintaining both qualities more consistently.

On the other hand, "From the Horse's Mouth" underwhelms a little when it comes to the mystery. It's engaging enough but treads too much on familiar ground, and neither the why and who aspects were surprising. For example, to me the significance of the shoe-polish was very obvious straight away and one is very likely to figure it out well before the sleuthing characters do.

Some of the script also seems a bit limp and bland, with a lack of consistent light-hearted energy.

In conclusion, decent and above average but somewhat lacking. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Jessica visits Kentucky and, naturally goes to the horse races, where she is seen betting $200 on a given horse. But we immediately learn that she never bets more than $10 for herself, this bet was for her friend Harry McGraw back in Boston. In a weird, though unimportant matter, we never see one second of that race, nor any other horse race in this show. Normally, an series episode focused on the subject will show us at least a few seconds of a race.

The plot focuses on two rival horse breeders feud, that involves-no surprise here-offspring of the two men, offspring who are engaged, with the female being a veterinarian who treats horses. In classic movie/TV murder mystery fashion, you believe you know who'll get murdered, and as soon as you learn you are right you KNOW who will be accused due to scenes you saw, and that will also be right. So obviously, the killer is someone else and they did a good job here in giving you a clue or two but not making it too obvious who the killer was.

One thing dragged this episode down, although I see others thought it was funny. Nanette Fabray plays a lady who seems to believe that she can not only talk to horses and have them understand her words, but that they answer her and she can translate it into English. She did this in her opening scene-OK, kind of amusing. But then she did it during the Reveal, and even though there was a reason for this, the way it was handled by those not in the know made it a rather ridiculous scene to me.

I cannot finish without mentioning that these last three episodes have had some interesting lawmen, particularly to people who remember The Beverly Hillbillies, Fernwood 2-Nite, and The Waltons. In MSW sequence, we saw lawmen in these three episodes portrayed by actors well known for roles that make the thought of them being police officers seem preposterous: Jethro Bodine, Jerry Hubbard, and Yancy Tucker. Barney Fife is Sherlock Holmes next to those characters. Of course, the actors who played those characters are fine actors and I have no beefs about their characters on this series; I'm simply enjoying the thought of a police force with their former characters all working together.

This would seem to be an MSW that gets few viewers thinking it one of the best and even fewer thinking it one of the worst. It didn't stand out much in either direction. I think it a solid six.

Jessica Fletcher attends a party for a celebrated thoroughbred horse in Kentucky, where a feud between neighbours leads to murder. Nice setting around stables and horses and a good build-up to murder, however it's an average episode. Harry Macguire features, and with his wisecracks in tow, he works really well with Jessica.