TV REVIEW : ‘Murder’ Struggles to Sustain Suspense

They say a star can’t save a weak script. And Elizabeth Montgomery doesn’t salvage CBS’ “With Murder in Mind” (at 9 tonight on Channels 2 and 8), but she does single-handedly shoulder this lukewarm drama and make it more watchable than the material merits.

Reportedly based on the true story of a Realtor named Gayle Wolfer, Montgomery’s real estate character pays dearly for a key professional slip: She agrees to meet a client whom she’s never seen before late at night in a house up for sale miles from her office in Albany.

Talk about your soured real estate deal. The client (a heavy-set Howard Rollins, unrecognizable from his “In the Heat of the Night” Virgil Tibbs role) turns out to be a killer looking for drug money. He hogties the real estate lady and the homeowner and then coldbloodedly shoots them.

The Realtor wakes up in a pool of blood and crawls to a phone for help, but the rest of the movie--her struggle to find her assailant and bring him to justice--is not very involving. The problem is a pedestrian script by Dan Freudenberger, listless direction by Michael Tuchner and, surprisingly, a bland performance by the usually strong Robert Foxworth in a vapid supporting role as Montgomery’s live-in boyfriend and salesman in her office. Their scenes together are churlish and irksome.

The movie sustains a modicum of suspense because, despite the victim’s certainty, the murderous client (a community activist and police officer, no less) has changed his appearance to make his identity unclear.

Through it all, Montgomery’s characteristic spirit and sass pump oxygen into the production’s low-beeping lifeline. For a bonus, fans of Maureen O’Sullivan may want to watch to catch this ageless star in a winning, wisdom-filled guest part near the end.