The Golden Gate Murders

Although filming started in January 1979, subsequently airing as CBS 'Movie of the Week' in October, The Golden Gate Murders has all the look and feel of a film made at least five years previously; street exterior scenes were filmed in San Francisco, with Universal Studios sets standing in for the famous bridge. Despite David Jansson (who was suffering alcoholism at the time) giving a captivating performance as the investigating sergeant, this intriguing little thriller is marred somewhat by the (typical for television) oversweet ending.

Having just landed in San Francisco with his entourage, the elderly Father Thomas (Regis J. Cordic) decides to walk over the last section of the Golden Gate Bridge — in memory of his brother who’d committed suicide there many years previously. Suddenly he is attacked by a masked and cloaked figure, thrown off the bridge, crashing to his death in the icy waters of San Francisco Bay below.

After the body is found, an official verdict of death by suicide is delivered, but Father Thomas’ personal nurse, Sister Benecia (Susannah York), refuses to accept the decision, staying behind in San Francisco as the rest of her religious associates fly back to South Africa.

She strikes up an accord with cantankerous, greying widower Sergeant Paul Silver (a very world-weary David Jansson), who headed the enquiry into Father Thomas’ death from the outset. The friendship develops into an unofficial partnership when the pair (after a little persuasion from the Sister) mounts their own investigation on the side. Events start to gather their own momentum for Sister Benecia when ‘The Creeper’ turns his murderous attention to her, and following protective custody under the now charming Silver, she starts to question her own religious vocation.