This week’s mystery movie was the 1975 film Murph the Surf, with Robert Conrad, Don Stroud, Donna Mills, Robyn Millan, Ben Frank, Pepper Martin, Morgan Paull, Paul Stewart, Burt Young and Luther Adler.
| Photography by Michel Hugo. | Production designer James Vance. |
| Music composed and conducted by Phillip Lambro. | Edited by Howard Smith. |
| Executive producer Caruth C. Byrd. | Screenplay by E. Arthur Kean. |
| Based on a story by Allan Dale Kuhn. | Produced by J. Skeet Wilson and Chuck Courtney. |
| Directed by Marvin Chomsky. |
Further information about Murph the Surf is available from the AFI Catalog.
The DVD lists for crazy money on Amazon.
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I chose Murph the Surf for the simple reason that it was my nickname for Dr. Edward Murphy, a music theory teacher I had at the University of Arizona, and because it’s rather hard to find. I used to run across the soundtrack in cutout bins of LPs years ago. But the choice was mostly a whim.
A.H. Weiler of The New York Times (June 12, 1975) did not approve of such goings-on:
The theory that crime isn’t always the stuff of trenchant movies is scenically illustrated in Murph the Surf and The Destructors, the adventures that crashed into local theaters yesterday. If there is a gloss of sincerity in these depictions of antiheroes in action here and abroad, it is overshadowed by successions of explosive capers in Miami and New York and Paris and Marseilles that loom a good deal larger than the tough but doomed characters they attempt to dissect.
For Monday, we have a mystery fellow.
Update: This is Lloyd McLinn.
For “Tricky Tuesday,” we have a tricky fellow. Also Tricky Back of the Head Guy.
Update: This is Paul Stewart with Robert Conrad as Back of the Head Guy.
For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a mysterious fellow.
This baffling fellow is Morgan Paull, seen later in the small but critical role of Holden in Blade Runner.
Brain Trust roll call: Sheila (Tuesday’s mysterious fellow) and Howard Mandelbaum (Tuesday’s mystery gent).
For “Aha Thursday,” we have this mysterious fellow.
Update: This is Buffy Dee.
We also have these mysterious gents. They do not approve of such goings-on.
Update: This is Burt Young, left, and Pepper Martin.
Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (Tuesday’s mysterious fellow) and Sylvia E. (Tuesday’s mystery guest).
For Friday, we have a mystery woman.
Update: This is Donna Mills.
We also have this mysterious fellow.
Update: This is Don Stroud.
And this mystery fellow, with a mysterious gem.
Update: This is Robert Conrad.
Brain Trust roll call: Mary Mallory (mystery movie and all mystery guests), L.C. (mystery movie and mysterious cast), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery man No. 2), Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie) and Sylvia E. (mystery movie and all mystery guests).
ladailymirror.com 
Paul Stewart for Tuesday?
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Paul Stewart.
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Paul Stewart Tuesday.
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Martin Milner on Wednesday?
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On Hm Wednesday, an odd mashup of Martin Milner and George Maharis. I realize this is not correct.
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Hmmm…
Monday, nada. Tuesday’s guy reminds me of Paul Stewart but can’t really tell. Wednesday, nope. Maybe Thursday will reveal other insights.
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MURPH THE SURF. Paul Stewart Tuesday, Kip King Wednesday, Buffy Dee, Burt Young and Pepper Martin today.
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Murph the Surf 1975?
A movie with both Paul Stewart and Burt Young
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Murf the Surf (1975) w/Robert Conrad, Burt Young, Pepper Martin, Don Stroud, Paul Stewart, Donna Mills, Robyn Millan, Luther Adler, Buffy Dee…
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Mystery man #1 Burt Young.
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MURF THE SURF.
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Found more images from Murph the Surf, so will proceed.
Monday – I think this is Lloyd McLinn. If it’s him, his son’s an actor too. And what a family history of heart issues.
Tuesday – Paul Stewart and, I think, Robert Conrad is BOTHG.
Wednesday – Morgan Paul (who’s in Blade Runner a few years later)
Thursday – Burt Young and Pepper Martin
So Friday will bring Robert Conrad, Don Stroud and maybe Donna Mills
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forgot to include Buffy Dee for Thursday’s guy in the car.
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Burt Young, Donna Mills, Don Stroud and Robert Conrad means the movie is Murph the Surf.
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Donna Mills, Don Stroud, snd Robert Conrad.
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Robert Conrad, Don Stroud and Donna Mills in MURPH THE SURF.
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Friday: Donna Mills, Don Stroud, Robert Conrad and one of the “star” gems.
The full true story behind this film is avoided by having it end a few years before the really gruesome events Murphy was a part of.
The epilogue alludes to those events but does not take us further…”He (Murphy) was later convicted of subsequent crimes and is currently serving a life sentence in Raiford State Penitentiary, State of Florida”. (he was later released after he “found God” and was an inmate pastor during his incarceration – sigh)
The “subsequent crimes” by the way are the horrific murders of two women by Murphy and a different accomplice. There’s apparently a new mini-series (produced by Ron Howard and Brian Glazer) that gives a more accurate, objective view of the men and their natures.
Conrad and Stroud had film personas that presented as “fun” and maybe “scamps”, but generally not “creepy, dangerous, opportunistic, homicidal” characters. Would be interesting to know if it was them or the studio heads that decided to avoid the later part of Murphy’s history.
Look forward to reading your Saturday breakdown.
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Anyone that would pay 200 bucks for this movie has more dollars than sense.
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