Murder at 1600 (1997)

This White House thriller sees top detective Wesley Snipes investigating the murder of a young blonde woman found dead in one of the toilets. His investigation soon leads him up dangerous alleyways as he uncovers a far-reaching conspiracy involving adultery and men who will stop at nothing to cover up the truth. To be fair it's a rather pedestrian storyline and indeed the film follows a safe, middle of the road pattern, never presenting anything original in the way of ideas or plotting. The scripting is rather predictable and the characters contrived, and the input of journeyman director Dwight H. Little doesn't add much in the way of interest either.Still, it's rather hard to dislike this movie. Wesley Snipes is on top form here as the likable detective, and I loved his war gaming hobby. Diane Lane makes for a pretty foil, and there are some distinguished actors in the cast, although Ronny Cox is unwisely underused as the good-guy president; I would have preferred to see him playing another weaselly villain a la ROBOCOP. There are a few action scenes which feel tacked on, including a somewhat cheesy climax, but in the end I enjoyed this film to a certain degree. It's not world changing, but for the 1990s – a decade of usually poor filmmaking – it's not too bad.

Formulaic clichés aside, MURDER At 1600 is a classic Wesley Snipes thrill ride. He portrays a DC cop investigating the murder of a young woman in a White House restroom. Suspicion falls on the president's son, at a time when the president (Ronny Cox) doesn't need any more trouble. The North Koreans are on the warpath, and the president is being pressured to go to war, Alan Alda and Harris Yulin are among the president's advisers, and Diane Lane plays a Secret Service agent who teams up with Snipes to solve the murder. Lane is strictly window dressing, but that's OK. The movie is fast-moving, and Snipes was in his prime, battling both bureaucrats and black ops assassins as he inches closer to the truth. Movies like this were a staple of the 80s, and there's nothing really new here But with Snipes in the lead, MURDER AT 1100 makes for a fun time.

This film is based on a novel by Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry Truman and First Lady Bess Truman. For some reason, she is not given credit here on IMDb for the work that this film is based on.As to the movie itself, I would agree that in certain ways it would be somewhat implausible, yet I still find it quite entertaining, and easy to watch any time it pops up on TV, these days in High Def, looking far better then it has in years. I like Wesley Snipes - persistent, a pain in the behind, never willing to give up with so much at stake. And I find that Diane Lane is at her best here - not trying to be attractive, yet amazingly so, showing that she can and ought to be an action adventure type of actor as much as any other type of work that she gets into. And after all the lies and other nonsense that has come out of the Nixon, Reagan and Dubya administrations, maybe this doesn't seem all that impossible after all.

I like Wesley Snipes in just about everything he has been in. I am not talking Academy Award stuff here, but just enjoyable action fare that will pass the time without making you groan.New Jack City, Passenger 57, Rising Sun, Demolition Man, Blade I, II, III, U.S. Marshalls, and this one all provide action and entertainment. That's what we watch movies for, isn't it? The story about a conspiracy to get rid of a President (Ronnie Cox) who is not a right-wing nut job like Alan Alda is interesting, and there are interesting characters along the way like Diane Lane (Unfaithful, The Perfect Storm), Daniel Benzali ("Murder One"), and Dennis Miller (Bordello of Blood).You won't go wrong here as Snipes shows the best character yet.