overwhelmed after wounding Terry. Terry flees the cruise ship where Meyer and Merrimay are waiting at the pier. Merrimay, her hair dyed to closer resemble Vangie, calls out to Terry. Already bloodied by his fight with Travis, Terry goes berserk at the idea that Vangie survived and storms down the gangplank towards her, punching anyone in his way. Security guards try stopping Terry, but they only slow him until Travis appears and takes down the muscle-bound killer with a blow from a wooden 2x4. The movie ends with Travis and Merrimay talking on his houseboat The Busted Flush. She asks if he still is in love with Vangie and hints that she might want a relationship with him, but McGee replies by saying he will need time to consider if he is ready for a new love in his life. Cast Production Other actors considered for the role of Travis McGee were Jack Lord and Robert Culp. John D. MacDonald pushed for Steve McQueen or Vic Morrow. The movie was shot on location in Florida and Nassau. Reception Critical Though it did not gross well in the box office, Darker than Amber earned many positive reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of a possible 4. He wrote that Taylor, somewhat playing against type by showing more warmth than his usual taciturn performances, was well-cast as McGee and that the plot managed to transcend standard detective cliches to become "a surprisingly good movie". Howard Thompson of The New York Times also gave the film reserved praise, stating that the cinematography was "excellent" and that the film was "better than average for this type [of crime film]" and Smith was "a truly horrendous giant of a psycho", but that the screenplay lagged in parts despite the good material to work from (in the original novel), and that the real star of the film was its Florida setting. MacDonald disliked the film calling it "feral, cheap, rotten, gratuitously meretricious, shallow and embarrassing." The film played a rare theatrical screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York City, New York, on August 14, 2009. Box office The film recorded admissions of 17,351 in France. The film recorded a loss of $2,958,251. Producer Jack Reeves had bought the rights for another McGee novel The Deep Blue Goodbye but it was decided not to proceed with it. Fight scenes and rating Initially rated