The Cheap Detective ** (1978, Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, John Houseman, Louise Fletcher, Nicol Williamson, Fernando Lamas, Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLuise) – Classic Movie Review 6793

The actors seem to be having a good time in the 1978 comedy The Cheap Detective sending up Humphrey Bogart’s films in a 1940 San Francisco-set parody with Peter Falk as a Bogart-style character called Lou Peckinpaugh.

Star Peter Falk, screen-writer Neil Simon and director Robert Moore reconvene in 1978 for an all-star crime comedy sequel to their hit Agatha Christie parody Murder by Death (1976), but this time inspiration and good jokes are very scarce.

True, the actors do seem to be having a good time sending up Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep in a 1940 San Francisco-set parody of Humphrey Bogart’s films – Falk as a Humphrey Bogart-style character called Lou Peckinpaugh, Dom DeLuise as Peter Lorre-type persona Pepe Damascus, Ann-Margret as Jezebel Dezire, and John Houseman as Jasper Blubber, a kind of Sydney Greenstreet. All that is fine and dandy, but unfortunately the screenplay is not nearly sharp and funny enough.

It is worth a look for about the amusing first half an hour, but then it really starts to drag. It is also worth a look for the stars: Peter Falk, John Houseman, Nicol Williamson, Louise Fletcher, Fernando Lamas, Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLuise, Paul Williams, Marsha Mason, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, Sid Caesar, Scatman Crothers, James Coco and Phil Silvers. It is quite a delicious cast.

Also in the cast are Abe Vigoda, Vic Tayback, James Cromwell, Emory Bass, Carmine Carridi, David Ogden Stiers, Carole Wells, John Calvin, Richard Narita, Jonathan Banks, Lew Gallo and Jerry Ziman.

The Cheap Detective is directed by Robert Moore, runs 92 minutes, is a Rastar production, is released by Columbia, is written by Neil Simon, is shot in Metrocolor by John A Alonzo, is produced by Ray Stark, is scored by Patrick Williams, and is designed by Robert Luthardt.

Simon and Stark made 11 movies together: The Sunshine Boys (1975), Murder by Death (1976), The Goodbye Girl (1977), The Cheap Detective (1978), California Suite (1978), Chapter Two (1979), Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Slugger’s Wife (1985), Brighton Beach Memoirs (1986),  Biloxi Blues (1988) and Lost in Yonkers (1993).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6793

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