User reviews

Following close on the heels of "Murder By Death," screenwriter Neil Simon penned this, another mystery farce focusing this time on a character originally developed in "Murder By Death," Peter Falk's trenchcoat-wearing Humphrey Bogart impersonation. The result is an often funny though somewhat strained and oddly miscast production.

Falk's Lou Peckinpaugh is investigating the murder of his detective partner in Nazi-occupied San Francisco. The cops think Peckinpaugh did it, because he was having an affair with his partner's wife. Some people want him to recover some stolen diamonds disguised as Albanian eggs. Meanwhile, to add some "Casablanca" to this "Maltese" parody, Lou's old flame has arrived in San Francisco with her husband, a Resistance leader who wants to open a two-star French restaurant in Oakland - if the Gestapo doesn't get him first.

It's a kindred spirit to "Airplane," a film made two years later. This is a madcap, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink comedy that plays with movie conventions to absurd lengths. Simon's roots as a writer on TV's "Your Show Of Shows" are very clear here, not only with the presence of that show's star, Sid Caesar, in a key role, but in the way Simon creates an all-out comedy in the vein of two fellow "Show Of Shows" writers, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. It's even more goofy than "Murder By Death." "Cheap Detective" has a lot of laugh-out-loud moments, but it's not as well-thought-out or fun as "Murder By Death." There's a dumb beginning, with underinspired opening credits and a drawn out joke about a killer who works so fast the victims haven't time to fall. The film also peters out at the conclusion, unlike "Murder By Death," where much of the charm comes with the kooky finale.

But the middle is mostly very good. Even great spoofs like "Airplane" and "Young Frankenstein" have dumb jokes. "Cheap Detective" has them, too, along with some hilarious moments. Simon throws up a ton of non sequiturs and silly puns, much in the vein of Brooks and Allen in their early, better days. Since this film doesn't have the same level of cultural recognition as the best of Brooks, Allen, or Simon, there's more chance of being pleasantly surprised by what takes place here. Peter Falk is great in his Bogie reprise, and so is Eileen Brennan playing the same Lauren Bacall character she created in "Murder By Death." Madeline Kahn is super, too, though I can't tell you the name of the character she plays and neither does she.

But there are some weird casting choices. John Houseman as fat Sydney Greenstreet? Dom DeLuise as Peter Lorre? Paul Williams? Abe Vigoda? I guess Marsha Mason had a role guaranteed in her prenup with Mr. Simon, but she's not quite right as a femme fatale. Neither is Louise Fletcher as the Ingrid Bergman character. Everyone in the film talks about her being such a knockout, but all I see is Nurse Ratched. No one is really bad, just square pegs in round holes. The weirdest is Phil Silvers, who isn't even in the film except as a meaningless half-second cameo at the end, yet he has an opening credit.

Two standouts are Nicol Williamson as the Nazi "military attache to Cincinnati" and Ann-Margret as a cleavage-flashing vamp. Whenever they are on screen, the movie is a lot funnier. Falk mostly serves the plot, but has some good lines, too: "Day by day, I erased your face from my memory, until all I had left was your right ear and three front teeth on the bottom." The film will make you laugh, and laugh again if you give it a few months to recharge between viewings. It's not a classic comedy, or even very good, but it's a fun frolic from one of filmdom's finest funnymen.

"...This has nothing to do with our story. Our story starts in a fictitious city called San Francisco...seven thousand miles away from Casablanca."

"There's four bodies in here, three of them as cold as yesterday's toast, the last one is ready to pop up."-Sgt. Rizzuto (played by Abe Vigoda)

"If they had a radio to listen to, those two kids would be alive today."-Lt. DiMaggio (Vic Tayback)

There's a great opening to this detective spoof built around the detective Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk) whose partner Floyd Merkle is found dead along with other individuals in a San Francisco Chinatown hotel. Lou comes under suspicion right away as he has been having a longtime affair with Floyd's wife Georgia Merkle (Marsha Mason). In fact Lou is quite the ladies man as he collects this bevy of beauties who want him...the singer Betty DeBoop (Eileen Brennan) who we meet at a Casablanca spoof performing Edith Piaf's big hit 'La Vie en rose' only she's not singing it...she's 'la-la'-ing her way through it, his young secretary Bess (played by Stockard Channing), Marlene DuChard (Louise Fletcher), the vampy Jezebel Dezire (Ann-Margaret), and Denise Mandalay-Wanda Coleman-Gilda Dabne-Chloe Lamar-Amma Chalmers-Alma Palmers-Vivian Purcell-Almon Montenegro-Diane Glocksman-Miss DeVega-Mary Jones-Lady Gweneth Morgan St. Paul who was a client of his partner and just can't give a straight answer as to what her real name is (Madeline Kahn).

"I think I have some information regarding the untimely death of your late deceased murdered partner."-Floyd's client "Who is this?"-Lou "As the Chinese say, 'never mind'. We must be careful I'm being watched. Can we meet in your office in fifteen minutes?"-Floyd's client "Alright, what time is it now?"-Lou "I'd rather not tell you that until I know I can trust you."-Floyd's client

Top shelf comedy cast that is too numerous to mention, with it's jazzy detective soundtrack and loaded with great lines, what really sets this film apart is all of the really wonderful references and not just to the classics like Casablanca...but there are more subtle references, like the one to the film Grease which was released the same year in the following...

"Go ahead and thank me, Lou. Thank me here, now. You don't know how long I've waited for a really good thanks."-Bess "Are you tryin' to tel me..."-Lou "Yes. I know I look like I have been around, but I've never been thanked in my whole life."-Bess "You sweet, silly kid. Why haven't I ever noticed you before?"-Lou

I really enjoyed the Running gag..."sorry, no tip. War veteran.", "No tip, death in the family."...it was pretty funny and every time it was a different excuse from our frugal detective.

Fans of spoofs, particularly those who are also fans of classic detective films and Casablanca will enjoy this film immensely. It is a little dated, but still really fun to see once. I loved the costuming...especially the women's wear and the duplication of scenes from Casablanca.

A guilty pleasure to be liked by suspense/humor enthusiasts . An enjoyable and well-performed film , that is letdown -at times- due to a confusing developing . This rendition of a Neil Simon's novel in an entertaining and fun spoof of Humphrey Bogart movies , specially from The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep and To Have and Have . Set in San Francisco, 1940 , Lou Peckinpaugh : Peter Falk , the Cheap Detective who becomes involved into grisly killings and twisted investigations . A parody of Humphrey Bogart's movies in which our eccentric private eye has entered a world that is half Casablanca (1942) and half The Maltese Falcon (1941) . Who dunnit? This time it's Neil Simon who's really dunnit. He knows every cheap trick , cheap joke, cheap shot and cheap dame in the book . By the time the world's greatest detective work out whodunit, you could die laughing!

This popular and bemusing charade deals with a fistful of famed stars incarnating notorious characters in which are blended detectives , dames , murders , jealousy , documents , Nazis , and a valuable treasure . For Peter Falk and Neil Simon to parody Humphrey Bogart movies as Maltese Falcon or Casablanca is an easy task , but it is still pretty fun when not resorting to the obvious . Following Murder by Death (1976) style, Neil Simon remained on the set to take care of re-writes , as he did with this picture's sequel, The Cheap Detective . Simon took such a shine to Peter Falk during the picture's production that he told him if he did not like anything in the film, he'd immediately rewrite it for him, but Falk assured him it was great fun for him . The screenplay is funny and high quality in which it's not difficult to work out on which murder suspects each of them is modeled . Well-known actors have attractive but brief interventions , then appears amusement and entertainment , as all of them running around and taking place murders , who's the killer? . Stands out Peter Falk throughout the entire film, he gloriously exploits in a resourceful Bogart-like role . As Lou/Peter Falk goes through a series of scenes from the two vintage movies trying to keep ahead of the Police who think he killed his partner and find the black bird . Vast supporting cast and equally game for entertainment in this consistently attractive adventure . As a large and excellent secondary cast containing a lot of familar faces , such as : Ann-Margret , Eileen Brennan , Sid Caesar , Stockard Channing , James Coco , Dom DeLuise, Louise Fletcher , John Houseman, Fernando Lamas, Phil Silvers , Paul Williams, Nicol Williamson , Carmine Caridi , James Cromwell , Scatman Crothers , David Ogden Stiers , Jonathan Banks, Abe Vigoda, John Calvin , David Ogden Stiers , Vic Tayback, among others . It is in fact an amusing imitation of Crime Story including agreeable and sympathetic performances by the entire cast . The entire cast seems to be subsisting on sugar with wild eyes and frenetic movements the order of the day . You'll enjoy enormously the impersonations of similar roles to other classic films .

It displays a lively and charming musical score by Patrick Williams. As well as evocative and colorful cinematography in Panavision by John A. Alonzo . The motion picture was competently directed by Robert Moore who was a good comedy director : Murder by death , The Cheap Detective , Chapter two , Thursday's Game . Rating : 6/10 . Preceeded by ¨Murder by Death¨(1976) by Robert Moore , with Peter Sellers , Eileen Brennan, Peter Falk , David Niven, Truman Capote, James Coco , Alec Guinness , Elsa Lanchester . Followed by another hammy spoof titled ¨Clue¨(1985) a pale imitation of the earlier parody , being directed by Jonathan Lynn with Tim Curry , Christopher Lloyd , Lesley Ann Warren and Madeline Khan .

Neil Simon follows up the whodunit spoof Murder by Death with The Cheap Detective which spoofs Bogart films such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon.

Lou Peckinpaugh is a San Francisco private eye having an affair with his partner' wife when his partner dies and he is the number one suspect and the police are hot on his tail. Lou investigates a case of the diamond eggs meanwhile an old flame returns with a nervy French Resistance hero and the Germans have the best table in the restaurant, again.

Peter Falk does a good parody of Bogart, Ann Margaret is a wow as the blonde bombshell Jezebel and Louise Fletcher gets to riff Ingrid Bergman as Marlene DuChard.

The film has a good period vibe but it cannot sustain its initial energy. Also with the superior Airplane and Naked Gun films this parody feels flat, lacks bite and just not a funny.

I am just watching this movie because Peter Falk is in it as I have not seen that many of his films, and I was interested to take a look at as many of them as I could.

Or for that matter many of Neil Simon films, I will have to see a few more before I can properly rank this one in the list.

I am not really that much of a fan of the Private Eye movie genre, whether it's Bogart's versions or any other. Though I am familiar with the style, along with the names of actors that populated them, including at least some of their voices.

The Cheap Detective is obviously Neil Simon's homage to the genre, films, and actors, so as such I feel that I have to forgive such an accomplished film directors conceits.

My personal inclination about the Cheap Detective is that the yanks certainly love corn, they plant plenty of it across their film industry, and this film is certainly no exception.

The Cheap Detective is most certainly that a light nonsense of a movie, lightly sprinkled with well know actors, voicing innumerable comic chestnuts.

I am not totally sorry that I watched it, though it will be a long time hence, that I will bother to repeat the experience.

This is a zany movie with wordplay that goes all over and utilizes Casbalanca, Maltese Flacon and the film noir genre to romp and go bonkers with, as a movie it could be unoriginal to romp those two movies but it is ok because it is like a comedic ode to them.

When PI Peter Falk's partner is murdered, that invokes the PI Code, and he has to stop sleeping with his partner's wife, Marsha Mason; but then Madeleine Kahn gets him involved in a deadly search for a fabulous treasure, and old lover Louise Fletcher shows up with her husband Fernando Lamas on the run from German officer Nicol Williamson, can the fog of confusion be worse than the perpetual fog of San Francisco?

Neil Simon has written a Bogart parody that covers all of Bogie's trench-coat movies, with a liberal addition of neo-noir that seems like the sort of sketch he might have had a hand in for Sid Caesar's old show, had they tried to make a sketch that stretched to ninety minutes. With enough references to make fans of old movies -- and older baseball players -- happy, it stops the gags occasionally in favor of an actual mystery: who shot Falk's partner, three witnesses, and various other people? Was it Caesar himself? Ann-Margaret? John Housman playing Sidney Greenstreet? I enjoyed it immensely, but will concede that you can't stretch what should have taken 7 minutes on a TV screen into an hour and a half without sagging occasionally. With Stockard Channing, Jame Coco, Dom Deluise, Phil Silvers, Abe Vigoda....

I love The Maltese Falcon and especially The Big Sleep from the 1940s. I'm less of a fan of Casablanca, yet I'm aware of many of its tropes since the film is considered to be an American institution. The Cheap Detective attempts to satire these big mainstream detective noir films from Hollywood's Golden Era with a strong dash of the philandering detective meme from multiple versions of trashier and forgotten mysteries of the same era.

The Cheap Detective manages to be funny without being excellent. Maybe if I had seen this when it was new it would have been more impressive but I'm not sure. For all of the big names involved in this Neil Simon parody - Madeleine Kahn, Eileen Brennen, and Scatman Crothers - I guess I expected too much more from it?

As the title implies, the main gag of this 70s comedy is that a rather plain middle aged detective is a five star pimp with women throwing themselves at him literally from the kitchen, the bedroom and the bathroom. For me, the funniest scene was the parody of the dueling French and German national anthems from Casablanca. Scatman Crothers got the loudest laugh from me in the entire film.