The Private Eyes

This is a wonderfully silly movie with just the right amount of "eek!" to delight even the youngest viewer. Don Knotts and Tim Conway are perfect as the bumbling detectives sent to crack the case, and the "Wookilar" is beyond funny. Truly a masterpiece....maybe. If you like them silly this is the movie for you.

I admit that this is not a movie that will be sung about by generations to come, but if you like Tim Conway and Don Knotts together (or your sense of humor is from the old Carol Burnette Show) then this one is for you. As a team, these two clearly have advanced slapstick and very much kept it alive. When I watch this I have come close to losing bladder control and at the least have broke down into tears of laughter. This movie isn't meant for kids but clearly the whole family can enjoy (sorta like Rocky&Bullwinkle). If you just want to laugh your butt off for 90 minutes and forget about life for a while, the The Private Eyes is just want you want.

OK, so maybe "The Private Eyes" is sort of a rehash of "Murder by Death", but it's still a laugh riot. It's essentially what would happen if Laurel & Hardy or Gilligan & the Skipper were detectives investigating a murder in an English mansion. In this case, Don Knotts is the irascible straight man and Tim Conway is his dimwitted assistant, looking into the killing of some aristocrats in a possibly haunted estate. The entire movie is basically an excuse for a series of gags, some clever and some cheap. It certainly made me laugh. As for the obvious plot holes...well, it's just a movie.

Yes, there's nothing special about the movie, but I still liked it. Also starring Trisha Noble, Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay on "Bewitched"), Grace Zabriskie, Irwin Keyes and Suzy Mandel.

Growing up it was Andy and Three's company and so on that had campy humor. It was the same case that was "funny" for the slap stick type of humor of what was considered funny "in the 70's and 80's" and so on for other TV shows for their time. In my opinion watching this movie reflecting back to the time it was and remembering it as kid to now was just great. The humor that made me smile was nice and made me think back to the days when i watched those shows, as i often do on nick at night, to laugh as I did then and still do even on reruns. Tim Conway and Don Knotts do a great job of muddling thru trying to solve a mystery with a great supporting cast.

Any movie that features Don Knotts as a brilliant detective and Tim Conway as his faithful assistant certainly has courage going for it.

But "Private Eyes" is better than you might expect; the setting (Biltmore Castle) is beautiful, the supporting cast (Fox in particular) is hilarious and a lot, if not all, of the gags are priceless.

Then again, what would you expect from Knotts' above-it-all air of pseudo-intelligence and Conway's endless pratfalls and an overcoat full of pigeons (don't ask)? They're two of the old-school comedians who know what's funny and never try to go further than the jokes will go.

"Private Eyes" works because Knotts and Conway are, more or less, just being themselves. Definitely a film worth seeking out.

You'll laugh. Trust me.

Seven stars. And don't drink the ink.