The Cheap Detective

PG

1978

1h 32m

Comedy

List

53%

17 Reviews

Tomatometer

57%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this satire of film noir, Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk) is a San Francisco detective in the boozy, wise-cracking tradition of Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon." A suspect in the murder of his own partner, Lou hopes to solve the crime and exonerate himself before the cops haul him in. Meanwhile, he takes a case involving stolen diamonds, and gets reacquainted with his old flame, Marlene DuChard (Louise Fletcher), who's on the run from the Gestapo.

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Clint E

It's a Bogie spoof, it's Neil Simon plus Peter Falk leading an all-star 70s cast. While Bogart remains the greatest movie star ever and his best known films, The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca, set the standard for memorable lines, The Cheap Detective hiariously succeeds as an inside-joke type spoof. The 1970s was an era teeming with muder mysteries with all-star casts, setting the stage for this total mash-up of fun. I'd love to see the outtakes. Neil Simon's dialogue is upraoaious, but with the addition of stars such as Falk doing Bogart and Fernando Llamas doing Paul Henreid, the Nazi major in Casablanca, the result is too funny for words. I didn't expect the dead-pan hunor from Louise Fletcher, but she pulls it off flawlessly as does every otherv actor. For the record I liked this slightly more than the similar Murder By Death or even Clue, made almost a decade later. Kudos to Eileen Brennan, who's in all three!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/24

Full Review

David W

A personal favourite comedy of my wife and I. A wonderful cast with too many great turns and cameos to mention, revel in Neil Simon's wonderful script. Falk, Khan and Brennan are magnificent as always and really show their comedy chops. So many great lines. An old fashioned, witty and effortlessly charming send up of the Maltese Falcon, film noir and the detective genre of the golden age. A hugely underrated comedy classic.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

05/02/23

Full Review

Michael H

Rapid humor with a large cast of well known comedic actors that develop over the top characters who keep you chuckling. Peter Faulk and Madeline Khan's funniest roles.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/01/23

Full Review

Tony S

Amusing like the Airplane movie. Different genre, same kind of jokes. Written by Neil Simon, if you think it seems more like Mel Brooks, you're not wrong. A great cast.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

Paul G

A satire of film noir satire in the wise-cracking tradition of Humphrey Bogart? Firstly it is simply not funny at all. Secondly, the script is hard to follow, you loose track on who and what is going on. This was a very poor film to watch. Rotten.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

12/30/22

Full Review

Don S

Painful!! I couldn't finish it.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

11/29/22

Full Review

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Robert Moore

Director

Peter Falk

Lou Peckinpaugh

Ann-Margret

Jezebel Dezire

Eileen Brennan

Betty DeBoop

Sid Caesar

Ezra Dezire

Stockard Channing

Bess

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Bob Thomas

Associated Press

There are some moments of forced silliness, but the average of hilarity is impressive.

Jul 17, 2019

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

If you loved The Maltese Falcon and can recite all the best lines from Casablanca by heart, you'll hate The Cheap Detective, which is basically just the year's classiest and most expensive rip-off.

Rated: 2/4

Jun 16, 2018

Full Review

Nell Minow

Movie Mom

Rated: 2/5

Nov 1, 2003

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The hit-to-miss ratio is acceptable enough to give this a hearty recommendation.

Rated: 3/4

Feb 17, 2023

Full Review

Kathey Clarey

Fresno Bee

Neil Simon has done it again. Written a film that is funny, entertaining, and a treat for old movie buffs.

Aug 5, 2021

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Disappointing thin comedy.

Rated: C+

May 30, 2017

Full Review

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Synopsis

In this satire of film noir, Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk) is a San Francisco detective in the boozy, wise-cracking tradition of Humphrey Bogart in "The Maltese Falcon." A suspect in the murder of his own partner, Lou hopes to solve the crime and exonerate himself before the cops haul him in. Meanwhile, he takes a case involving stolen diamonds, and gets reacquainted with his old flame, Marlene DuChard (Louise Fletcher), who's on the run from the Gestapo.

Director: Robert Moore
Production Co: Columbia Pictures Corporation, EMI Films Ltd., Rastar Pictures
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2013
Runtime: 1h 32m

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