The Cheap Detective

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nick s Had a lot of promise with nice sets and loads of star power. But leant a bit too heavily on one liners, making the comedy one dimensional. It also felt like the directing/editing wasn't snappy enough and uninteresting moments outstayed their welcome. Still, it's worth a watch. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/25 Full Review T W Even if it isn't Simon's best, it's still well worth a watch. As to comparisons to "Airplane!", this one was made years earlier. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 12/11/24 Full Review Mike S Silly but hilarious spoof. Similar in humor to Airplane and Naked Gun, but with a more historic reference. It was a great diversion from the absurdity that is today's world. So many great performers and a good reminder of how talented Madelyn Khan was. The ending was a great twist. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 08/07/24 Full Review Audience Member The 1940s wartime setting and wardrobe were the best things in this movie. The storyline and script were not good. Not Neil Simon's best. Maybe the 1978 audience was not as sophisticated as today. This film seemed to be solely built on star power alone and has not aged well. It looked like everything was filmed in a studio. I can't be sure there were any authentic outside shots. It was what it was. Cheers. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 07/27/24 Full Review 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 3.5/5 Stars •  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 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/02/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Cheap Detective

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