The Cheap Detective poster & wallpaper

Abe Vigoda, Ann-Margret, Dom DeLuise

Most fans of everything-but-the-kitchen-sink comedies like The Naked Gun and Hot Shots probably think the genre started with Airplane!, but Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective...( read more  read more... ) came two years earlier. It's a camp parody of Humphrey Bogart's 1940s detective flicks (particularly The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep), with a big dose of Casablanca thrown in for good measure. There's no point in describing the plot--it's little more than a series of cameos by just about every actor working in the 1970s, including Ann-Margaret, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, Dom DeLuise, John Houseman, Marsha Mason, and Nicol Williamson. Peter Falk plays the detective and does a fine Bogey impression. Unfortunately, it's not Neil Simon's best work--he's better at character comedy such as The Odd Couple and The Goodbye Girl than this kind of slapstick--but there are a few good lines and the cast gives it their best. Louise Fletcher, not usually known for comedy, does a sharp satire of Ingrid Bergman in Casablanca, and Madeline Kahn never fails to entertain in a variety of disguises. --Bret Fetzer

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64% liked it

1,268 ratings

PG, 92 min.

Directed by: Robert Moore

Release Date: June 9, 1978

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DVD Release Date: November 13, 2001

Stats: 71 reviews

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Madeline Kahn as Mrs. Montenegro The Cheap Detective
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Flixster Reviews (71)

  • scrambledegg7
    November 4, 2009
    scrambledegg7
    It doesn't speak well for this movie that an hour after I saw it, I can barely remember what happened in it. Neil Simon's dialogue is best suited to real characters with real personalities... in spoof, it becomes oddly larger-than-life. This movie seems so determined to be funny ...( read more)that it forgets to actually BE funny. It attempts too many take-offs on specific movies, rather than overall cliches and stereotypes, and just leads to silliness. And not the good kind. More looks of disdain than laughs here. Very disappointing.
  • dukeakasmudge
    October 22, 2009
    dukeakasmudge
    A laugh a minute!!!!
  • zimbanano
    July 9, 2009
    zimbanano
    muy graciosa, de nei simmon

    * ver murdered by murder tambien
  • sapphireoasis21
    February 15, 2009
    sapphireoasis21
    Overall, the movie was a nice comedic film with a slew of cameos throughout, including a number of people from Simon's earlier who-dun-it, Murder By Death.
  • meladee30
    August 3, 2007
    meladee30
    Move over Humphrey - Peter will keep you laughing
  • awesomelycool4ev
    July 13, 2007
    awesomelycool4ev
    this ones really funny!
  • sleepykiss
    January 28, 2007
    sleepykiss
    "Arent you going to light my fire? Certainly. I was just looking over your kindling wood." Watch with MURDER BY DEATH for endless laffs. Luv MK & NS always.
  • michaeltoddbackus
    January 15, 2007
    michaeltoddbackus
    Very funny spoof on Old school PI films.

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