This is not a David Letterman collection, mind you, but rather director Robert Benton's affectionate homage to 1930s and 1940s detective fiction, a charming little movie featuring the unlikely team of Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. It's a fun story, though one with some serious and violent moments, with echoes of "The Maltese Falcon," Phillip Marlowe novels, and no doubt plenty of other books I don't recognize because I haven't read them.
I watched this one again after seeing it a decade or so ago, mostly because I was in the mood to take in Carney's enjoyable performance again. Somehow, though, I had forgotten just how annoying Tomlin is. Indeed, she is quite off-putting in this one, as she is in, well, just about all her movie appearances. but at least here she is supposed to be playing someone quirky and off-center. Her spaced-out New Agey chick is designed as a fun counterpart to Carney's old-school broken-down private dick. I have to admit that the combo works, and by the end of the movie, their offbeat chemistry was working for me.
It's amusing to see a detective story revolve around an older guy with a bum ticker and a host of other health problems, some of which affect him during the story. When Carney collapses in distress, you really care about it, too, because after all, it's A.C. Yeah, he's playing a past-his-prime detective who may not have been much IN his prime, and he effortlessly assumes that persona, but, come on, he's still the man. He's not a total wreck, though, as he manages to get a little fisticuffs in along the way.
Other pleasures include amusing work by old hands like Bill Macy (that's Maude's husband, not William F.) and Eugene Roche. The mystery here is actually a well conceived throwback kind of a plot, but the fun is enjoying the perfect atmosphere Benton creates--one which becomes surprisingly poignant and affecting as the story rolls on--and just seeing the actors interact--yes, even Tomlin...he admitted with a grunt.
The DVD includes the theatrical trailer and another little extra which I found quite amusing. It's a brief clip of Tomlin on Dinah Shore's chat show. In fact, I'm not even sure if it's her whole appearance or just a segment where she plugs the movie, but it sure is a nice surprise, though a bit of a tease: We see the Doobie Brothers sitting around on the set, and, hey, why can't we hear what THEY have to say about "The Late Show?"
I don't remember seeing that sort of thing on any other Warners DVDs, but I sure wish it were more common. Notwithstanding recent highlight reels of Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas and niche collections of Tom Snyder, it's not like companies are lining up box sets of these old talk shows for us. Why not toss some of this material on DVDs as cheap but entertaining extras? There may be rights issues with many chatfests, but even something like a lame interview segment on "Entertainment Tonight" promoting a film would at least be something for fans who buy the DVD years after the fact.
I watched this one again after seeing it a decade or so ago, mostly because I was in the mood to take in Carney's enjoyable performance again. Somehow, though, I had forgotten just how annoying Tomlin is. Indeed, she is quite off-putting in this one, as she is in, well, just about all her movie appearances. but at least here she is supposed to be playing someone quirky and off-center. Her spaced-out New Agey chick is designed as a fun counterpart to Carney's old-school broken-down private dick. I have to admit that the combo works, and by the end of the movie, their offbeat chemistry was working for me.
It's amusing to see a detective story revolve around an older guy with a bum ticker and a host of other health problems, some of which affect him during the story. When Carney collapses in distress, you really care about it, too, because after all, it's A.C. Yeah, he's playing a past-his-prime detective who may not have been much IN his prime, and he effortlessly assumes that persona, but, come on, he's still the man. He's not a total wreck, though, as he manages to get a little fisticuffs in along the way.
Other pleasures include amusing work by old hands like Bill Macy (that's Maude's husband, not William F.) and Eugene Roche. The mystery here is actually a well conceived throwback kind of a plot, but the fun is enjoying the perfect atmosphere Benton creates--one which becomes surprisingly poignant and affecting as the story rolls on--and just seeing the actors interact--yes, even Tomlin...he admitted with a grunt.
The DVD includes the theatrical trailer and another little extra which I found quite amusing. It's a brief clip of Tomlin on Dinah Shore's chat show. In fact, I'm not even sure if it's her whole appearance or just a segment where she plugs the movie, but it sure is a nice surprise, though a bit of a tease: We see the Doobie Brothers sitting around on the set, and, hey, why can't we hear what THEY have to say about "The Late Show?"
I don't remember seeing that sort of thing on any other Warners DVDs, but I sure wish it were more common. Notwithstanding recent highlight reels of Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas and niche collections of Tom Snyder, it's not like companies are lining up box sets of these old talk shows for us. Why not toss some of this material on DVDs as cheap but entertaining extras? There may be rights issues with many chatfests, but even something like a lame interview segment on "Entertainment Tonight" promoting a film would at least be something for fans who buy the DVD years after the fact.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment