El detective barato

Neil Simon's movies always shine with his marvelous talent. The spoofs of Humphrey Bogart, his movies and other famous people/characters are priceless. My favorite scene in The Cheap Detective is where Eileen Brennen is singing in a cabaret, holding a cigarette out to the detective with her line "Well aren't you going to light my fire?" And he says (paraphrased)"well I was just checking out your kindling". Wonderful script and sharp and funny dialogue. Eileen is beautiful here. Peter Falk is very sexy in the title role. And could anyone ever compare with Madeline Kahn - they threw away the pattern on her. I think Humphrey Bogart would not only laugh at the spoofs of him but also be flattered that his persona has become so classic and so well-known and easily identifiable. There was a wonderful actor in "Dark Shadows" who early in his career did imitations of Bogie and looked a lot like him. He also played Bogie in a movie I believe. I wish there were more movies as good as Neil Simon's.

Once again, we have a juicy comedy spoof of the detective genre, in this case of the Bogart detective movies. Peter Falk once again plays a Bogart inspired detective, but don't expect an impression here. After all, that wouldn't be fair to Peter. He is an actor first and foremost, not an Impressionist. But what he does with the role is to catch every nuance and speech patterns of the great Humphrey Bogart. Falk must have studied Bogie quite closely because he has every little hand gesture and even the walk of the man.

Now, let's get to the plot. "Fuhgetaboudit" as the mobster would say. What we have here are loving parodies of "The Maltese Falcon" in "Casablanca" with pros like John Houseman and Dom De Luise playing familiar character actors Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre respectively.

Neil Simon must really love the old classic detective movies, or just knows them so well then he can play on a quick paycheck writing them in record time. But like I said about the movie "Murder By Death," just have fun and laugh a lot. It is a fun ride.

If Humphrey Bogart could have seen The Cheap Detective he'd have loved every minute of it. I counted satirical moments from The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Big Sleep and To Have and Have Not as well as other noir classics that Neil Simon cleverly worked into a plot that makes no rational sense, but will keep you glued to the chair with laughter.

Bogey would have liked Peter Falk's spot on impersonation of the detective from the wrong side of the tracks. Falk is always a player with one amazing bag of tricks whether he's serious as in Murder, Inc., or funny as in Robin and the Seven Hoods or a bit of both as in The Brink's Job.

Not since It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World had so many funny people gathered together for one film. Even normally serious actors like Fernando Lamas and Nicol Williamson seem to be having a ball just hamming it up. My favorite aside from Falk is Eileen Brennan as Betty DeBoop. How can you go wrong with a name like that.

You can't describe any kind of plot, the whole thing is so much wonderful nonsense. Just sit back and enjoy.

"The Cheap Detective," as others have observed, is a sendup of two of Bogart's most famous films. The film's opening sequence sets the stage of the humor styleings which acts as both a setup and warning for the casual viewer.

The humor is smart, but almost too clever for its own good. It's funny, but you almost have to be a Neil Simon fan (or at least in tune with his writing style) to really get the gags. Not entirely true, because if you keep an open mind, and understand all or most of the references, you should have a good time :-)

Otherwise the film might go over your head, or rather you'll understand that there's supposed to be a joke at a certain moment, but won't get the entire gist because you might be unfamiliar with the material being referenced. Hence the reason why I called the film almost too clever for its own good.

It helps to be familiar with both "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon" to really get all of the "in-stuff" within Simon's film. Even so there's a good amount of regular humor that should help boost the appeal to those already in the know, and at the same time salvage a film for those not.

And yeah, Anne Margaret never looked better :-)

A fairly good watch, but not for everyone.

'The Cheap Detective' represents a satirical look at many of Humphrey Bogart's best movies: 'Casablanca,' 'The Maltese Falcon,' and 'The Big Sleep' most prominently. There are small bits of business spoofing several others. This movie, apparently, followed 'Murder by Death' chronologically, implying that Peter Falk's character is developed from his role in that movie. So be it, but that doesn't make this movie a sequel. 'Murder by Death was a spoof of several different mystery story writers, and their most well-known detectives. This movie is a spoof of Bogart movies, some of which are mysteries and some are romances ('Casablanca' is considered by many to be one of the greatest romances ever.) To my taste, this movie is funnier and wittier than the other, and deserves more credit. In addition, Peter Falk's character is changed quite a bit from that in 'Murder by Death,' better, and funnier.

For all those who value Bogart's movies, and for all those who value satire, this is a terrific movie.