IMDb RATING
5.4/10
383
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Two bumbling private detectives get themselves hired to find a missing person. They find themselves in the middle of a mob war when it turns out that the missing person is somebody the mob w... Read allTwo bumbling private detectives get themselves hired to find a missing person. They find themselves in the middle of a mob war when it turns out that the missing person is somebody the mob wants to stay missing.Two bumbling private detectives get themselves hired to find a missing person. They find themselves in the middle of a mob war when it turns out that the missing person is somebody the mob wants to stay missing.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
Lewis E. Ciannelli
- Embassy Official
- (as Lewis Ciannelli)
- Director
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Featured reviews
Admittedly, this movie falls far short of anything the academy would use as a DVD coaster for the lighting guy backstage. It's terrible. The dialogue and plot is laughably predictable. The camera work is generally sub-par... as if it were the director's first film. At times, it's just plain stupid. So stupid, it can be brilliant - in the same way the Keystone Cops were hilarious. The scene with a stolen Ferrari is absolutely priceless. I don't know if I've ever laughed so hard or rewound a movie so many times. I've been waiting in vain for a DVD version to come out, and my Tivo is always searching. Perhaps you can still catch an old VHS copy on eBay with some persistence. If you watch with the appropriate silly, B-movie attitude, you won't be disappointed.
My family watches this movie every Christmas. It was one of those unkown movies my family started watching one day that just hit our funny bones. The shtick is great. The Japanese passport mix-up is the funniest gag. Also, the soundtrack is so zany that it catches your attention.
This movie probably cost around three hundred thousand..of course, that's in lyra.
I loved this movie. It was really funny. They successfully and thoroughly insulted everyone!
The humor wasn't really all that original nor well thought out, but it was well implemented.
I would probably give this movie around a 6, and say that it's enjoyable to watch. It's hard to find in the video stores, but I have seen it on TV twice in my lifetime.
I loved this movie. It was really funny. They successfully and thoroughly insulted everyone!
The humor wasn't really all that original nor well thought out, but it was well implemented.
I would probably give this movie around a 6, and say that it's enjoyable to watch. It's hard to find in the video stores, but I have seen it on TV twice in my lifetime.
10EuroNYC7
My brother and I first saw this outrageously-funny comedy back in Summer of 1987 which we rented from a Mom-and-Pop video rental (pre-Blockbuster days). Let me tell you, we continuously rented the video and watched it EVERY SINGLE day with the same hilarious results! Alas, I finally found the movie on E-bay and received it only last week!! David Landsberg and Lorin Dreyfuss really bought down the house with their wacky performances. In my opinion, at least half the so-called "funny films" today can, in no way, shape or form, match this hysterical, hiccup-inducing, over-the-hill comedy! Two bumblers, one an honest simpleton who keeps getting fired from every job in NYC because he' s so caught up in detective novels, and the other, a sleazier and witty but somewhat incompetent con-artist who reels him into his shady, fire-trap, nickel-and-dime 'Detective School', suddenly get caught up in international intrigue involving a beautiful woman, 'Old World' traditions and the Italian Mafia, traveling from New York to beautiful Rome and running into all types of comedic obstacles and situations. They start off by posing as tourists with Japanese names after lifting the boarding passes from two unsuspecting Japanese passengers, to foul play aboard an Italy-bound airliner, to the hi-jinx in a Rome museum, masquerading as monks in the Vatican to the nerve-shaking Ferrari escapade....never a dull moment!! They sure don' t make them like that anymore! If you are down in the dumps, I strongly recommend this dosage of massively hysterical humor.
I think I was ten when I first saw this movie at the theaters and I can honestly say I have never laughed so hard and uncontrollably at any film in my life. Granted, today the movie does look dated and suffers from some poor picture and sound quality (the usual product of the infamous Golan Globus guys) but I urge you to try and see beyond that. This is a small masterpiece. David Landsberg's honest but clumsy Wilson is perfectly balanced by Dreyfuss' seedy, fast-talking... uh sorry I forgot the character's name. Anyway, the movie has several well timed running gags (the hurt hand, the old lady whose pictures are always messed up, etc.) some hilarious chase sequences (my fave being a chase through a movie set), a cheesy yet quirky soundtrack and an overall sense of outrageousness. The plot is just credible enough to make the comedy work and the action sequences are well done but not lended so much weight that they distract. Landsberg and Dreyfuss (both of whom also wrote the film) have a keen sense of comic timing, and play off of each other like pros. (This film also introduced me to the Italian beauty Valeria Golina, several years before Rainman). I've seen Landsberg in the occasional supporting role on TV and in film but I've never seen Dreyfuss before or since (I've read before that he's Richard's brother and that's certainly reasonable). It's a shame these two didn't make more films, and in a way it's sad that this film didn't do better, and yet now I can officially refer to it as a forgotten, hidden treasure. Good luck finding this film on VHS, much less on DVD but if you do, check it out.
Did you know
- TriviaCannon initially contracted Tommy Chong to direct. Chong scouted locations in Rome, Italy, but thought the script wasn't funny and suggested adding a romantic subplot. He left the project after Lorin Dreyfuss and David Landsberg rejected his script revisions.
In the meantime, Cheech Marin signed with Columbia to work on his first solo feature: American chicano (1987). According to Chong, when Marin first told his comic-partner about the project (sometime after he left the Cannon project), he prefaced his decision, insisting he'd felt obligated to work on his own picture since Chong was off in Rome working on "his" own film.
- GoofsObvious stunt doubles for Paul and Catherina when they jump their ski boat over a barge in the river.
- Quotes
Paul Miller: You were born to be a detective!
Donald Wilson: I was?
Paul Miller: You reek of detective!
Donald Wilson: I reek?
- Crazy creditsThe end credits feature scenes from the movie, some with alternate shots.
- Alternate versionsSome of the profanity and some obscene sight gags are cut from the TV version, including the shot of the nude woman in the woods during the car chase. Also, there is looping rumbling sounds when Bruno's car gets stuck in a narrow alleyway before a scaffolding collapses onto it.
- ConnectionsEdited into Eurocrime! The Italian Cop and Gangster Films That Ruled the '70s (2012)
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $22,123
- Runtime1 hour 32 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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