The Private Eyes

I saw this movie for the first time when I was eight years old, and loved it from the start. Even though at the time I wasn't old enough to get all the jokes, It still had a magic around it that was clearly evident.

Tim Conway and Don Knotts provide the comic base, and are excellent comic partners. They are backed up with great performances by the crazy and somewhat odd "staff" of the couple who's murder they are investigating. This one will have you laughing from start to finish. The comedy is also good, clean humor that the entire family can laugh at.

Another great thing is that the movie also is very suspenseful, as you the viewer don't know everything until the private eyes find it out.

This is a wonderfully silly movie with just the right amount of "eek!" to delight even the youngest viewer. Don Knotts and Tim Conway are perfect as the bumbling detectives sent to crack the case, and the "Wookilar" is beyond funny. Truly a masterpiece....maybe. If you like them silly this is the movie for you.

This is a typical Don Knotts comedy in the same caliber as "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken". I actually went to the theater to see this when it first came out and was surprised to see that it was filmed in a very familiar location, The Biltmore House in Asheville, N.C. Don Knotts is the overbearing lead detective as Tim Conway is the clumsy assistant trying to solve a homicide at the huge mansion. Don Knotts is more cast as the character of Mr.Furley in "Three's Company" than he is Barney Fife. Tim Conway is typical Tim from the Carol Burnette Show but it really is both of them together that makes this movie so funny. The movie is clean and would be very enjoyable by the whole family as these two goof-balls are hilarious.

OK, so maybe "The Private Eyes" is sort of a rehash of "Murder by Death", but it's still a laugh riot. It's essentially what would happen if Laurel & Hardy or Gilligan & the Skipper were detectives investigating a murder in an English mansion. In this case, Don Knotts is the irascible straight man and Tim Conway is his dimwitted assistant, looking into the killing of some aristocrats in a possibly haunted estate. The entire movie is basically an excuse for a series of gags, some clever and some cheap. It certainly made me laugh. As for the obvious plot holes...well, it's just a movie.

Yes, there's nothing special about the movie, but I still liked it. Also starring Trisha Noble, Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay on "Bewitched"), Grace Zabriskie, Irwin Keyes and Suzy Mandel.

I admit that this is not a movie that will be sung about by generations to come, but if you like Tim Conway and Don Knotts together (or your sense of humor is from the old Carol Burnette Show) then this one is for you. As a team, these two clearly have advanced slapstick and very much kept it alive. When I watch this I have come close to losing bladder control and at the least have broke down into tears of laughter. This movie isn't meant for kids but clearly the whole family can enjoy (sorta like Rocky&Bullwinkle). If you just want to laugh your butt off for 90 minutes and forget about life for a while, the The Private Eyes is just want you want.