San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure.San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure.San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe movie was titled "The Cheap Detective", according to screenwriter Neil Simon, "because the detective in those old films never got paid! Who paid Humphrey Bogart for finding all those crooks in The Maltese Falcon (1941)? He arrested Mary Astor and sent her and everyone else to jail. Who paid him? The character is always involved in danger not for the bucks but because it's his lifestyle."
- GoofsApproximately 45 minutes in, Lou meets with the Madeline Kahn character in his office. A male member of the crew is visible, seated on a couch. He is in a pink shirt, wearing eyeglasses and appears to be reading a script. He is only visible for about a second, as the camera pans across the room. From contemporary photos it looks very much like Neil Simon himself.
- Quotes
Jezebel Dezire: Won't you join me in a little drinkie? What's your pleasure?
Lou Peckinpaugh: Uh, what you got there looks good.
Jezebel Dezire: I know... but I thought you'd like a little drink first.
- Crazy creditsOpening credits prologue: In 1939, the ominous grey clouds of war broke loose over Western Europe and rained down havoc and destruction . . . followed by humidity and gradual clearing.
In the Philippines, a small band of native guerrillas prepared secretly for the inevitable conflict that would soon engulf the East . . . This has nothing to do with our story.
Our story is about crime. Not the bad crime we face each day on our streets . . . but the good crime we came to know and love in a time when the world was innocent ... when murder wasn't something you were ashamed of ... when a bullet hole wasn't something disgusting . . . and when a man could betray a woman without feeling guilty. Our story starts in a fictitious city called San Francisco ... seven thousand miles away from Casablanca.
- SoundtracksLa Vie en Rose
Music by Louiguy
Lyrics by Édith Piaf
Performed by Eileen Brennan and others at Nix Place
Featured review
"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 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.
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- Also known as
- Neil Simon's The Cheap Detective
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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- Budget
- $6,000,000 (estimated)
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