The Cheap Detective

1978
PG
1h 32m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

YOUR RATING

Play trailer3:02

2 Videos

31 Photos

Bumbling Detective Parody Comedy Crime Mystery Romance Thriller

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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Videos2

Photos31

+ 23

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The 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."

Goofs
Approximately 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 credits
Opening 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.

Connections
Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson: Ann-Margret/Robert Mitchum/Tom Dreesen/Joseph Sorrentino (1978)

Soundtracks
La Vie en Rose
Music by Louiguy
Lyrics by Édith Piaf
Performed by Eileen Brennan and others at Nix Place

User reviews93

Review

Featured review

The Cheap Detective is Fabulous

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.