The Cheap Detective 1978 detective movie

The Cheap Detective (1978, United States)

detective movies

Lou Peckinpaugh is your ordinary private detective, living in a cheap apartment and running his tiny agency from a cheap office downtown. He is not a big spender, he has a loyal secretary that runs his business for him, he has a partner that suddenly ends up dead and he have a mistress, who happens to be the wife of his partner. That day did not start well for Lou, but things will only get worse. The police is convinced he had something to do with death of his business partner and there are more people killed in unusual way, which they also try to pin on him. To make things a bit more complicated a case lands on his lap that only on surface is gonna go smoothly - it looks like quite few people are after a treasure in the form of twelve large egg-shaped diamonds.

A cheap (in every sense of the word) detective, high-class clients, tough cops, who are out to get him, the string of women in his life - it all sounds like a cliche. Because it all is. Neil Simon, author of many successful comedies wrote the screenplay for this parody of 1930s and 1940s detectives and the movies like The Maltese Falcon or Casablanca. Peter Falk, most widely known for his role of Detective Columbo in the TV series, here played a spoof of Philip Marlowe and other detectives of the classic movies, in a form of a slightly inept detective, who tries to survive when his whole world crumbles around him. It is a very good parody of noir detective stories and pretty good comedy on its own merit.

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If you enjoy mystery films, you can test your skills in an interactive mystery game called The Lone Detective. You can play it free via browser. Become the detective

Watch The Cheap Detective

The Cheap Detective videos

Creators of The Cheap Detective

Robert Moore

director

Neil Simon

screenplay

Cast of The Cheap Detective

Peter Falk

as Lou Peckinpaugh

Madeline Kahn

as Mrs. Montenegro

Eileen Brennan

as Betty DeBoop

Ann-Margret

as Jezebel Dezire

Sid Caesar

as Ezra Dezire

Stockard Channing

as Bess

James Coco

as Marcel

Dom DeLuise

as Pepe Damascus

Phil Silvers

as Hoppy

Abe Vigoda

as Sgt. Rizzuto

David Ogden Stiers

as Captain

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