Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Forgotten Movies: FOUL PLAY




Funny how forgotten this is movie is. All of the players have either fallen out of favor or fallen off the earth. But at the time, it was a fun movie. And wasn't Chevy handsome? I'd forgotten that.

Written and Directed by Colin Higgins, FOUL PLAY debuted in 1978. A librarian and a police detective fall in love as they work together to solve a case involving all sorts of wacky characters. It begins when Hawn is persauded to get out more after her divorce and she chooses the wrong party to attend.

This was a sort of tribute to both screwball comedies and Alfred Hitchcock's pairing of a couple to solve a mystery. Dudley Moore was cast at the last minute and his performance led to his casting in TEN.

Both leads had a nice string of successful movies in the seventies and eighties and then age caught up with them, I guess.


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Patti - This was a cute movie with some solid humour, too. Thanks for the reminder.

Anonymous said...

...And Chevy's personality disorder and arrogance caught up with him.

Jeff M.

Thomas Pluck said...

I saw this first when I was 11 or so, my sister and I loved it. I wanted a laughing boa constrictor! And the fight between Burgess Meredith and the villainess cracked us up. Oh, and poor Billy Barty.

George said...

Margot is right about FOUL PLAY be a cutie movie. At the time the movie was released, Goldie Hawn was America's darling. Chevy Chase was making his mark on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE so the stars were aligned for success.

Todd Mason said...

More karma, as Jeff suggests. Goldie Hawn went from this to being the primary female misogynist in US film, with her version of SWEPT AWAY and just about everything else, each less successful financially than the last, over the next decade.

Todd Mason said...

BIRD ON A WIRE temporarily stayed the boxoffice descent...

Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) said...

This movie was great fun - I saw it at the cinema when it came out and loved it - in fact I liked it so much I even watched the daft TV spin-of starring Barry Bostwick and the late Deborah Raffin. Thanks for the reminder Patti - you're right, it's weird how it clean dropped out of my cerebellum!

K. A. Laity said...

I never could stand Chase, but it's a fun clever movie and how could you not love Dudley Moore's American debut? The best as already mentioned, the fight between Meredith and Rachel Roberts -- sublime!

Anders E said...

A good one, as I recall. Hawn and Chase reunited a couple of years later in SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES which I remember as quite good too.

FOUL PLAY was one of the biggest box office hits in Sweden at the time and since the Swedish title translates into "The Gal Who Knew Too Much", no less than five of Goldie's following eight movies (PRIVATE BENJAMIN, BEST FRIENDS, SWING SHIFT, WILDCATS and OVERBOARD) would get Swedish titles of the "The Gal Who..." variety.

Anonymous said...

Not a big fan--Chevy Chase has always rubbed me the wrong way--but I love Barry Manilow's "Ready to Take a Chance Again" that plays over the opening credits.

Deb

Cap'n Bob said...

Todd: Bird on a Wire stunk on ice in my opinion. Hawn's legs were the only good thing about it.

Todd Mason said...

Apparently they were enough to boost the box office. Never saw it...her hostile caricatures of women in the likes of PRIVATE BENJAMIN and OVERBOARD had put me off her.

Kelly Robinson said...

Watched this a hundred times, as it was on heavy HBO rotation when my family first got cable. Dudley Moore was a hoot in his role.