Customer Reviews

Gumshoe

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am so pleased this long neglected film is finally being released on DVD! I have owned the VHS version for almost 20 years, and have worried the tape would degrade before it would become available on DVD. I re-watched my VHS of Gumshoe recently. Though it's been a few years since I had viewed it, it remains my favorite movie of both Albert Finney and Stephen Frears. To enjoy it you have to realize it is pastiche, a tongue in cheek tribute to those old film noir detective films of the 1940s. It is fun and interesting to watch from that aspect. The musical score is hysterical and the dialogue is fast, sharp, and laced with dry humor. Americans without an attuned ear to English accents may have a little trouble following, but it is worth the effort, even if you have to replay certain scenes.

Though it couldn't have been a challenging performance for an actor of Finney's caliber, he and the entire cast are terrific. If you are a British Cinema film buff, watching this 1972 production today, one almost feels as if you are seeing a piece of motion picture history, with an amazingly talented cast that includes Frank Finlay, Billie Whitelaw and Fulton Mackay. Add to this it was Stephen Frears movie directorial debut and Andrew Lloyd Webber is credited for the music.

Other trivia:
--Gumshoe was a Memorial Enterprises production. This is the production company formed by Finney and Michael Medwin in the 1960s that also produced breakthrough films such as Lindsay Anderson's "If" and "O Lucky Man" and Mike Leigh's first film, "Bleak Moments", and Finney's own masterpiece, "Charlie Bubbles". Medwin is credited as Producer on Gumshoe, as he is on most or all of M.E. productions.
--Finney is a confessed fan of the noir, detective genre and a fan of John Huston who among other classics directed the Maltese Falcon

Gumshoe is a "must see" for any fan of British Film, Stephen Frears or Albert Finney. It would also be enjoyable to fans of film noir detective movies, as well as anyone who appreciates good pastiche.

Here's a terrific little film that's never gotten its proper due. Yes, it works wonderfully as a comedy, filled with funny & fascinating characters, as well as being an affectionate parody of classic Bogart detective films. But there's more to it than that ...

Albert Finney provides us with a compelling, funny, yet sometimes sad study of Eddie Ginley, a man reluctant to grow up, reluctant to let go of the dreams & fantasies of childhood. The comparison with his older, more realistic, businessman brother couldn't be sharper -- especially when we learn that his brother wound up marrying Eddie's girlfriend, because Eddie wasn't quite prepared for marriage & all that it entails.

It's telling & deeply moving, for instance, when in the midst of solving the real-life mystery which has enveloped him, Eddie runs into an old friend. The two stop to converse & catch up, reminiscing about favorite rock 'n' roll songs, teenage exploits ... and almost in passing, the friend reveals that he's married & has children. Eddie is both touched & a little lost. There's a pervading sense of, "Where did the past go?"

Yet Eddie isn't a loser. If he's let fantasy enrich his life at the expense of some maturity, he hasn't succumbed to the banality & corruption of "realistic" life, as represented by his older brother. And if the world isn't as neatly black & white as a classic detective film, there's still a difference between right & wrong, however wide the gray area between them.

By the time we get to the end of the story, and the mystery has been resolved, Eddie's definitely matured ... yet without entirely losing the richness of his fantasy life. He's simply learned how to take those ideals portrayed so clearly in his cherished detective films & carry them into the everyday world. Eddie's story ends on an elegaic tone, which has been building throughout the film, but he's ready to negotiate the adult world on his own terms now. He's not only solved the mysteries of the film, he's started to solve the mystery of living.

So, when is this superb early film by director Stephen Frears going to be released on DVD?

Most highly recommended!

I've followed most of Finney's films from the beginning, as I always find him amusing and his eye for unusual roles and interesting scripts has kept me keen. Add in the directing skills of Stephen Frears and some good English character actors and you're bound to have a good time.

I've always paired this one with "Wolfen", made about a decade later, in which he also plays a detective. While that one was a supernatural thriller set in New York with dizzy editing effects and great location sets, this one is a grittier and more whimsical take on 1940s' detective/crime thrillers, set in Liverpool.

Finney's character here is a keen observer, film buff and and fantasiser, and is responsible for some wonderful punning dialogue, perhaps a trait that was of its time and better suited to novels, but in Finney's hands it comes off.

It's a film not for mainstream tastes, perhaps, as it's decidedly quirky, and no doubt why a number of critics didn't enthuse about the film. But for wit in the script, acting and direction this one is from the top drawer. Definitely overdue for DVD release.

I am still trying to figure out what makes a film a "Martini Movie," but this is the best one in the series so far. An alarmingly young Albert Finney plays a bored Liverpuddlian would-be comedian who places an advertisement promoting himself as a private eye and gets more than he bargained for. This early Stephen Frears film is both a sendup and a celebration of pulp private-eye film noir, tight, crisp, clever without being precious, darkly comic, and downright scary when it needs to be. Finney bounces off the always electric Frank Finlay as his shipping magnate brother, as well as at least two delicious femmes fatales in the most welcome persons of Billie Whitelaw and Janice Rule. The witty soundtrack score is by some hungry young dude named Andrew Lloyd Weber.

A lovable Liverpudlian loser plays at Philip Marlowe in this English re-examination of the private detective genre similar to those that flourished stateside in the early 70s. This one though is like a cross between Billy Liar and The Big Sleep and manages to be both amusing and yet offers some believable tension to the story's hardboiled moments. It's not a classic like The Long Goodbye or Night Moves, but it beats dreck like Peeper. And director Stephen Frears pours on the local color. The no-frills DVD looks good, and really accentuates the flavor of the colorful scenes set in the seedy nightclub that Finney works in. These moments are terrific and this may be Finney's most charming performance.

If there's a downside it's in Finney's casually racist remarks about the lone African character, which may be accurate to our hero's world view, but they're a bit jarring and temper our endearment towards the character.

Andrew LLyod Weber scored and you may recognize the main theme was recycled as the title song from Sunset Boulevard. (The dynamic between the hero and his brother and the brother's wife also echoes the later film The January Man.)

"Gumshoe" is a rare bird indeed. A homage to old-style detective films that could also serve as parody. Fledgling director Stephen Frears neatly walks that tightrope and comes out with flying colors. The film is funny but at the same time respectful of detective convention notably the work of Dashiell Hammett particularly "The Maltese Falcon". It helps that your star, Albert Finney, is at the top of his game here as a stand-up comic turned accidental private eye. This isn't a buyer beware because the product description on the DVD says the film is in color. It's in black and white and gloriously so.

One of my all time favorite films. It hold up well and gets better and better upon subsequent viewings. Tough to find, but worth the effort.
A detective mystery, social commentary and character study rolled up in one.

This movie was very disapointing It is essentially a string of dialogues from better movies bound togather is in something remotely resembling a plot.

In my opinion, its Finney's best movie after 'Tom Johns'. An unusual film noir parody with 'The Maltese Falcon' story line. The genre's cliches are a delight. A classic line goes like this: 'A gun, a buck and a broad, that's the kind of world that I live in'. This movie is a must see for noir lovers. Despite th British locals and culture, its could rival 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid'.

This is a gem; worthy of cult status.
But is my memory deceiving me or is there a bit missing -at least on the dvd version. I could swear there was a substantial segment of the movie where Eddie is calling a bingo game that evolves into a confrontation with his brother. In this verbal altercation Eddie identifies with those bingo players as opposed to those who can "compete", such as his brother. A telling scene that foreshadows the more recent scandals of CEO corruption and lost worker's pensions. Is this just a telling coincidence or a willful omission? If restored, it would add a shine to this gem.