Seems Like Old Times<\/i> (1980) is beloved by everyone who\u2019s seen it, and for good reason. It\u2019s sweet, energetic, propelled by stellar turns from Hawn, Chase, Charles Grodin, and Robert Guillaume, and it\u2019s gifted with an incredible wit by writer Neil Simon. It\u2019s so damn good that it doesn\u2019t need me to defend it. Foul Play<\/i><\/b>, though, from 1978, could use the boost.<\/span><\/p>\n Look, the \u201870s were a different world. This is the official IMDb plot synopsis, and it\u2019s probably already clear why the film\u2019s the far less respected of the two. Making this today would require swapping out the albino and the dwarf for a blonde vegan and a millennial. It\u2019s every bit a product of its time, but while some of its elements are clearly dated, I\u2019m here to suggest it\u2019s actually a good time at the movies.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll start my argument by pointing out that the film is the brainchild of writer\/director Colin Higgins, and if his name doesn\u2019t ring a bell I\u2019m betting his filmography will. He only made five features, but they\u2019re a memorable lot. Higgins wrote Harold & Maude<\/i> (1971) and Silver Streak<\/i> (1976), and he both wrote and directed 9 to 5<\/i> (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas<\/i> (1982). Right?! That\u2019s a fairly brilliant run of comedies, and Foul Play<\/i> was released right in the middle as Higgins\u2019 directorial debut.<\/span><\/p>\n That should honestly be enough right there to sell you on Foul Play<\/i>, but I\u2019ll keep talking just in case.<\/span><\/p>\n Hawn and Chase are both quite good here with performances teasing their most recognizable comedic assets (at the time) \u2014 she\u2019s slightly goofy and he\u2019s only occasionally clumsy \u2014 and the supporting cast is equally entertaining, with fun turns from Don Calfa, Brian Dennehy, Chuck McCann, and Billy Barty. Dudley Moore makes his Hollywood debut as a sex-hungry putz who keeps accidentally crossing paths with Hawn\u2019s distracted librarian, and while it\u2019s a small role it was more than enough for Blake Edwards to notice and subsequently cast him as the lead in 10<\/i> (1979). <\/span><\/p>\n Film nerds will also enjoy realizing that Higgins packs the film with homages to the work of Alfred Hitchcock. They\u2019re not broad, spoof-like nods like the ones in Mel Brooks\u2019 High Anxiety<\/i> (1977), but are instead small references in themes, scenes, and locations. A killer tries to strangle Gloria with his scarf before she stabs him (Dial M for Murder<\/i>, 1954). An assassination is planned to take place during an opera\/concert (The Man Who Knew Too Much<\/i>, 1956). Gloria\u2019s an innocent everywoman caught up in a deadly conspiracy, and no one believes her (just about every Hitchcock film, 1922-1976). Higgins even includes a MacGuffin in the form of a roll of film in a cigarette pack given to Gloria without her knowledge. It\u2019s what the killers want, and Higgins gets so cheeky with it he has the detective ask aloud, \u201cWhat have we overlooked?\u201d before cutting to the cigarettes on the shelf with a loud music stinger.<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s no denying that Seems Like Old Times<\/i> is the better of the Hawn\/Chase collaborations, but here in the United States of America we don\u2019t have to settle for one thing when we can have all the things. So come on Paramount, announce a Blu-ray release of Foul Play<\/i> already! This month marks its 40th anniversary, and the people need to see Burgess Meredith kick some ass.<\/span><\/p>\n The Blu-ray format arrived on June 20, 2006 — that\u2019s a whopping 12 years ago for those of you who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":471,"featured_media":9736,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1381,1399],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-looking-back"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/foul-play-movie-poster.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201c<\/span>A shy San Francisco librarian and a bumbling cop fall in love as they solve a crime involving albinos, dwarves, and the Catholic Church.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>The film is a rom-com at heart as evidenced by the title theme song<\/span><\/a> by the legendary Barry Manilow, and we\u2019re introduced right up front to our two hopeful lovebirds at a party in San Francisco. Gloria Mundy (Hawn) is a recently divorced librarian and Tony Carlson (Chase) is a recently suspended detective — why are they guests at the same party? No clue, but they make eye contact, Tony knocks over a bar\u2019s worth of glasses and bottles to remind you that he\u2019s played by Chevy Chase, and they\u2019re off to the races. By races I of course mean murders, as Gloria witnesses a pair of killings and becomes a target herself of the aforementioned albino, a man with a scarred face, an assassin named Stiltskin, and a karate-chopping nun impersonator.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>The standout, though, is a lively appearance by Burgess Meredith as Gloria\u2019s landlord. He\u2019s a spunky and spry old man cracking jokes and berating his pet python, but his shining moment comes when he faces off against a middle-aged female baddie named Gerda in a bare-knuckle brawl. It\u2019s one of the screen\u2019s greatest unsung fight scenes. I shit you not.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>I haven\u2019t even mentioned the old ladies playing dirty word Scrabble, that the motivation behind the impending assassination is a belief that the Catholic Church shouldn\u2019t be tax-exempt, or that an audience stunned into silence by the appearance of two dead bodies is spurred into applause by a classic \u201cmovie slow clap\u201d from His Eminence the Pope. And the car chase! It\u2019s not even a chase \u2014 our heroes are just trying to get from point A to point B as fast as possible \u2014 but they change cars three times and leave a trail of carnage throughout San Francisco that would make Freebie and the Bean proud.<\/span><\/p>\nThe old DVD edition of <\/em>Foul Play can be found in the places one generally finds DVDs. – Ed<\/em>.<\/h5>\n
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