The Cheap Detective

This is a Neil Simon-penned parody of the old Humphrey Bogart classics Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon with elements cribbed from several other classics like Murder, My Sweet, The Big Sleep, and To Have and Have Not .

The Cheap Detective stars Peter Falk and a host of familiar mimics and comedians playing the identifiable parts. Madeline Kahn, Dom DeLuise, Ann-Margret, Sid Caesar, Eileen Brennan, Abe Vigoda, Vic Tayback, James Coco, Scatman Crothers, John Houseman, and too many more to list are featured in the various scenes that flash back to the pre war years in San Francisco where The Maltese Falcon was set.

Falk plays Lou Peckinpaugh, an ace private detective in San Francisco before the start of WWII. You’ll recognize him as a combination of Sam Spade and Rick Blaine with maybe a dash of Columbo for good measure. Eileen Brennan plays a take off on Lauren Bacall and does it very well. Louise Fletcher plays the Ingrid Bergman character and Fernando Lamas plays the Paul Henreid character and both get a few laughs, too. Nicol Williamson plays the Nazi colonel hunting the fugitives.

The names of most of the other characters parody either the identifiable characters or other famous Hollywood names usually from the classic movie era. Madeline Kahn switches names about 14 times ending with Barbara Stanwyck. John Houseman does a dead-on imitation of Sydney Greenstreet and Dom DeLuise does likewise on Peter Lorre. Ann-Margret is a smash with her take on the rich and beautiful Mrs Dezire. And don’t forget Scatman Crothers with his great take on the piano player Sam originated by Dooley Wilson. The song she asks him to play? “Jeepers Creepers, Wheredya Get Those Peepers?” No kidding. —Epinions.com