Gumshoe

People will say this is a forgotten classic. I don't think it is forgotten since I have seen it on British tv over the years. I was glad to buy the blu ray the other day and watched with great attention. I confess I was a bit disappointed,as others reviewers say it is of historical interest but as a film I don't think it is that entertaining. I find it hard to describe the tone of the film,it is a comedy drama I suppose but it is not that funny and not that dramatic. My dreamgirl Carolyn Seymour is wasted in this.. Films of this era more worth seeing would include Sort Target,Unman,Wittering and Zigo and the amazing The Reckoning.

I'm going to annoy everybody here by writing a middle-of-the-road review. I know that Gumshoe is a movie that you either love or hate, but that's me – eccentric to the last. So let me start out by saying that Gumshoe is a confused and confusing movie, full of odd characters who all talk doubletalk. True, despite all the talk, the movie moves fast – too fast in fact because the super-rapid pace makes the plot impossible to follow. (Maybe that was the whole idea. You've got a plot that doesn't make too much sense, so you "move it along so fast that nobody notices!" (To quote Michael Curtiz). Determinedly TV-style direction doesn't help either. Nevertheless, the movie most certainly has plenty of atmosphere. For me, at least three or four of the scenes actually did work and have certainly stayed in my memory.

The film was great fun, but what really stood out were the topical references. I am surprised no-one seems to have mentioned that when Ginley goes to the hotel room, the fat man in the chair smoking a cigar is a direct crib from the intro to "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". The arms shipments were going to Rhodesia via Dar es Salaam and Beira -remember the Beira patrol to stop them? Ginley going into the office and saying he was from the Board of Trade (who knows what it's called now? The double drainer sink unit in the kitchen - you can't get those for love nor money these days. The Red Star parcel service - that actually worked! Ginley's friend in the cafe with a Dinky Toy Austin Champ and a 25 pounder field gun tractor - they'd be worth a fortune today. The Liverpool Docks, most of which have now been redeveloped. And all the real old cars from the big Daimler to the Ford Cortina. And you wouldn't get a sports car like Billie Whitelaw's for £2,400 today.

Albert Finney is a nightclub bingo caller eager for a career change. On his thirty-first birthday, he advertises himself as a private eye in the newspaper. He dons a trench coat, and begins engaging others in rapid-fire dialog as if he were Humphrey Bogart, or Phillip Marlowe , Ginley is contacted by a fat man, who gives him a package containing a gun, a photograph, and a large sum of money. Eventually Ginley is investigating a case involving smuggling of weapons as well as drugs. 'Gumshoe' is a revelation of British Cinema, i'm thrilled that it's available on DVD after many years of being unavailable. 'Gumshoe' Directed by Stephen Frears (The Grifters) (The Queen) is An Absolute Masterpiece of British Cinema.

Obviously, Fans of Film-Noir, Chandler, Hammett, and the Detective Movies of the Forties will Enjoy this Homage More than Casual Movie Goers. Directorial Debut for Stephen Frears, it Features a Fine Fast Talking Performance from Albert Finney as the Titular Character. Not Really a Detective, He Fancies Himself in the Role as He is Obsessed with Bogart and the Retro Pulp Fiction of a Genre that was Decades Old Even in the Early Seventies. It's a Complicated Yet Simple Plot of a Girl, a Gun, and Money. The Highlight is Finney's Fondness for Talking Like Bogart and Machine Gunning Dialog that is so Vibrant One can Hardly Keep Up. There is a Breezy Take on All of this that Changes Tones from Comedic Zingers to Strong Violence. Overall, a Cult Movie that is Highly Recommended for its Target Audience. It's Never Going to Attain Mainstream Status, its Just too Quirky. That's the Charm.