The Cheap Detective

Details

Release year: 1978

Storyline

San Francisco, 1940, detectives, dames, documents, Nazis, and a treasure.

Top credits

Did you know

• The movie was titled "The Cheap Detective", according to screenwriter Neil Simon, "because the detective in those old films never got paid! Who paid Humphrey Bogart for finding all those crooks in The Maltese Falcon (1941)? He arrested Mary Astor and sent her and everyone else to jail. Who paid him? The character is always involved in danger not for the bucks but because it's his lifestyle."

• The farewell scene between Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk) and Marlene DuChard (Louise Fletcher) was shot on the same soundstage that was used for the Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman farewell in Casablanca (1942).

• The detective partners are named Peckinpaugh and Merkle. Roger Peckinpaugh and Fred Merkle were two well-known baseball players in the early twentieth century.The piano player is named Tinker. Joe Tinker was a famous shortstop for the Cubs. Other characters include Sergeant Rizzuto, Sergeant Crosseti, and Lieutenant DiMaggio, all famous Yankees.

User reviews

Technical specs

Sound mix

Mono

Aspect ratio

2.35 : 1

Color

Color