The Late Show (1977)

The Worst Film Ever

Best movie ever!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Directed by Robert Benton, "The Late Show" (1977) stars Art Carney as Ira Wells, an elderly private detective. When he's hired to find the missing cat of the volatile Margo (Lily Tomlin), Wells is provided an opportunity to showcase his talents."Show" was produced by Robert Altman. It also bears some similarities to Altman's "The Long Goodbye" (1973), both films opening with a missing feline and both films transplanting a 1940s noir hero to the 1970s. Wells is caught out of time, is chastised for being "old", "out of touch" and "outdated", but nevertheless proceeds to prove his doubters wrong. The film climaxes with Margo and Welles unravelling a conspiracy that is wholly typical of the genre.Whilst Carney and Tomlin are endearing in their roles, "The Late Show" doesn't do enough to rise above similar films from the era ("Chandler", "Harper", "Marlowe", "Night Movies", "The Long Goodbye" etc). Benton would revisit similar material with 1998's "Twilight".7/10 – See "Cutter's Way".

As many who have left comments before me have observed, this film echos the detective stories of the 1930s and 1940s. I would go a little further and suggest that the premise of the movie is what would the case be like if Philip Marlowe were roped into a mystery when he was pushing 80? Howard Duff's scene early in the film and even his character's name evoke The Big Sleep while Chandler allusions continue through the film. Art Carney's superbly underplayed Ira Wells is unquestionably an avatar of Marlowe surviving into the late 1970s and into his late 70s. He's a bit deaf, a bit slow, a bit more crotchety but he's still that one moral man walking down "these mean streets" of L.A.Benton has done some extraordinary work, but this is his elevation to the sublime, a movie that one can watch again and again. It's a minor masterpiece. If producer Altman's own The Long Goodbye had been as good a Raymond Chandler film as this is, Goodbye would have risen to the level of the other two incomparable films of Chandler novels: the Howard Hawkes, Bogart and Bacall The Big Sleep and the Robert Mitchum Farewell, My Lovely.

Reminiscent of 1950's crime noir, this Art Carney cinematic vehicle tells the story of a retired private detective named Ira Wells (Carney), who gets involved in a murder mystery, the most engaging character in which is an aging hippie, Margo Sperling, played by Lily Tomlin.The film's plot is convoluted and hard to follow. But the real point of the film is the relationship that develops between Ira and Margo, two people who couldn't be any more opposite. The film's mood is downbeat, even depressing at times; lighting is dark; background music is sultry.Overall, I found this film to be disappointing, for several reasons, in addition to a story that is poorly plotted. Tomlin is miscast here, in my opinion. She doesn't make a good hippie; her jokes just don't work. Secondary characters (Birdwell, Escobar, Lamar, Charlie, etc.) are not interesting. The film has a very made-for-TV look and feel; sets are cheap looking. In the film's second half, there's a protracted car chase that's straight out of Hawaii Five-O. Such a film cliché worked for the TV series; it does not work here.At the film's end, a sign at a cemetery is misspelled; it reads "Cemetary". If there's ever a remake, maybe the production staff could proofread the script. Still, the misspelling is ... charming.Viewers who admire Art Carney probably will like this film, since the film orbits around his character. But if you're looking for a credible crime story, one with interesting characters, you will need to look elsewhere.

I love this bittersweet story. I agree with other commentators that plot is not what drives this tale forward: it reaches a point where it's not longer important who did what to whom and why. What is important are the character portrayals, which are handled deftly by Art Carney, as aging private eye Ira Wells, and by a ditsy but lovable flower-child leftover played by Lily Tomlin. The supporting cast members are excellent.The other thing this little film has is atmosphere, in spades. It's 1970s L.A., with echoes of 1940s Raymond Chandler L.A. And director Benton makes good use of certain small iconic bits like the vast mountain of burial vaults, in the cemetery where we first meet the three principal characters, and the static last shot of an L.A. bus stop bench with Boris Karlof's Frankenstein face advertising the Hollywood wax museum.And finally: the title theme is a hauntingly moody torch song ("What Was is Just What Was"), which ought to be a jazz standard--right up there with "Laura." I love this movie and watch it once every few years, ideally late at night with a drink in hand.