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Movie
Poster for The Cheap Detective

The Cheap Detective

1978 · 92 min

A rapid-fire parade of silly gags and noir references that keeps you grinning even when the plot gets tangled.

Tagline
He knows every cheap trick, cheap joke, cheap shot and cheap dame in the book.
Overview
A spoof of the entire 1940s detective genre. San Francisco private detective, Lou Pekinpaugh is accused of murdering his partner at the instigation of his mistress—his partner's wife.

Search YouTube for the trailer

Rent or buy in the UK
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • YouTube
More options Data from JustWatch
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • satiricalstrength 3 of 3
  • absurdstrength 2 of 3
  • campystrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
brisk, 3 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
easy-watch, 2 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • mystery
  • deception
  • crime
  • greed
  • friendship
Places
  • big city
  • single country house
Era
period
Audience
teen
Form
  • ensemble
  • twist ending
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action4
Horror1
Humour8
Realism4
Romance4
Tension4
Darkness3
Complexity5
Emotional weight2

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Where to watch in the UK

Rent or buy
  • Apple TV Store
  • Amazon Video
  • YouTube

Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
comedy, crime, mystery
Directed by
Robert Moore
Written by
Neil Simon
Starring
Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Sid Caesar, Stockard Channing, James Coco, Dom DeLuise, Louise Fletcher
Music
Patrick Williams
Cinematography
John A. Alonzo
Runtime
92 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English, German

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