...maybe comedy is just a very personal thing, and I’m the only one on the planet who likes this flick.
Others in the cast include James Coco as Marcel, the host at Nix; Scatman Crothers as Tinker, the piano player; David Ogden Stiers as a waiter captain; Vic Tayback as Police Lieutenant DiMaggio; Abe Vigoda as Police Sergeant Rizzuto; Paul Williams as "the Boy"; Nicol Williamson as Nazi Colonel Schlissel (the Gestapo in America?); James Cromwell as his adjutant, Schnell; and Phil Silvers in a cameo as Hoppy, a cab driver. It´s really quite a wonderful cast, and all of them appear to be having the time of their lives.
Video:
Columbia TriStar present "The Cheap Detective" in a healthy 2.13:1 ratio widescreen on one side of the disc and a conventional pan-and-scan rendering on the other side. The widescreen is very close to the film´s original Panavision dimensions, while the P&S version, which is cut and blown up to fill the whole screen, omits about 50% of the widescreen image. In most of the comparisons I made, like inside Nix Place, the effect is startlingly depressing; the P&S version becomes little more than a series of close-ups (in Nix, there is hardly any indication they´re in a night club at all). The picture quality in widescreen is fairly good, although I found it sometimes a bit rough and very slightly blurry. The P&S picture appears less good.
Audio:
The sound is implemented via Dolby Digital monaural, and while it´s nothing to brag about, it does its job with a casual efficiency.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras on the disc, either. The main thing is an eleven-minute featurette titled "A Conversation With Neil Simon," made in 1999. In it, Simon tells us how much fun he had making the film with director Robert Moore and the cast, and especially how impressed he was to be a part of history, so to speak, satirizing two of the screen´s most cherished classics. He also points out that the night club set, which so well resembles Rick´s in "Casablanca," actually used some of the same props from the original film. Then, there are a few talent files, a booklet insert of production notes, twenty-eight scene selections, and two theatrical trailers--one for "The Cheap Detective" and another for "Murder By Death." Both trailers are in pan-and-scan, however, and both have seen better days. English and Spanish are the spoken language choices, with English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai for subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
I could give you more reasons why I like this film so much, but I think you get the gist of my message. Maybe it´s because I love "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon" and this takeoff treats them so affectionately. Maybe it´s the way the cast all seem so perfectly suited to the caricatures they play. Maybe it´s how well the music and set design fit the picture. Or maybe comedy is just a very personal thing, and I´m the only one on the planet who likes this flick. I dunno. But I recommend it.
Video:
Columbia TriStar present "The Cheap Detective" in a healthy 2.13:1 ratio widescreen on one side of the disc and a conventional pan-and-scan rendering on the other side. The widescreen is very close to the film´s original Panavision dimensions, while the P&S version, which is cut and blown up to fill the whole screen, omits about 50% of the widescreen image. In most of the comparisons I made, like inside Nix Place, the effect is startlingly depressing; the P&S version becomes little more than a series of close-ups (in Nix, there is hardly any indication they´re in a night club at all). The picture quality in widescreen is fairly good, although I found it sometimes a bit rough and very slightly blurry. The P&S picture appears less good.
Audio:
The sound is implemented via Dolby Digital monaural, and while it´s nothing to brag about, it does its job with a casual efficiency.
Extras:
Not much in the way of extras on the disc, either. The main thing is an eleven-minute featurette titled "A Conversation With Neil Simon," made in 1999. In it, Simon tells us how much fun he had making the film with director Robert Moore and the cast, and especially how impressed he was to be a part of history, so to speak, satirizing two of the screen´s most cherished classics. He also points out that the night club set, which so well resembles Rick´s in "Casablanca," actually used some of the same props from the original film. Then, there are a few talent files, a booklet insert of production notes, twenty-eight scene selections, and two theatrical trailers--one for "The Cheap Detective" and another for "Murder By Death." Both trailers are in pan-and-scan, however, and both have seen better days. English and Spanish are the spoken language choices, with English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai for subtitles.
Parting Thoughts:
I could give you more reasons why I like this film so much, but I think you get the gist of my message. Maybe it´s because I love "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon" and this takeoff treats them so affectionately. Maybe it´s the way the cast all seem so perfectly suited to the caricatures they play. Maybe it´s how well the music and set design fit the picture. Or maybe comedy is just a very personal thing, and I´m the only one on the planet who likes this flick. I dunno. But I recommend it.
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[release]9076[/release]