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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Look out for the elf!", 10 May 2011
This review is from: Foul Play [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Having written the hit Silver Streak a couple of years earlier, writer Colin Higgins finally earned his directorial spurs with Foul Play, delivering a real crowd-pleaser spoofing the Hitchcock `wrong man' formula as Goldie Hawn's singleton finds herself pursued by an albino, a scarred man and a dwarf for some incriminating evidence in a papal assassination plot that she doesn't even know she has. Intended as a Farrah Fawcett vehicle until contractual wrangles turned it into something of a comeback for Hawn, it's full of disappearing bodies, comic misunderstandings and romantic banter with Chevy Chase's flippant cop who's more interested in her than the case, but it's so well done that the near two hour running time just flies by. There are the occasional missteps here and there but they're comparatively few and far between, and there's a great scene-stealing cameo from Dudley Moore as a constantly frustrated swinger who gets caught up in Hawn's various getaways.
Composer Charles Fox has fun working bits of the Mikado into his score for the big chase scene, Higgins has a surprisingly good eye for a striking visual in the grand finale and never overeggs the comedy, there's a neat if predictable gag with two little old ladies playing an obscene version of Scrabble oblivious to Hawn's appeals for help outside their window and enough rare vintage movie posters in the cinema scene to fund a movie at today's prices. It's also your only chance to see a spectacularly clumsy martial arts fight between Burgess Meredith and Rachel Roberts and has a Pope who looks like composer Jerry Goldsmith. What's not to like?
No extras on Paramount's Region 1 NTSC DVD, but an acceptable widescren transfer.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Silly fun if you like that sort of thing., 31 Dec 2008
This review is from: Foul Play [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
It's a terrible film, but one I remember from childhood and love just the same. There's Goldie at her cutsie height. Chevy before he commanded the lead. One of the greatest ever cameo's by one Mr Dudley Moore. An albino assassin, long before Dan Brown thought to put pen to paper and a plot even sillier than that of the Da Vinci Code. Beware of the dwarf, look out for cigarette smoking snakes and a girls best friend is her mace. Those were the days!
Silly fun if, like me, you like that sort of thing.
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11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Far out!, 3 Mar 2006
This review is from: Foul Play [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
There are foul deeds afoot. Probably that diabolical cabal, the “Tax the churches league.” Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) picks up a hitchhiker named Scotty (Bruce Solomon). They make a date to see a retro movie. There she hears Scotties last warning “beware of the dwarf”. Scotty is DEAD. This leads to a mystery in which people are dying and a plot ensues. The only person that believes or pretends to believe her is Detective Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase). Together they must figure out if a plot exists and what to do. Her landlord (Burgess Meredith) rephrases the threat as “Beware of the midgets…they are taking over the world” and we can not forget the sinister look on Esme’s (Shirley Python) face.
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