1977 Directed by Robert Benton
Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.
Late Show, The (1977)
Lily Tomlin and Art Carney make the most randomly awesome team ever in one of my favorite films which I recommend to anyone who loves oddball cinema.
Art Carney plays a semi retired private detective in Los Angeles in the 1970’s who, after the murder of a colleague from the old days, is guilted into taking on a small-time gig to find a missing cat belonging to Lily Tomlin.
Part old school detective story, part buddy comedy, part quasi uncomfortable love story, part character study, Art Carney and Lily Tomlin play as both heightened LA caricatures and utterly believable humans (who to this day you could find living somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, most likely in Reseda).
There…
This is like The Long Goodbye's scrappy, slightly dopey younger cousin who's not into as many cool bands and who sometimes seems a little desperate to entertain but you like him anyway because in conversation you realize he's actually kind of smart in his own unpretentious way.
My grandfather, Eugene Roche, died when I was 4 years old. I have memories of him, few, but I do remember him. To this day, when someone describes another person as “warm,” grandpa Gene’s smile wanders into my mind. He embodied warmth, love, and humor. Although he passed away when I was young, my grandfather has always been present in my life. My father, an actor as well, shares stories about how Eugene inspired and ignited his creativity on screen and off.
Through his films, he lives on in my life, and because of the films, I am given the opportunity to be inspired by him the way my father was. Tonight, I had the chance of seeing him on…
When semi-retired private detective Ira Wells (Art Carney) is hired by eccentric actress Margo Sperling (Lily Tomlin) to recover her kidnapped cat, it leads him into a complex case that may allow him to solve the death of his former partner, in this neo-noir mystery written and directed by Robert Benton and co-starring Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, Joanna Cassidy and Howard Duff.
It has a great style, taking classical noir tropes and putting them face-to-face with the modern era, blending an interesting mystery with humour. Carney is incredibly likeable in the lead role, giving a great performance that gets across the spark Ira once had that slowly returns as he investigates, as well as his attempts to come into the…
The Late Show is number 43 on the list of my 50 favorite films and is the most underrated of my favorite films. Robert Benton’s lovingly nostalgic tribute to noir works for me as an homage, an offbeat comedy, an unlikely romance, and a meditation on aging.
The noir references start at the very beginning as Benton’s camera moves gracefully through the apartment of semi-retired Los Angeles private-eye Ira Wells (Art Carney) and spots a framed photo of Martha Vickers, she who tries to sit in your lap while you’re standing up. The film’s overly complicated, everybody-is-guilty-of-something plot is a tribute to noirs such as The Big Sleep. A photo of Bogart is seen in a later scene in a…
THE LATE SHOW (1977) USA colour 93m.
Directed by Robert Benton
Cast: Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, Joanna Cassidy, John Considine, Harry Regan, Ruth Nelson
SPLENDID!
Made in 1940's NOIR style with ties to Robert Altman and his gorgeous film THE LONG GOODBYE (1973). Lily Tomlin is of course one of Altman's film heroines, from NASHVILLE (1975), SHORT CUTS (1993), and A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION (2006).
THE LATE SHOW (1977) is very quirky, both irritating and enjoyable at the same time, much like Lily Tomlin's "heroine" character. Watching the film resembles very much reading a novel by Raymond Chandler or Ross Macdonald, in my opinion. I wish there would be more Neo-noir films like this one, nostalgic,…
The Late Show is haunted by the 1940s as writer and director Robert Benton takes on the film noir genre and brings it to the screen in a sophisticated and polished way. Set contemporarily in the dreary, colourless Los Angeles of 1977, Benton establishes the picture's assortment of figures and seedy environments in a manner that helped single him out as a skilled filmmaker. The film's central character, an ex-detective named Ira Wells (Art Carney), merely wants to live out his final years in peaceful retirement. However, when a fellow detective and close friend is murdered, Ira pledges to find the killer even though he has a bad leg and sports a hearing aid. His search brings him into contact…
Alongside Long Goodbye, Hickey & Boggs, and Night Moves, another "what if a hardboiled gumshoe but in the 70s" exercise. Also like those movies: totally great. It's not as hopeless as the latter two and unlike Long Goodbye, the protagonist (Art Carney) isn't just old-fashioned, he's also just plain old, as everyone he encounters is quick to point out. "You're late. About forty years too late," an electronics and menswear pushing fence tells him. Lily Tomlin plays a flaky new age pot dealer (well, only until she gets enough money to open a boutique dress store), rambling on about karma, she elicits a wonderful, "What the hell is she talking about?" from Carney.
I've always loved Tomlin, but this may be…
Art Carney plays a semi-retired private investigator who partners with Lily Tomlin to catch and revenge the people that murdered his partner. Carney makes a great private eye....I could easily picture Bogart in this role. If Bogart would have lived longer....I am sure he would have played an aging past his prime detective. The younger Ira Wells (Carney's character) would have used his brawn to get out of the messes he finds himself in...the older Wells has to use his brains as he can not be the physical stuff anymore.
I have never been a Lilly Tomlin fan....and this movie did not change this opinion. To me her part slows the movie down....and I am not even sure why she…
There's a lot to like about this neo-noir crime comedy/thriller, directed by Robert Benton and produced by Robert Altman. It has a nicely convoluted plot (à la The Big Sleep), a lot of sharp and funny dialogue, and a nice performance in a smaller role by Eugene Roche.
The central relationship between Art Carney & Lily Tomlin is interesting and different but I never warmed to either character, and the film felt a little pedestrian and tired (perhaps deliberately to reflect Carney's character), especially when compared to Altman's own neo-noir from a few years earlier, The Long Goodbye.
The Late Show --- 1977
Ira Wells is a semi retired Detective. Ira Wells' partner has just been killed. And he might be in line to accept a case involving a missing cat.
Would you believe me when I tell you that on a basic level all these things have something in common? Well they do in this 1977 mystery starring Art Carney and Lily Tomlin.
Like I said earlier, the story starts off with a tale of a missing cat. To be honest there *is* a missing cat in this story, but once we get deeper into *that* story more intrigue seems to pop up and makes Ira Wells' life more and more confusing. But then again what good…
Art Carney is Ira Wells, an old-time private eye, stuck being an old man in late 1970s LA. He's got a bum leg, a hearing aid, and instead of bourbon, he drinks Alka-Seltzer when he gets shook up. Lily Tomlin is Margo, a nutcase who's lost her cat.
The lost cat ties into the murder of Wells' friend Harry Regan, so he agrees to work for Margo to find the man who killed Harry. A complicated case follows, of course.
Not fast-paced and somewhat predictable with the noir tropes, but extremely well done. Director and screenwriter Robert Benton put together a beautiful homage to the 1940s-50s detective movies. The dialog is sharp, without being over-the-top. As to the acting, Art…
