Released: 1978-07-14
A shy San Francisco librarian and a bumbling cop fall in love as they solve a crime involving albinos, dwarves, and the Catholic Church.
Comedy
Mystery
Thriller
6.3 / 277
Duration: 116 min.
Budget: $5.0M
Revenue: $45.0M
John Chard
Rating:8/10
I play Detective. You play Lady In Distress. Foul Play is written and directed by Colin Higgins. It stars Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Burgess Meredith, Rachel Roberts, Dudley Moore and Brian Dennehy. Music is by Charles Fox and cinematography by David M. Walsh. San Francisco librarian Gloria Mundy (Hawn) inadvertently gets embroiled with mobsters who are out to assassinate The Pope. Hooking up with cheeky copper Tony Carlson (Chase), she hopes to stay alive long enough to find out why people are trying to kill her! Comedy thrillers are tough to get right, you gotta make people laugh and also grip them with drama, thankfully Colin Higgins gets it right in this delightful late 1970s production. He kind of plays safe by literally throwing many of the conventions of the genres into the mix, with weird villains, an odd couple (hello romance), pratfalls, near misses, McGuffin, bonkers situations (both dicey and funny) and etc etc. Boosted by a damn fine cast (Hawn and Chase are fun, charming and sexy together, while the supports excel), some superb Frisco scenery and a toe tapping 70s soundtrack, it rounds out as a breezy effort across the board. Where else you going to see Burgess Meredith and Rachel Roberts in a martial arts smack down? 7/10
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