FOUL PLAY

US, 1978, 116 minutes, Colour.
Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Dudley Moore, Burgess Meredith, Rachel Roberts, Eugene Roche.
Directed by Colin Higgins.

Foul Play: recommending comedies with so much variation in audience taste - is always a risk; but I'll risk it recommended, especially if you're feeling off colour and need some diverting cheering up. How about an assassination attempt on Pope Pius XIII, during a San Francisco gala performance of The Mikado? How about car chases, near-miss murders, some screams, Burgess Meredith and Rachel Roberts in a karate fight, plenty of verbal and visual wit? How about Goldie Hawn at her most attractive and in the middle of the foul play and romance with
comedian Chevy Chase? How about Dudley Moore in one of his best sketches? Writer, (Silver Streak)-director Colin Higgins has it all there delightfully.

1. An entertaining American comedy thriller? Content, technique?

2. The significance of the title, the prologue and the statement of the title? Audience expectations? The contribution of the stars and their working together? Dudley Moore and his comedy? Barry Manilow and his song? The score and the use of Saturday Night Fever material?

3. The importance of San Francisco as background? The scenic values, the use of the city and its locations, the beauty of the countryside? The importance of special effects, photographic and editing? The car chase, the various murders, shocks? The prologue and the archbishop's death? The dwarf and his falling out of the window and rolling? The karate fight with Mr. Hennessy and Miss Caswell, the inclusion of sequences from The Mikado and things going wrong? A combination of visual effects?

4. The quality of the verbal humour? Wit, jokes? The combination with the visual humour?

5. Audience interest in and involvement in the plot? The opening murder, the playing of the record of The Mikado and its being taken up at the end? Audiences sharing Gloria's experience, the encounter with Tony and his reappearance? Gloria's marital situation, the giving of the lift to Scotty and the ominous elements soon appearing with cars, cigarettes, the death in the cinema etc.?

6. How well did the screenplay work in connecting the initial death with Gloria? Moving via comedy and Gloria's lovelorn experience to fear and deaths? The importance of establishing Gloria as a character ? Goldie Hawn's style, marital situation, friends, going to films and the disappearance of the body in the cinema, the disappearance of the body from her room? The encounter with Mr. Hennessy and the humour of Esme? Gloria's work in the library and the albino terrifying her there? The wrong dwarf? Her stabbing the scar-faced man and his death? The confusion and the need for explanation?

7. How important were the Hitchcock touches, the parodies and the echoes of his films? Audience enjoyment of these and anticipation of them?

8. How attractive a character was Tony? His making a fool of himself at the beginning? His presence as a policeman, the attraction to Gloria, hearing her story, protecting her, the houseboat and his falling into the water, their falling in love? How credible? Sharing the adventures together and the happy ending on stage? A conventional hero policeman?

9. Mr. Hennessy and his kindness to Gloria, background, Esme, his involvement, the humour of his block-chopping and the karate fight with Miss Caswell?

10. The fake Archbishop and miss Caswell - their charming presentation to the police, their swearing and showing themselves in their real colours, the tax, the Church League and their criticisms of church property? Turk and the various crooks that they employed? The background of their crime, the plot for the assassination, the fight, the attempts to make the plan succeed? Miss Caswell's fight with Mr. Hennessy? A humorous Rogues Gallery for this kind of film?

11. The continued background of Pius XIII and his American tour, the television news each day, the reception, the enjoyment of The Mikado? The Pope's courteous clapping at the end? The humorous use of religion and the papacy for this kind of comedy thriller?

12. The various tricks, the kidnapping of Gloria, her escape with her friends' various means of help? The car chase and the effect of this?

13. The comedy of Stanley Tibbitts? His presence in the singles bar and the double meaning of his conversation with Gloria, Gloria going home with him and looking for the albino, his room with all the gadgets and the things that belonged to sex shops? The Saturday Hight Fever music and his striptease? The humour of his humiliation? The irony of his being present in the massage parlour, the telephone call, the police and his excusing himself? The humour of his turning up as the conductor of The Mikado with his cold, putting on the dark glasses? The humorous satire on Californians and sex shops?

14. The build-up of tension, the various deaths, the assassination attempt, the time the intercutting of the chase with The Mikado and the use of the music? The albino and his attempts to kill the Pope, the backstage chase and the finale?

15. The contribution of the minor characters and the touches of humour e.g. the police and Fergie and his capture, Gloria's umbrella and its use, the theatre manager and his carrying on with his assistant. Stella and her various aids and advice, her tracking down the Tax the Church League, Gloria's friend with her marital advice, the ladies playing Scrabble, the dwarf and his sales spiel and his being pushed out the window, Gloria's visit to him in hospital and the fly on his chest etc.? How well did these contribute to the enjoyment?

16. The final credits with the summary of the film and a recapitulation of the skill in its making and its entertainment value?