THE LATE SHOW
US, 1977, 93 minutes, Colour.
Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Billy Macy, Ruth Nelson, Howard Duff.
Directed by Robert Benton.
The Late Show takes the 'private eye' conventions and gives us as complex a mystery as ever. But it also parodies them in a hilarious yet humane way - an ageing, ulcer-ridden detective and the kookiest, impulsive heroine whose dialogue mixes the conventional with very funny off-beat observations or asides. Art Carney and Lily Tomlin are superb, he understatedly embodying the commonsensed individualist who has been through it all and she the irrationally wacky moods of unpredictable Americans. Eugene Roche excels as a villain, generally talking like a fast-pitch TV commercial. Perhaps not of wide appeal, but excellent in its way.
1. How enjoyable a comedy? Time Magazine called it one of the ten best films of its year. Does it seem to deserve this reputation?
2. The indication of the title, the TV reference, the allusions to old movies? The theme of age with reference to the characters? The importance of a show - entertaining, escapist, using the old conventions with audiences' expected responses? A fiction? How well did the present film fulfil these aspects of a late show?
3. The importance of colour, the California settings with the bizarre aspects and the unusual? The world of old apartments, modern apartments, wealthy permissiveness, crookedness, the underworld, violence? The amoral world of the old private eye gangster films updated?
4. How did this film resemble the old private eye shows? The importance of the private eye in the past, his independence, particular techniques, working alongside the police or counter to them? At work in the Californian cities, available for hire, the wisecracking individual? The types of jobs undertaken? The mysterious women who often employed them? The professionals? The comparisons of this private eye film with the old ones? The irony that Ira was a younger private eye in the times of Bogart and the Raymond Chandler heroes? This film as a homage to the old private eyes and their style?
5. Which particular conventions of the private eye film were used? How well? The private eye himself and his skills, the woman? How was Ira an echo of the private eye - parodied, gently mocked, yet succeeding as in the past? The mysterious woman and the kooky version as presented by Lily Tomlin? In the updating of the conventions how were they parodied? Gently? How much enjoyed?
6. Ira as an old man and the way that this was presented. Geriatric in body and in experience but still young and shrewd? The wise experience of age? Comparisons with Harry and Charlie? An old man who had survived. Physically tired, ill, his heart condition, pills etc.? Yet able to take on younger and middle-aged criminals? The appeal of this kind of homage to old men and their remembered past? A late show?
7. The film's building up the initial situation in the private eye fusion, the commentary, Ira's apartment, his aloneness, work? Harry and his arrival and his death? The comradeship with Harry? The irony of Harry's deals and crookedness? The setting up of a puzzle? The effect on the audience, involving them in the mystery? How well was the mystery set up, with how much clarity? The issues of individuals, age, greed, violence, betrayal? How well were these issues pursued?
8. Art Carney's skill in presenting Ira? How engaging was he in the role, the strengths of the private eye character and the way these were exhibited, tough. and shrewd? His weaknesses, heart, ulcer? The ability to outwit the criminals? The importance of his relationship with Margot, his being put off by her, growing to like her. the odd combination for an odd couple? Men-women relationships? The light thrown on this by the gentle parody?
9. The character of Charlie as the assistant, the ability to go crooked? His liaison work? The visualising of the funeral - the overtones of Harry, Ira's presence, the urban flow of the '70s? Charlie and his reappearance? His presence throughout the film - gradually revealed to be so crooked, the deal with Harry? His betrayal at the end, money, death? The point being made in this kind of weak character?
10. The atmosphere of the funeral, the way that it was filmed close up and at a distance? Margot, the cat? The comic and zany touches? Ira's gradual involvement?
11. Lily Tomlin's style and skills as Margot? The introduction to her as kooky, the strengths and weaknesses of her character, her work, her psychology and jargon, drugs, stolen goods? Her lack of morality? The skill with which she put over her humorous lines? The parody of so many aspects of the off-beat Californian woman? Psychology, food, money, jobs? Her house? The humour of the cat and yet its growing importance? Her involvement in the case, the odd way in which she helped, withdrew? Her growing to like Ira? Their working together? Sharing dangers, car escapes etc.? How well did the audience like Margot?
12. The combination of private eye work, comedy, violent adventure? The introduction to Birdwell and his fast salesman chatter (the effect of this parody?), Lamar and the parody of the bodyguard? Laura and his relationship with her? The typical material of the gangster films? The complications of the affairs, the robberies, the stolen goods, the sordid motives? How well and accurately were these presented?
13. How skilfully was the plot developed: the various visits, interviews, the cumulative effect and the involvement of so many people, the places of Charlie, Birdwell, Lamar, Whiting, Laura? The mystery and the double-crosses?
14. How clear was the truth in the final confrontation? The various shoot-outs and violence and reality breaking through the comedy and the parody? The scenes in Whiting's house, the finding of Laura with the gun etc.? How skilful and entertaining were these sequences in themselves?
15. How satisfying was the resolution? What were Ira and Margot left with? The significance of their lives? Their relationship? The possibilities? The tribute to the old style of film-making? A wise comedy?
