GUMSHOE Movie Review

A nice surprise. Albert Finney is Eddie Ginley, a working-class dreamer whose drab, Liverpool existence is relieved only by the daydreams in which he cracks murder cases with the style and aplomb of Bogart's Philip Marlowe. Soon, Eddie gets the chance to live out his fantasies when he's plunged headlong into a real—and dangerous—murder case. Avoiding all of the “cutes” that spread out like a minefield in this sort of thing, director Stephen Frears (My Beautiful Laundrette, The Grifters) has made a captivating and beguilingly understated debut film, held in place by the amazing Finney. Billie Whitelaw, Janice Rule, and Frank Finlay co-star in this sweet, rarely seen winner. Cinematographer Chris Menges (Local Hero) provides the just-right, warmly romantic images; even Andrew Lloyd Webber's bombastic score can't trip up Gumshoe.

NEXT STOP… The Hit, Don Quixote (1957), Shoot the Moon

1972 (G) 85m/C GB Albert Finney, Billie Whitelaw, Frank Finlay, Janice Rule, Carolyn Seymour; D: Stephen Frears; C: Chris Menges; M: Andrew Lloyd Webber. VHS NO