I saw this movie when it was released in 1977 - I remember that I had vaguely liked it but nothing about it really stuck in my memory. Having recently had the chance to see it again on TV, I found myself rather disappointed that it didn't hold up well as I had hoped it would.
"The Late Show" is reminiscent of some 40's crime movies like "The Big Sleep", where the plot gets so convoluted and hard to follow that after awhile you don't really care about it much and just sit back and enjoy the characters and atmosphere. The initial premise here is intriguing enough, but the mystery doesn't get any more interesting as it goes along, and the writing is not particularly inspired. The actors (mostly) give it all they've got though - Art Carney gives a great performance as aging private eye Ira Wells, and the supporting cast is excellent as well: Eugene Roche, Bill Macy, Howard Duff, Joanna Cassidy, John Considine and Ruth Nelson all fall easily into the Neo-Noir style of the piece and do justice to their characters.
There is one fly in the casting ointment: Lily Tomlin. I was surprised this time around at how self-conscious and amateurish her performance as Margo Sterling struck me as being. Tomlin doesn't seem to have a handle on who the character is really, so she comes off as trying to act "quirky" because that's what the script indicates, without having any grasp of what's behind it. Her line readings are grating and monotonous, and her timing is off. She doesn't have any chemistry with anyone, not even Carney - she may as well be in a different movie completely. The part really called for someone with more of a theatrical sense, and watching the film again, I kept thinking how much better other actresses could have been in the role. Barbara Harris and Bette Midler both came to mind - Harris had done a similar off-beat type of character the previous year in Alfred Hitchcock's "Family Plot", and IMO she could have brought many more interesting colors to Margo, as well as an authenticity to her flightiness that Tomlin never manages; Midler had yet to break into films in 1977, but the kind of self-centered wackiness that the role required would have been right up her alley. Tomlin, who's comic forte is low-key underplaying, seems uncomfortable and miscast in a part demanding a more flamboyant style - she never fully inhabits the character, which is a major problem when she's such a large part of the movie.
The other aspects of the film - direction, photography, musical scoring - are handled well enough without being noteworthy in any way. For a film advertised as a comedy, there is a very high body count and quite a bit of realistic gore. For my money, "The Late Show" is a somewhat interesting curio, and probably will mostly appeal to Art Carney fans who would enjoy seeing him in an atypical role.
"The Late Show" is reminiscent of some 40's crime movies like "The Big Sleep", where the plot gets so convoluted and hard to follow that after awhile you don't really care about it much and just sit back and enjoy the characters and atmosphere. The initial premise here is intriguing enough, but the mystery doesn't get any more interesting as it goes along, and the writing is not particularly inspired. The actors (mostly) give it all they've got though - Art Carney gives a great performance as aging private eye Ira Wells, and the supporting cast is excellent as well: Eugene Roche, Bill Macy, Howard Duff, Joanna Cassidy, John Considine and Ruth Nelson all fall easily into the Neo-Noir style of the piece and do justice to their characters.
There is one fly in the casting ointment: Lily Tomlin. I was surprised this time around at how self-conscious and amateurish her performance as Margo Sterling struck me as being. Tomlin doesn't seem to have a handle on who the character is really, so she comes off as trying to act "quirky" because that's what the script indicates, without having any grasp of what's behind it. Her line readings are grating and monotonous, and her timing is off. She doesn't have any chemistry with anyone, not even Carney - she may as well be in a different movie completely. The part really called for someone with more of a theatrical sense, and watching the film again, I kept thinking how much better other actresses could have been in the role. Barbara Harris and Bette Midler both came to mind - Harris had done a similar off-beat type of character the previous year in Alfred Hitchcock's "Family Plot", and IMO she could have brought many more interesting colors to Margo, as well as an authenticity to her flightiness that Tomlin never manages; Midler had yet to break into films in 1977, but the kind of self-centered wackiness that the role required would have been right up her alley. Tomlin, who's comic forte is low-key underplaying, seems uncomfortable and miscast in a part demanding a more flamboyant style - she never fully inhabits the character, which is a major problem when she's such a large part of the movie.
The other aspects of the film - direction, photography, musical scoring - are handled well enough without being noteworthy in any way. For a film advertised as a comedy, there is a very high body count and quite a bit of realistic gore. For my money, "The Late Show" is a somewhat interesting curio, and probably will mostly appeal to Art Carney fans who would enjoy seeing him in an atypical role.