You wanna know somethin’, punk? You were born dumb and you’re gonna die dumb!
Today on Classic Movie Review, we are taking on the Neo-Noir The Late Show (1977) for the beginning of our #Noirvember celebration.
Before we get going, I want to shout out to Annie B. for her comments about Jimmy Buffet movies and to Thunderstruck54 for his comments on The Man Who Would Be King (1975).
This film has a 6.9[1] rating on iMDB.com. On rottentomatoes.com, the film has a remarkable 94 percent on the Tomatometer and an 80 percent[2] audience score.
On February 11, 1977, New York Times film critic Richard Eder said of the film:
“Unperfect” conveys a great deal a discarding of stridency, a stubborn though quiet‐mannered, freedom, an affection for human quirks that does not insists on tidiness, neither domestic, moral nor conceptual. It is a word that persistently comes to mind with “The Late Show:” a film that manage to be partly confusing and quite generally lovely. [3]
The great film critic Roger Ebert said in a January 1, 1977, four-star review:
“It’s hard enough for a movie to sustain one tone, let alone half a dozen, but that’s just what Robert Benton’s “The Late Show” does. It’s the story of a strangely touching relationship between two people. It’s a violent crime melodrama. It’s a comedy. It’s a commentary on the private-eye genre, especially its 1940s manifestations. It’s a study of the way older people do a balancing act between weariness and experience. It’s a celebration of that uncharted continent, Lily Tomlin.
And most of all, it’s a movie that dares a lot, pulls off most of it, and entertains us without insulting our intelligence. What’s quietly astonishing is that all of it starts with a woman coming to a private eye about a missing cat. The woman is played by Lily Tomlin, who somehow provides scatterbrained eccentricism with a cutting edge. The cat has been missing a couple of days, and she’s worried. The private eye is played by Art Carney, who has seen it all twice, when once would have been too much.” [4]
Actors – The Late Show (1977)
New
Art Carney played private detective Ira Wells. He was born in the state of New York in 1918. Carney graduated from Mount Vernon High School. This was his highest education, including never taking acting classes.
In the 1930s, Carney worked as a singer and was active on the radio. His first film was in 1941. Carney was drafted for World War II and served for the duration. He was wounded in Normandy and walked with a limp for the rest of his life.
Following the war, Carney worked on the radio and television, including “The Morey Amsterdam Show,” 1943-1948. Carney began working with Jackie Gleason in “Cavalcade of Stars” 1949-1952, “The Jackie Gleason Show” 1952-1957, and “The Honeymooners” 1955-1956. In the last show, he was city sewer worker Ed Norton. I can’t believe there were only 39 episodes of this show. Barney Rubble was created based on Ed Norton.
Carney continued to work on television. His career dipped a bit in the 1970s as his drinking increased. Carney won the Best Actor Oscar for his film Harry and Tonto (1974). In this movie, he traveled with his cat. There is a reference in today’s movie when Margo asks if he likes cats.
Other Carney movies include W.W. and the Dixie Dancekings (1975), The Late Show (1977), House Calls (1978), Going in Style (1979), Firestarter (1984), The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), and the Last Action Hero (1993).
Carney retired from acting and died in 2003.
Lily Tomlin played semi-nutcase Margo Sterling. Tomlin was born in Michigan in 1939. Tomlin graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1957 and then attended Wayne State. Tomlin began doing standup comedy. She was cast on the television comedy “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” 1969-1973, where she created characters for which she is still known.
Tomlin made her mark as an actor beginning with Nashville (1975), for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Some of her other celebrated roles include The Late Show (1977), 9 to 5 (1980), The Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981), Short Cuts (1993), The Beverly Hillbillies (1993), Tea with Mussolini (1999), Orange County (2002), I Heart Huckabees (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and Grandma (2015). She has multiple movies in production.
Joanna Cassidy played the adultress Laura Birdwell. Cassidy was born in New Jersey in 1945. Cassidy attended Syracuse University and married a doctor. After dropping out of school, she worked as a model. After ten years, two children, and a divorce, Cassidy moved to Los Angles to try acting.
In LA, Cassidy modeled, did commercials, and was occasionally in a movie. Some of the early movies include Bullitt (1968), Fools (1970), The Laughing Policeman (1973), and The Outfit (1973). The Bank Shot (1974) was her first co-starring role.
In the late 1970s, Cassidy worked extensively on television, including the successful series “Buffalo Bill” 1983-1984. The 1980s found Cassidy obtaining significant roles in films, including Blade Runner (1982), Under Fire (1983), Club Paradise (1986), and what I believe is her most fantastic role as the waitress and girlfriend of private detective Eddie Valent in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
Cassidy continues to work on television and in film.
Story – The Late Show (1977)
A typewriter is shown, with page one from a book titled “Naked Girls and Machine Gun” Memoirs of a real private detective. Only one line is written. The “book” is by Ira Wells (Art Carney). The camera pulls back on a tiny, cluttered apartment. Photographs show the story of Ira’s life. One of the photos is of Martha Vickers.
Ira’s landlady knocks on the door and says he has company. He opens the door to see Harry Regan (Howard Duff) looking like he has been on a three-day bender. When Harry begins to speak, blood flows out of his mouth, as he has been shot in the stomach. Harry tells Ira that he has a deal for the two of them. Ira says that Harry is dying and wants to know who shot him.
Ira is upset that Harry let someone with a gun get that close to him. Very similar to how Spade’s partner Archer got it in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Harry dies before the ambulance arrives. Ira drinks a toast to his old partner.
Ira meets with old friends and associates at the funeral. Off-camera voices of Margo Sterling (Lily Tomlin) and Charlie Hatter (Bill Macy) (God’s gonna get you Walter), discuss Ira’s ability as a private investigator. They are waiting for him at the end of the walk. As soon as Ira sees Charlie, he says no. Margo asks Ira how he feels about cats as her cat Winston has been stolen. She says someone she owes money to will kill her cat if she doesn’t pay, and she can’t pay now. Ira doesn’t want the job.
Charlie is in all kinds of business. Ira goes to his office and asks him what he has to do with Harry. Charlie says that Harry was working for Margo. He says Harry was on the missing cat job. Ira gets Margo’s address and heads that way.
Ira walks into Margo’s apartment. He says he will deal with whoever killed Harry. Margo tells that the cat was taken by Brain Hemphill. She sometimes hauls merchandise to Bakersfield for Hemphill, and on the last run, she stole the money. Ira says that next time Brian calls, she should set up a meet.
Margo and Charlie show up late at Ira’s apartment. Margo has told Brian that Ira is after him, so now Brian may be coming to kill Ira. A man shows up outside, and another man shoots him. The shooter then fires multiple shots into the bordering house. The shooter flees in his car, but Harry carefully aims and hits the tire. The car crashed, bursting into flames, but the shooter escaped. The landlady takes it all pretty well.
Ira demands that Charlie give whatever he took off the dead body in the yard. It is a collectors book of stamps. Ira knows that a stamp collection was stolen during the Whiting robbery, and a woman was murdered. Charlie confesses that Harry saw the robbery while he was trailing Brian. He and Charlie were going to split the 15k reward.
Margo says that Brian and his friend Ray Escobar were making deals with a fence named Ron Birdwell (Eugene Roche).
Ira heads to Birdwell’s reasonably large home and fence office. Jeff Lamar (John Considine) answers the door and beats Ira before taking his gun away. The house is full of merchandise. Ira is taken to meet Bridwell. Ira says he has information about the Whiting stamp robbery. Ira says that Hemphill works for Birdwell. Hemphill was the one that shot last night.
Margo and Charlie come to see Ira. Charlie has found out some information about where Escobar is holed up. But they will need to raise $100. Lamar is tailing Ira.
Charlie finds out that Birdwell’s wife, Laura (Joanna Cassidy), is running around. Margo brings the money to pay for the information. Ira judges Margo on her lifestyle choices. Charlie comes back with the address of Escobar.
Margo and Ira go to the hideout location. He makes Margo go inside despite her trepidation. She is dressed like Little Red Riding Hood in one of her self-designed outfits. When it seems like no one is home, Ira breaks into the apartment. It has been searched, and everything is strewn about. She finds her cat, Winston. Ira sees blood on the wall and bed. He follows the blood trail to the bathtub, where he finds Laura holding a gun.
Laura brings Ira out at gunpoint. Ira talks her down. Ira and Laura begin talking. Escobar’s body is in the refrigerator. Escobar was blackmailing Laura about her affair. Margo finds the body in the refrigerator. When they turn around, Laura is gone. They follow a car they think she is driving.
They lose the car and begin searching the neighborhood for it. Suddenly the car turns on its lights and shoots into Margo’s Scobby Mobile. She drives through yards to get away as Ira returns fire. They get away, and the chasing car is wrecked.
Margo is amped up on adrenaline and wants to go into the private investigator business. Margo references Nick and Nora from “The Thin Man” 1957–1959, not the movie. Margo realizes that the case is not about the stamps. The burglars must have found something more valuable, the evidence to blackmail Laura. Margo thinks Laura may have been having an affair with Whiting. Ira says he is a loner.
Ira goes to the Whiting home, but the man is not there.
Later Ira goes to Birdwell’s house. When Lamar answers the door, Ira gives him a beatdown as payback for last time. Ira takes Lamar out to where Birdwell is swimming. Ira asks about Escobar and tells them that he is dead. Ira finally gets Birdwell to tell that Laura has been gone for several days. Mrs. Whiting had previously called Birdwell to have his wife stop sleeping with her husband. Bridwell says Whiting was supposed to be nudged and not killed.
Birdwell and Lamar go to a porn theater where Charlie is watching a film. They rough Charlie up and tell him they want him to find Escobar’s gun, which is a .32.
Ira and Margo meet at a restaurant, and Ira gives her the details. Ira doubles over and falls from gut pain. He leaves before the ambulance comes. He has a bleeding ulcer. It has been operated on twice at the Veteran’s Hospital. When Ira gets home, the landlady asks him to leave because of the recent events and the lady waiting in his room.
Laura is waiting in Ira’s room. Laura had given Mr. Whiting her gun so he could protect himself against her husband. Escobar had the gun, and it was the gun used to kill Mrs. Whiting. The gun is what Escobar was blackmailing Laura about. Laura and Ira go to look for Mr. Whiting.
The gun is in the cat cage at Margo’s apartment.
When Laura and Ira get to the apartment where Mr. Whiting is supposed to be, they find him shot dead on a waterbed.
Margo can’t find Ira, so she calls Charlie and tells him about the gun. He says he will handle it.
Ira pulls a .32 bullet out of the wall. He now knows that Mrs. Whiting was killed in this apartment by Laura when the lovers were discovered.
Charlie, Birdwell, and Lamar come to Margo’s apartment and try to get her to give them the gun. Lamar starts hitting Charlie and then starts after Margo. They are interrupted by Ira calling on the phone. Ira lays the entire case out, not knowing Birdwell is listening. Ira says Birdwell killed Harry.
Ira and Laura head towards Margo’s, and he has another attack. Lamar is waiting to kill Ira.
Margo gives the gun to Birdwell. Birdwell confesses to killing Harry. Charlie wants to get paid. Ira and Laura arrive at the apartment. Lamar gets the jump and ushers them inside. Laura starts making up with Birdwell. Ira goes down with his gut again. When Lamar goes down to taunt him, Ira pulls a gun and now controls the room.
Margo is celebrating and talking. Charlie starts lobbying for a deal. Ira tells that Laura killed Mrs. Whiting and then called Hemphill to move the body back to the Whiting house. The stamp theft was just to throw the cops off the trail. Escobar had the gun, and Lamar killed him. Mr. Whiting wants to go to the cops, so Laura killed him also. Ira is going to call the cops.
Charlie grabs the gun and wants to force Birdwell to pay. That was the same scheme that Harry was trying on Birdwell before Birdwell killed him.
Lamar jumps up, and Birdwell shots Charlie. Charlie shots Lamar. Ira drills Birdwell full of holes.
Ira calls the cops. Charlie doesn’t even realize he has been shot and is dying.
Following Charlie’s funeral, Margo and Ira sit at a bus stop. Ira’s landlady has asked him to leave. It seems like he and Margo are going to be a couple of some kind.
Conclusion – The Late Show (1977)
This movie has everything. You take Sam Spade from The Maltese Falcon (1941). He never gets killed or marries a rich dame or drinks himself to death. Then you have Ira, a once-great detective that has a bad gut, a bad knee, and bad hearing. It does take a dame to straighten him back out.
The picture by Ira’s typewriter was of Martha Vickers. Vickers played Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep (1946) with Humphrey Bogart.
World-Famous Short Summary – When someone kills your partner, you ought to do something about it.
Beware the moors.
[1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076301/
[2]
[3] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076301/
[4] The Late Show (1977) Roger Ebert
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