It was a more innocent time. It was a time of discos and brass knuckles, a time of bralessness and “beaver traps,” a time when no one questioned Chevy Chase as a romantic lead nor Barry Manilow pacing the soundtrack to a thriller. It was a time when directors satirized Alfred Hitchcock and The Mikado played so often that school children knew the lyrics of “Three Little Maids” by osmosis.
The year was 1978 and the writer of Harold and Maude decided to make a Hitchcock-style comedic nail-biter. There is absolutely no reason this picture should work. Take, for instance, the fact that film chose to juxtapose genuine “killer-in-your-apartment” type thrills with several characters who are, essentially, cartoon representations of real human beings. Little old ladies don’t actually play dirty Scrabble, do they? This is a film in which a woman desperately struggling for her life reaches blindly into a basket for scissors and stabs her assailant with … knitting needles. The camera shows her priceless reaction, which is just as surprised as ours.
Set in the San Francisco of Vertigo and Dirty Harry, Foul Play tells the story of an assassination plot gone bad, spilling into the life of charming, reclusive divorcee Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn). Encouraged at a party to “take some chances” –a very dated philosophy, btw- Gloria picks up a stranded motorist, who plants a MacGuffin on her before departing. At the theater that evening, her date shows up mortally wounded and whispering cryptic warnings, which –in uncanny combination with the retrospective murder mystery on screen- she mistakes for normal screenwatching rapport. For about half a film, Foul Play delivered a sea of red herrings and personal misexperiences to make it look as if Gloria were the semester project in course entitled Gaslighting 101.
Eventually Chevy Chase shows up in a relatively straight role as SFPD Lieutenant Tony Carlson, the man assigned to decide if an actual crime has been committed in any of the first three times Gloria is attacked. It’s honestly difficult to tell, objectively, as bodies and suspects keep disappearing. In a criminally hilarious misunderstanding, a desperate Gloria –on the run from gangsters- enters a singles bar, urges a swinger (Dudley Moore) to take her home, but remains completely oblivious to his –hmmm, how shall I put this? – aggressive, yet docile, foreplay. Want to see a timid man try to explain why he owns sex dolls? Did I mention this film was PG rated? PG meant something different at the time.
I have to reinstate that this film is legitimately scary. Goldie Hawn is being stalked by evil men who tend to show up at inopportune times at inopportune places. And then there are scenes where 71-year-old Burgess Meredith has a cage match melee with 51-year old Rachel Roberts … with lives at stake. There really is no reason why this picture should work.
Everyone of us overrates certain films. If you love things, it is literally impossible not to love something more than it deserves. From having written thousands of reviews, I know for a fact that this is a flawed film. I know it. Chevy Chase as action hero? Goldie Hawn battling a little person? An assassination team professional enough to take down the criminal underworld, but seems to have trouble with Goldie Hawn’s umbrella? I know it’s flawed. I don’t care. At age ten, this film made me love Goldie Hawn. At *not age ten*, this continues to be one of my favorites, and not just because it’s a local … although that doesn’t hurt, now, does it?
Time has a way of spoiling things, especially when it comes to movies. We all know this. Dated technology, dated styles, dated zeitgeist. Understanding that Gone with the Wind isn’t nearly as great a picture as we once promoted is part of cultural understanding. So here’s a film -with two white people in the leads- which had no problem introducing potential problematic bigotry involving midgets and albinos, potentially problematic topics such as pornography and organized religion and potentially dated sensibilities on chauvinism, sexism, ageism, etc… and, seeing the film with a fresh 2020 viewpoint, do you know what I took from this adventure? “Were Gilbert & Sullivan racist? Huh. I guess they were. Never considered that before. Oh well.”
So while I may think twice before putting in that CD (people still do CDs, right?) of “H.M.S. Pinafore,” I will continue to enjoy Foul Play for decades beyond this one.
♪You remind me
I’m older than dirt
But I don’t care
I’m set in my ways
That much you can tell
Not much for surprises,
Nor exercises
My life goes along on the couch
Not much of a thrill
Of that I can vouch
And I’m ready to watch Die Hard again
Ready to synchronize every line anew
Been livin’ with my Roku for a bit
This might be the “Mr. Rogers” edit
And I’m ready for beer, Bruce, Hans, and pizza, too♫
Rated PG, 116 Minutes
Director: Colin Higgins
Writer: Colin Higgins
Genre: Pick ‘em, gotta a little bit of everything here
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Me
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who prefer their comedy, drama, thriller, horror, romance, sci-fi, musical pure
♪ Parody Inspired by “Ready to Take a Chance Again”
