Forget It, Fake, It’s Chinatown
Forty years ago, Neil Simon wrote a pair of parodies in the mystery vein: the 1976 film Murder By Death, which sent up the great movie detectives, and The Cheap Detective in 1978, which took on hard-boiled Bogart characters, like Sam Spade. The two films have a lot in common, including Robert Moore as director, Peter Falk as the Bogie analog, and Madeline Kahn in a wonderful supporting role in each. But the Afoot panel prefers one to the other. Which one? You’ll have to listen to find out.
We have spoiler-free parts of this podcast for each film, so if you just want our overview without any giveaways — hey, they’re parodies, but they’re still mysteries — use the chapter markers in your podcast app or these timestamps:
- 14:03: We start in on Murder By Death spoilers.
- 38:59: We blow the unspoiler horn to start talking about The Cheap Detective, spoiler-free.
- 46:22: Once more, the horn, and we get into the details of The Cheap Detective.
Listen to this episode (1 hour, 14 minutes)
Show Notes
- I recommend renting at YouTube, which costs less or has longer watching periods for rentals. These two films are $2.99, a 30-day rental, and 48 hours to watch once you start. Murder by Death, The Cheap Detective
