Gumshoe (1971)

Another late-night TV recording, and another 80-odd minute movie, Gumshoe is totally different to Invasion of the Body Snatchers - it's very English, very funny, and features Wendy Richard, Maureen Lipman and Fulton Mackay in supporting roles, along with a score from Lord Lloyd Webber - and it's also very good! Why these great films get relegated to graveyard slots I'll never know, although it's probably surprising Gumshoe got an airing at all due to the not-at-all sensitive language used to describe the film's only black character. 

The casual racism (comparisons to monkeys, etc) is hard to stomach in these more enlightened times, and even considering in the context of the era in which the movie was made does not excuse the epithets, most of which are uttered by the hero, Albert Finney's titular (wannabe) gumshoe and working men's club comedian, Eddie Ginley. I feel it's important though, to acknowledge such failings, and not to dismiss the whole film because of them. Because the film itself is a well-crafted and features a complicated plot (that I'm not sure I followed all the way to the end) and a sparkling, sparky script. 

Ginley is a constant joker who gets caught up in, well some sort of dodgy dealings to do with a kidnap, a murdered junkie, selling guns in Africa, and pretty much any hard-boiled detective cliché, for this is mostly a parody of the noir gumshoe genre. Witty and, I'd guess, rewarding a repeat viewing, Gumshoe has first class performances from all involved, particularly Finney, sporting a wealth of accents and comedic ability.