Foul Play (1978) * * *

 

Directed by:  Colin Higgins

Starring:  Chevy Chase, Goldie Hawn, Brian Dennehy, Billy Barty, Burgess Meredith, Dudley Moore, Rachel Roberts

Foul Play owes plenty to Hitchcock and to screwball romantic comedies of yesteryear.   It is a successful mix because of the comic chemistry between Chase and Hawn.  Even a murder plot involving the Pope as a target is told in a breezy, light manner.   Foul Play is a tale of intrigue, mystery, and misunderstandings in which an innocent woman named Gloria (Hawn) is drawn into simply because she went on a date with the wrong kind of guy.

Gloria is a librarian who is starting over after a failed relationship (the song played over the opening credits is Barry Manilow's Ready to Take a Chance Again to drill the point home).   She goes on a date with a guy who winds up knocking at her door after the date is over with multiple stab wounds.   Before he dies in her apartment, he utters, "Beware of the dwarf."   What does that mean?   Gloria has no idea, but soon she is a murder suspect and is being chased by the albino assassin who killed her date.   A dwarf (Barty) does show up at Gloria's door, asks if she ever thought about the afterlife, and Gloria pounds him into oblivion (or at least the local hospital).   Turns out he's a harmless bible salesman.  

San Francisco cop Tony Carlson (Chase) is assigned to the case and takes a liking to Gloria that is far more than expected or maybe even allowed under the circumstances.   He believes she is innocent and also intuits that a sinister plot is afoot which stretches far beyond Gloria's understanding.   Why would an assassin be stalking her if there wasn't something up?   Burgess Meredith is also on hand as Gloria's grandfatherly landlord and Dudley Moore as a horny guy who Gloria runs into and quickly befriends in order to hide in his apartment from the assassin.   Moore thinks he is about to get lucky.  The apartment itself is a mashup between a typical bachelor pad and your local adult toy store.  

Foul Play is equal parts effective comedy and thriller with Hawn as its central character who manages to keep moving forward in a plot which would cower lesser people.   She isn't simply the damsel in distress, but can help herself when the need arises.   Chase more or less plays the detached, cool guy from Saturday Night Live, but does it well.   What makes Foul Play tick is everyone's buy-in on a crazy plot which zigs and zags, but everything turns out okay in the end.