The cat knows the killer

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Movie
German title The cat knows the killer
Original title The Late Show
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1977
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Robert Benton
script Robert Benton
production Robert Altman
music Kenneth Wannberg
camera Charles Rosher junior
cut Lou Lombardo
Peter Appleton
occupation

The Cat Knows the Killer is a 1976 American detective comedy in the film noir style directed by Robert Benton with Art Carney and Lily Tomlin in the leading roles.

action

Ira Wells has long since passed his prime: He is old, suffers from many physical ailments and is always financially clammy. As a taciturn loner, he is also not exactly capable of intensive social contacts. One night his partner Harry Regan stumbled into Ira's room, which he had moved into in a guesthouse. He is currently working on a case that was obviously his undoing, because a little later the seriously injured Harry is dead. Ira, who actually has little desire to get involved in a dangerous new case, is on the other hand not ready for the Just leave the death of his colleague behind and go about things. One trail leads to the narrow-gauge picker Ronnie Birdwell, whom he then pays a visit. At Birdwell's side is a type of thug named Lamar, Birdwell's bodyguard. And given the questions Ira asks his boss, he's only too happy to give the old private detective a good beating. But the crooks are astonished that they do not have an easy game with Ira, but that he is quite able to deal properly.

At Harry's funeral, Ira meets Margo Sperling, whom his informant Charlie Hatter introduces to him. Margo is the exact opposite of Ira. She is extremely sociable and affectionate and chatters incessantly. The middle-aged woman officially earns her living as an artist agent, but in fact selling marijuana . Margo asks the nose-nose to look for her missing cat Winston, who was "kidnapped" by her friend Brian Hemphill, to whom she still owes $ 500, and who is only released for "ransom". Ira doesn't feel like wasting his time looking for the four-legged ball of fur, but changes his mind when he finds out that Harry was also involved in the "Winston case" on his ultimate assignment. Client Margo proves to be extremely devoted; henceforth she no longer leaves Wells, who is more than annoyed by her nature. Soon, however, Ira also has to realize that the cat client, who is offering himself as his new detective partner, is not only a terrible pain in the ass, but also has her good sides, especially when it comes to solving his own case. More and more the two very different characters begin to function as a team.

It turns out that Harry's killing is closely related to a $ 50,000 stamp theft and a string of other murders. Among the dead were the Whiting couple, who had been in contact with Ron Birdwell's wife Laura, who had disappeared three days ago. And then there's another dead person in a refrigerator, a certain Escobar. Things get more and more complicated, but piece by piece, with Margo's help, Ira can untangle the tangle of entanglements between the Birdwells, the Whitings and Harry Regan. In Margo's apartment, a dangerous situation arises with the unscrupulous opponents. In addition to murder, there was also blackmail, namely Laura Birdwell, at play. Dead Harry was also far from being as pure and noble as his partner Ira had always believed, but was involved in the blackmail. And even the murder weapon, a 7.65 mm pistol, has a meaning in this puzzle. It was taken “into custody” by Winston, of all people.

In the big shoot-out finale, the insidious villains kill each other: Ronnie Birdwell shoots Charlie Hatter, who in turn kills his bodyguard Lamar. In order not to be killed too, Ira again shoots Birdwell, whom he has exposed as Harry's murderer. In the end, Winston is back with his mistress, and Ira and Margo have pulled themselves together and solved the tricky case. Since Ira has been kicked out by his landlady in the face of all the turbulence of the past few days and weeks, he asks Margo whether her neighboring apartment is still free. The film leaves it open as to whether this will lead to professional or private ties between the two, because immediately afterwards the two of them start to squabble again.

Production notes and trivia

The film, largely a tongue-in-cheek homage from the 1970s to 1940s film detectives such as Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, was made over the course of eight weeks, mostly in September and October 1976, and was premiered on February 10, 1977 in New York City. The German premiere of The Cat Knows the Murderer took place on September 23, 1977.

The song “What Was” was composed by Ken Wannberg and sung by Bev Kelly. The text is from Stephen Lehner.

Howard Duff , who played the detective partner Art Carney, who was fatally wounded at the beginning of the film, was the first Sam Spade in detective stories produced for the radio (1946 to 1950).

Nominations and Awards

Those involved in this film have been honored or nominated for numerous prizes:

Reviews

The reviews at home and abroad almost rolled over:

The American reviews:

US star critic Pauline Kael wrote: “The Late Show never lets up, the editing is by Lou Lombardo (who has worked with Robert Altman many times) and Peter Appleton, and I can't remember a 1940s thriller that was so tight is like this or the one who maintains the tension in such a way. (…) The Late Show is fast and exciting, but it didn’t turn out to be a thriller. "

In the New York Times judged Vincent Canby , the film was a "funny, tightly constructed, knowledgeable, loving party, we all can participate in."

In Variety you could read that Benton had “given Carney and Tomlin the freedom to create two extremely likeable characters. Both appearances knock you over ... ”

Gary Arnold said in the Washington Post that the film was "a humble but surprisingly satisfying entertainment, a detective melodrama that looks and sounds modern, while respecting the traditions and conventions of the genre."

Roger Ebert praised in the Chicago Sun-Times that The Late Show was "above all a film that dares a lot ... and entertains us without offending our intelligence."

The German reviews:

In 1977, Ponkie found in the Münchner Abendzeitung : "A gem of classic private detective cinemas"

In the Süddeutsche Zeitung you could read: "... with so much wit and suspense that you will soon be overwhelmed by pure cinema pleasure".

The Kölnische Rundschau found: "A sheer pleasure ... in terms of image and dialogue as perfect as in Hollywood's best days".

In the Berliner Morgenpost it was said: "The babbling old man and the crazy little fruit are really an excellent couple ... Funny dialogues, an insane chase - it's all fun and cleverly entertaining for one and a half hours of chic cinema."

The Frankfurter Allgemeine said: “This is one of the greatest experiences that American cinema has brought us in recent years. (...) The film has that rare quality that only comes together once every few years in the new, cheerful Hollywood. "

In the lexicon of international films it says: "A mixture of detective film and parody sparkling with humor and irony, brilliantly staged and performed."

The trade magazine Cinema was also enthusiastic: “What makes the whole story so fun is the interaction between the two main actors. (...) How the late virgin chats up to the old snoop, how she wraps him more and more around her finger while talking non-stop, that is the best tabloid cinema. (…) Robert Benton has achieved a great deal for a debut work, even if - understandably - the dialogues dominate. What there is to see is real craft. Lily Tomlyn's mouth is more impressive. "

In Kay Weniger's Das Großes Personenlexikon der Film , Carney's biography reads the following: “He achieved another brilliant achievement in 1976 with the quirky, worn-out and heart-sick detective looking for a murderer in the wit and charm of the two leading actors Carney and Lily Tomlin, the crime comedy 'Die The cat knows the killer '. "Lily Tomlin says in the same work:"' The cat knows the killer 'was a successful, extremely amusing mixture of film noir detective thriller and weird comedy about two fate-stricken, lonely losers. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pauline Kael in The New Yorker, February 7, 1977, pp. 109-112
  2. ^ The New York Times, February 11, 1977 issue
  3. ↑ Variety, February 2, 1977, p. 22
  4. ^ The Washington Post, March 2, 1977 issue
  5. ↑ Review on rogerebert.com
  6. ↑ The cat knows the killer. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 20, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  7. ↑ Cinema, No. 1, 1977, p. 55
  8. ^ The large personal lexicon of films, Volume 1, p. 683. Berlin 2001
  9. ↑ ibid., Volume 7, p. 698

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