An enthusiastic and witty pastiche of the detective film noir, Gumshoe takes its title from the fantasies cooked up by its hero, Eddie “Gumshoe” Ginley (Albert Finney) in his Liverpool bedsitter. Eddie dreams of hitting the big time in Las Vegas as a stand-up comedian, but meanwhile, having lost his girlfriend to his brother, and too smart for his shrink, he sits it out, amusing himself with his own routines. On a lark, he places an ad in the paper offering his services as a private eye, and, like Bulldog Drummond (his English predecessor) gets a surprisingly enthusiastic response. The game becomes both dangerous and intricate, and the film turns into a shrewd, but always funny, color-noir. (JB)
Our print is the full-length original British release.