The Late Show

Ira Wells is an ageing private detective. He is more or less retired, has a stomach ulcer, does not hear well, and his old partner has just been killed. A young woman comes to him about a missing cat, and the case grows from there. The cat leads to a murder and the murder to an account closed years ago. The subject is not crime but the noir hero grown old. Ira can no longer chase anyone, cannot fight, and stops halfway up the stairs. All of the irony comes from swapping the genre's self-assured hero for a man who is physically tired. The form is a dusty, low-lit genre piece set in the Los Angeles of the seventies. The plot is deliberately tangled and some connections never fully clarify, which is itself a knowing choice. Robert Altman produced and Robert Benton wrote and directed. Benton's screenplay was nominated for an Oscar. Art Carney was known for television comedy when he took the lead, and his performance here is among the most cited of his career. Lily Tomlin plays the young woman, with Bill Macy and Eugene Roche completing the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like seventies American genre cinema and film noir. Who it is not for: anyone who wants to follow a plot cleanly; the film is untidy on purpose.