Foul Play

A shy librarian becomes involved in a wildly bizarre assassination plot and romantically involved with the unpolished detective assigned to the case. "Foul Play" is a slight and funny film featuring a really nice performance from the extremely beautiful and immensely likable Goldie Hawn, as well as an amusing turn from Chevy Chase. The movie is comprised of many Hitchcockian references including the blonde leading lady, some windy San Francisco locations, a McGuffin, the Bernard Herrmannish score, a finale at an opera house, some dizzying camera work, and two detectives surnamed Scott and Ferguson, but the movie is an homage rather than a ripoff and has a lot of fun in the process. In addition to the likable leads I liked the work of Burgess Meredith as a black belt septuagenarian, Brian Dennehy as Chase's disbelieving partner, and especially Dudley Moore playing a swinger who keeps crossing paths with Hawn. Many of the action sequences in the latter part of the film are drawn out and take some of the fun out of the film, but all and all this was an amiable farce made all the entertaining by its affable players.