"Foul Play" (1978)

I loved it when I was a kid and HBO played it incessantly. My brother and I pretty much had the dialogue memorized.

"Beware... of the Dwarf!"

Before Chase lost his shit completely.

I enjoyed it at the time, although the albino scared me as a child.

I miss all those very non-PC zany late 70s/early 80s comedies that would never get made today.

I saw it on HBO around 1979 or 1980. I would have been around 7 yrs old.

It received very tepid reviews at the time.

It's a time capsule and I will always watch for this reason. I didn't understand why I disliked the film until I realized smarmy Chevy Chase is and remains a turn off. The Vacation movies are unwatchable. Because of him!

J'adore the opening credits.

[quote] It received very tepid reviews at the time.

It didn't hurt the box office - it was the 'sleeper hit of the summer'. It has a $5M budget and grossed 9 times that at the BO, taking in $45M. Goldie became a bankable box office star, and continued that streak into the 80s.

Goldie was at her most gorgeous in this picture.

Is this the one where Dudley Moore stripped down in his swinging bachelor pad while Goldie nervously looks out the window?

I thought the Albino was a fictional Bond movie type villain with special-effects make-up. After we left the theater my dad told me albinos were real.

And sterile.

Delia Darrow scared me.

Goldie was radiant here. Chevy was charming.

Yes r10. I believe it was considered his big break.

I saw it in the theatre and laughed the whole way through, especially the car scene chase with the Japanese tourists in the back seat. I wonder what I would think of it now.

I was 11 when it came out and since I had a mom who let us see anything within reason (within reason being Outlaw Josey Wales, Blazing Saddles, etc), I definitely saw it in the theatre. My mom absolutely adored Dudley Moore and I remember her laughing so hard at that bedroom scene! And now that you mention them, I do remember the Japanese tourists. Such a goofy, silly movie.

It holds up well in a very un-PC way. First off, it had a great cast. Goldie was beautiful and quirky and funny -totally adorable. Chevy was at his height. The film introduced most Americans to Dudley Moore. We also had great character actors like Billy Barty, Eugene Roche, Burgess Meredith, Brian Dennehy, and Rachel Roberts. It also had some classic bits: Goldie beating up poor Billy Barty (even when trying to apologize to him). The two old ladies playing Scrabble with dirty words. Dudley stripping to the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack -and then later appearing as the conductor at the opera... It was an homage to Alfred Hitchcock.

And the theme song, "Ready to Take a Chance Again" sung by Barry Manilow was a big hit, charting for sixteen weeks.

I preferred Seems Like Old Times.

I remember there was a 1981 TV sitcom on ABC based on the movie. Barry Bostwick was in the Chevy Chase role, while Deborah Raffin played Hawn's role. It was horrible - the laughs were forced and no chemistry between the two stars. I think it lasted a month before being canned.

Goldie seems to have chemistry with everyone. I've never met her, but I imagine she's a great person to have as a friend.

Written and directed by Colin Higgins who also gave us Harold and Maude. Sadly he was an early victim of AIDS.

Also 9 to 5! DL would be nothing without him!

R17 Eww ! 'Seems Like Old Times' seemed more like a rip-off of 'I Love Lucy'. Goldie and Chevy did horrible interpretations of Lucy and Desi.

R7 I remember when the movie opened it was 'rumored' that the producers wanted Streisand to record the theme song, and offered her a lot of money. It would have also fit nicely on her 'Songbird' album that year, which had a 'theme' about 'being lonely'.

It was said that Streisand passed on that offer to record 'Prisoner' for boyfriend Jon Peters' movie 'Eyes of Laura Mars' (which wasn't included on 'Songbird' but was included later that year on GHV2'). In retrospect, she made the wrong decision. 'Foul Play' and the theme song were hugely popular, while 'Eyes of Laura Mars' and 'Prisoner' were not.

Prisoner is my favorite BS song r23

"Prisoner" was expected to do so much better in the summer of 1978. It didn't even crack the Top 20, and was off the charts within 12 weeks.

The great Frances Bay's feature film debut at age 59.

R25 that doesn’t make me like the song any less at al. I’d much rather listen to Prisoner than fucking Barry Manilow - Copacabana.

In fact, I’d rather listen to my own farts than Barry Manilow. And I must make it known I am NOT a BS fan.

R28 You're not a Manilow fan either, I gather.

Fuck no!

He looks like fucking Lady Elaine Fairchilde.

This was filmed right before Chevy Chase began giving himself away as an asshole on SNL. You could see him devolve on the program.

R28 = Walter Mathau

I love this movie though I saw it on TV in the 90's. But I have this very odd connection to it in that over the years i thought about it very little but on 2 occasions i spent the day really thinking about it and both times it was on TV that very night. The first time it happened was weird but the 2nd time was even weirder. Ive never had that happen with any other movie.

[quote]This was filmed right before Chevy Chase began giving himself away as an asshole on SNL. You could see him devolve on the program.

Chevy Chase's last show as a regular SNL cast member was in Oct. 1976.

So -- no.

I saw this at the theater in high school and loved it! It was the movie that made me want to move to San Francisco.

12 years later, I did.

TCM showed this sometime in the last month and I enjoyed it as always. I’m like r1 who watched it repeatedly on HBO in the 80s and can still quote much of it. Should have known I was gay when I dreamed of getting a yellow Beetle convertible when I was learning to drive

Kino Lorber is working on a 4K release for next year. Would love it if they could get Goldie and Chase for interviews or commentary but I imagine that’s pretty unlikely. Hard to believe the movie is nearly 50 years old

Supposedly Paramount originally wanted Farrah Fawcett for Hawn’s part, but she was tied up in a lawsuit re: her bailing on CHARLIE’S ANGELS.

I don’t think she would have brought much besides her hair to the role.

Was Copacabana on the Foul Play soundtrack?

This was the only time I ever thought Chevy Chase was sexy.

R39 Copacabana was released before the movie was filmed, but because Barry Manilow recorded the theme song for Foul Play, the studio agreed to promote Barry by playing Copacabana in the scene where Goldie runs into the single bar to hide from the albino.

I don't know if they included the song on the film's soundtrack, though. My guess would be "yes."

Yes Copacabana plays in the background on the bar scene where Goldie Hawn first meets Dudley Moore and was included on the LP release

I liked how the zany but concerned best friend gives her some kind of alarm, mace, and brass knuckles, and when the time comes to protect herself, Goldie uses all three in quick succession.

Nobody messes with Stella unless Stella wants to be messed

R38, Farrah over Goldie would have meant that FP would have swept the awards -- at the Razzies.

Watch one episode of Charlie's Angels and you see Farrah is one-note. She's the beautiful blonde girl but brings nothing to any part she's ever played. The Burning Bed was actor proof given its content.

I never believed Jill when she'd go undercover and play a role unlike Sabrina. Kate had training at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Whoever thought Farrah -- or Chevy for that matter -- was a movie star, was overpaid.

Farrah as a Bond Girl....sure. I'd buy that.

I think foul play was supposed to be the incentive for Farrah to stay on Charlie’s angels. It was offered to her along with a bigger cut of the angels merchandise if she agreed to stay on the show. She turned it down then was sued for breach of contract, and proceeded to make 3 forgettable movies.

Hey I remember Saturn 3!

I can kind of imagine Farrah in the role but Goldie brought a naive vulnerability to the character I don’t think Farrah would have pulled off.

Farrah got 'burned' in 'Sunburn,' and they quipped that 'Somebody Killed her Husband' should have been titled 'Somebody Killed her Career.'

When Goldie calls the police in the movie, she gives her address over the phone.

So of course, I drove to that address one day, and sure enough, that was the actual building shown in the movie's exterior shots.

Cool r49!

R35, the rot continued long after your designated attention span, Cunt.

Aside from Hawn and Chase the only key cast members still alive are Marilyn Sokol (Stella,) Bruce Solomon (Scotty,) Barbara Sammeth (Sally, Gloria's friend who was getting married) and Cooper Huckabee ('far out' truck driver). Huckabee was so hot back in the 70s/80s but he aged like jerky

It's on YouTube for free, so I'm watching it now. :)

I watched it about a year ago. Holds up well. Goldie is adorable. odd that I could only find it on YouTube.

Delia Darrow gave the best speech I ever saw on film in the 70s

The tepid reviews were because of the "disrespectful": treatment of Catholicism. Which they very much deserve.

Another project Fawcett was offered in that rush of CHARLIE’S ANGELS fame was COMA. They couldn’t work out the movie’s shooting schedule with her commitment to the TV series, though, so it didn’t work.

Geneviève Bujold eventually made the role in COMA seem much more interesting than it really is. She’s such a good actress. I love her in CHOOSE ME.

Cooper Huckabee was a hottie on Dallas; he and Brian Dennehy played brothers in law. JR had slept with Brian's wife and Brian and Cooper's characters took the women of Southfork hostage and were going to get old school justice by sleeping with Sue Ellen and another woman.

Lucy tried to throw Pam under a bus and say she used to date Ray, prompting Cooper's character Peyton to say: Well, that's good to know sugar plum; we didn't come for one of us -- we came for one of you.

Pam was about to go up stairs with Peyton to save Lucy when Bobby and Jock came in and saved the day.

I just looked up Cooper; I mean, sure it's been over 40 years but yeah, the guy has aged. Who hasn't, I suppose.

That’s really sordid, R58. I never watched Dallas. Didn’t know that’s what was going on with that show.

R47, Goldie Hawn had long been an Oscar-winning actress by then working with directors like Spielberg and Hal Ashby. Of course she was better than Farrah Fawcett. They were lucky to have her.

I think the tepid reviews were in part because the material wasn’t up to her standard of talent. (This was years before Wildcats, of course.) But she managed to get things on track with Private Benjamin, released just 2 years after this.

Irwin Allen could’ve made a disaster film called Farrah Fawcett’s Film Career.

It was a stunning run of just misfire after misfire, with Somebody Killed Her Husband (with Jeff Bridges!!), Sunburn (with Charles Grodin!, Art Carney! and Joan Collins!) and Saturn 3 (with Kirk Douglas!! and Harvey Keitel!!!). These were all like non-movies that never really seemed to exist, except maybe Saturn 3 which was a Christmas release that featured nude scenes with Douglas (spoiler alert: it was mostly Douglas who was nude, of course). If I recall, all of this was sort of on the cusp of the ‘80s home video phenomenon otherwise they definitely would’ve been straight to video. I don’t even recall the first two of these getting much traction even on cable tv, an era that was just dawning in the Midwest at this time.

I can imagine Irwin Allen rallying a fleet of garbage trucks to put an end to this dreadful film career.

R55 I remember seeing the movie and thinking, "Hey, I'm on the side of Delia Darrow and the Tax the Churches League!"

And it DIDNT influence a “Tales of The City” plot-line later that year!

(And Sister Act…)

And NOT The Da Vinci Code either !!!

I was 9 when this came out and begged my older brother to take me to see it. Loved it, even though I’m sure some things went over my head. Watched it all the time when it would come on in the 80s. A couple of years ago I wanted to watch it and couldn’t find it on any streamers. Watched it on my iPad via some foreign site. Wonder why it isn’t on any of the streaming services?

Okay, I see now you can rent or purchase it online. I don’t think that was an option when I was trying to watch it a while back. I may purchase it on Prime to watch when I need a pick me up.

[quote]Goldie seems to have chemistry with everyone. I've never met her, but I imagine she's a great person to have as a friend

I met her and she was lovely. I had her sign the DVD of "The First Wives Club" and I told her "Elise" is such a great character" and she inscribed it with a giggle "Elise is me!"

"Foul Play" is a slick , attractive, enjoyable movie with all the earmarks of a hit"...Janet Maslin NY Times.

Entire cast comes off very well. Writer Colin Higgins makes a good directorial bow....Variety.

We pretend she’s some ditz who is a fish out of water in her movies, but she’s really a pretty version of “Every Day American” surviving the 70s and 80s. Most have her using ingenuity, friendship, and willpower to overcome ridiculous obstacles.

You can shit on Kate Hudson (who carries her own weight, btw), but Goldie Hawn is up there with my Dolly Parton on celebrities for which I’ll cut a bitch.

R69 Haven't she and Kurt turned MAGA, though?

Fuck, What??? R70????

Kurt Russell likes guns and hunting, so some morons on DL decided that means he and Goldie both love Trump, despite zero evidence to support the assertion.

The scrabble scene between the two old women was hysterical.

“You know what they say…cops get the best dope.”

Marilyn Sokol was hilarious, and Brian Dennehy was hot!!

For that atter so was Chevy Chase.

Wasn't this the last movie for which Goldie did not serve as an executive producer?

Kurt's a libertarian, which is just a variation of MAGA.

[quote]Saturn 3 which was a Christmas release that featured nude scenes with Douglas

Ew, poor Farrah.

[quote]Kurt's a libertarian, which is just a variation of MAGA.

When this statement was released, libertarians were just Republicans who liked to smoke pot.

Let's be Foul Play.

R78, they have a sex scene together!!

Was Delia Darrow supposed to be a lesbian?

Living in San Francisco, what's funny to me about "Foul Play" (as well as "What's Up, Doc," "Bullitt," and "Dirty Harry," too") is the car chase scene. They're careening down the street in one neighborhood, then they turn the corner and suddenly, they're on the complete other side of town. They turn again, and they're suddenly three miles from where they were before.

I know that viewers not familiar with the city would never notice these things, but sometimes I think, "Geez. Couldn't you try a little bit harder for some authenticity?"

Spedaking of SF, in Vertigo nobody ever has to hunt for parking space. In San Francisco!

R83 Same thing with chase films set in Manhattan. I can't think of one offhand, but a car will be driving down E74th Street, then take a turn onto 7th Avenue.

It's funny watching a movie like that in a crowded theatre of the city portrayed. Everybody laughs, whereas in any theatre in any other town no one would get the joke.

I can't get that Manilow song out of my head now.

R83 and R85, same with movies set in New Orleans. They bounce all over two parishes and the chase always somehow passes through a Mardi Gras warehouse.

Which is across the Mississippi River!

I recorded it on TCM last week and watched it again last night. I really love the "thriller-comedy" aspect of it, and it has some genuine jump scares and suspenseful moments in it, as well as some silly slapstick.

Goldie was perfect in the role, but Chevy Chase's inexperience as an actor really shows. He seems ill-at-ease at times, and some of his line deliveries are truly awful.

One of my favorite scenes, though, is when Chevy and Brian Dennehy show up to Goldie's place after she stabs the man with the scar.

Goldie: "I stabbed him with the needles."

Dennehy: "Ah, narcotics."

Goldie: "No! Knitting!"

I was watching this the other night. There's a scene where Goldie comes out of the library (which, in fact, was not the library, but a store in Noe Valley) and gets chloroformed by the albino just as she starts to speak to the limo driver. Behind the limo driver is an apartment building. I saw that building and thought, "Hey! I once slept with a guy who lived in that building!"

Thanks for the memories, Foul Play!

[quote]"Hey! I once slept with a guy who lived in that building!"

Far out!

[quote] Was Delia Darrow supposed to be a lesbian?

I'm pretty sure this lady was...

The movie theatre scene was filmed at the Nuart in Los Angeles.

R7 - that was great - one of my favorite Manilow songs.

Driving around in California in the 70's - there's just something about that time. Didn't live in CA at the time and was too young - but I almost feel like the 70's were just magical in California, both North and SoCal.

It makes me wistful somehow.

[quote] He looks like fucking Lady Elaine Fairchilde.

Who? Chevy Chase?

[quote] I almost feel like the 70's were just magical in California

They were. Just not the same anymore.

R96 - between the music (Yacht Rock and disco), the fashion, the openness and liberal culture - it just seems like there were 5-6 years there where things were great. Of course inflation was awful, and gas shortages, and crime in the 70s was horrible.

Then came the 80's and everything just turned darker but with a smile - of course AIDS on top of it.

But I do get some of those feelings driving along SoCal coast - so there's that.

R97 I used to work with a woman who moved to San Francisco in the mid-1970s when she was in her 20s, and she said living in the city at that time was truly magical.

Colin Higgins was my favorite director from that era. I could watch Foul Play and 9 to 5 a hundred times and still not get tired of them. He was one of the greats lost too early to aids.

R98 - seriously sounds like Mary Ann from Tales in the City - same timing.

I wish I could have experienced it - but not for what happened for the next 15 years after 1980.

Totally agree, r99. Between them I probably have watched Foul Play and 9 to 5 a hundred times

Honorable mention to Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. It's not in the same league but there are fun moments and bless Higgins for the naked Aggie shower scene

The Aggie scene should’ve had full frontal nudity complete with nude cartwheels.

R100 Yes, and this woman told me she would read Armistead Maupin's column in the Chronicle, which would later become the Tales of the City books. She said everyone who read it would try and figure out which well-known San Francisco personalities the characters were based on.

R92 I didn't know Tim Curry was in this movie.

r42, without them you are like a walking light bulb waiting to be screwed!

[quote] the zany but concerned best friend

who also happens to be a lesbian.

"I don't think that's right. I think that word has a hyphen."

Foul Play is coming to 4k

R52 here he is when he was hot.