''Gumshoe'' is a 1971 British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discu ...

film that was the cinematic directorial debut of director

Stephen Frears Stephen Arthur Frears (born 20 June 1941) is an English director and producer of film and television often depicting real life stories as well as projects that explore social class through sharply drawn characters. He's received numerous accola ...

. Written by local author Neville Smith, who appears as Arthur, the film is set in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

. Albert Finney plays the role of Eddie Ginley, a bingo-caller and occasional club comedian who dreams of being a private eye of the kind he knows from films and

pulp novels Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

. Having put an advertisement in a local newspaper (the ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liver ...

'') as a birthday present to himself, Ginley is suddenly contacted for what appears to be an actual piece of detective work.

Plot

Eddie Ginley works at a bingo hall in Liverpool, England, but dreams of becoming a stylish private investigator like those he has read about and seen in films. After finally placing an advertisement in a local newspaper announcing his detective services, he receives a mysterious offer. Even though Ginley is inexperienced and clueless at certain aspects of investigating, he comes to realize that he is entangled in a serious case involving drugs, murder and even his own family.

Cast

Production

The film has many comic moments as it switches between 'straight' detective novel and affectionate spoof. It has some shots of Liverpool buildings that have long since been demolished, including the employment exchange on Leece Street. Several scenes in the London part of the narrative take place in and around the occult Atlantis Bookshop. ''Gumshoe'' was the first of two films with original music scores by Andrew Lloyd Webber (the other was ''

The Odessa File ''The Odessa File'' is a thriller by English writer Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1972, about the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander. The name ODESSA ...

'', in 1974). Some of the music used was originally written for Lloyd Webber's then-abandoned musical version of ''

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in ...

''; the music was restored to its original place when work on the musical was resumed years later. Roy Young recorded the song "Baby, You're Good For Me", written by Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. A scene was significantly (and clumsily) shortened before release because of its detailed depiction of a heroin user preparing and taking his "fix". After years of unavailability, ''Gumshoe'' was released on DVD in 2009.

References

External links

* {{Stephen Frears 1971 films 1970s crime comedy-drama films British chase films British crime comedy-drama films 1970s chase films Columbia Pictures films 1970s English-language films Films directed by Stephen Frears Films set in Liverpool Films set in London British neo-noir films 1971 directorial debut films 1971 comedy films 1971 drama films 1970s British films