Gumshoe (1972)

GUMSHOE, the directorial debut of British director Stephen Frears, is an entertaining salute to Hollywood's classic private eye movies. Albert Finney stars as Eddie Ginley, a second-rate British vaudevillian who has always been a fan of detective books and films. He finally gets the chance to make his fantasies a reality when there's a murder and he plays "gumshoe" to find the killer, much to the chagrin of his level-headed brother (Frank Finlay) and sister-in-law (Billie Whitelaw). In the process, he gets mixed up with the members of a black South African liberation movement, a mysterious and sinister "fat man" (George Silver), patterned after character actor Sydney Greenstreet, and an attractive American married woman (Janice Rule). As Eddie comes closer to solving the mystery, the film offers numerous plot twists, along with a lot of laughs.