Mystery,Crime,Comedy
United States of America
The Late Show is a 1977 neo-noir crime film directed by Robert Benton and starring Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. The film follows aging private detective Ira Wells (Carney) who is seeking to avenge the murder of his friend, Harry Regan, (Bill Macy) who was also a private detective.
The plot involves Regan getting involved in a case investigating the murder of a woman and the theft of a valuable stamp collection. He enlists the help of his former lover, a fading actress named Margo (Tomlin), who has connections to the criminal underworld and a duplicitous wealthy client.
After Regan is murdered, Wells picks up the case and gets caught up in a tangled web of deceit, betrayal, and danger as he tries to solve the case and get revenge for his friend's death. The case leads him to encounter a variety of colorful characters, including a cheating dolly (Joanna Cassidy), a mysterious man with a nickel-plated handgun (John Considine), and a kidnapped cat owned by a wealthy eccentric (Eugene Roche).
As Wells gets closer to unraveling the mystery, he must also confront his own mortality and the fact that he may be past his prime as a detective. The film was praised for its authentic portrayal of the cynical and gritty world of 1970s Los Angeles, as well as the performances of Carney and Tomlin.
