Fletch (1985)

Why so much hype?

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

You had to be there. No, that is not a figure of speech. You literally had to be there. Before computers and cable. In the age of print. In the age of books. Greg McDonald popped out nowhere with his Fletch series and it caught on like wildfire. Fletch was an investigative reporter, and the books were marketed as mysteries. But there were a lot of mysteries back then. So, you ask (er ... you WOULD ask if you were paying attention) what was there about the Fletch series that made it a runaway bestseller back in the days when mysteries were a dime a dozen and dinosaurs walked the earth? The answer is not the character, not the mystery itself, and not the rich background detail (because there was none). It was the writing. Sparse. Bare. So tight your backteeth ached when you read it. On the cover of the Fletch pocket books -- yes, they sold them in bookstores and drugstores -- the publisher actually reproduced a few sample lines of text from the book simply to "show off" the powerful, simple, prose. As this is written, I don't know how many AMLIT classes around the US have McDonald on the curriculum but I can opine that they all should. His writing was THAT unique. Now the film. Imagine how the Hollywood screenwriter felt when handed this project? Apoplexy comes to mind. So, fearful of losing the gig, he did what every Hollywood screenwriter does when he doesn't understand the material he has ... he turned it into a comedy. Chase was cast and he was just superb ... but superb in a role that never existed in the book! (And less superb in the sequel because by then the novelty was wearing off). It showcases the power of movies in our culture that, to this day, millions of Chase fans think that the Fletch series was actually written that way. Factoid -- one of the oddest, and possibly scariest, things about the film is the scene where Chase puts on the "disguise" of the old man. Because, if you compare the makeup with the way he actually looked some 30 years later -- as in Google Images -- you will find a perfect match.

I. M. Fletch is an investigative newspaper reporter who had been playing a beach bum in order to learn about the drug dealing going on at a city beach, but has so far found out little information. A man named Stanwyk suddenly approaches Fletch, offers him a thousand dollars, and ostensibly hires him to shoot him to death because he is dying of bone cancer. Fletch agrees, but smells a rat and starts investigating Stanwyk.Fletch spends most of the movie donning various disguises and using pseudonyms such as "Ted Nugent" and "Harry S. Truman" as he meets different people in his investigation, and that is the source of much of the movie's humor. Some spots are funny and others aren't, and the mystery in the end isn't quite as predicted. The movie straddles both comedy and mystery, but is not quite comfortable in either niche. Still, good for mild, if not necessarily family, entertainment.

It takes a strong central lead in the role of a movie like Michael Ritchie's Fletch to make the end product one of a worthy status and, thankfully, Chevy Chase capably handles the task at hand, playing the title character, who is a typical journalist, penning articles under the pen-name "Jane Doe" by day, and a crafty disguise artist by night, carrying his deadpan cynicism with him like a lawyer and his briefcase.While Fletch is undercover one day he runs into Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), who gives him a generous offer; $50,000 if he would be willing to murder him. He states to Fletch that he is suffering from inoperable bone cancer that will slowly eat away at him like a virus and desperately wants out of this misery. Suicide will nullify his insurance, while murder would give his family the whole package. Fletch accepts the job, but can't help but sense there is something shady here, so he conducts an investigation on Stanwyk and discovers his connections with drug trafficking, as well as local police chief Jerry Karlin's (Joe Don Baker) involvement run a mile deep. This leads Fletch to pose as a number of disguises to get where he needs to be.Director Michael Ritchie directs this picture with the kind of energy it needs, and screenwriter Andrew Bergman (who would write the fabulous It Could Happen to You roughly a decade later) drums up several different sketches that never seem to tread the line of strenuous parodies or a compilation of something resembling Saturday Night Live skits; one of the biggest problems that could've plagued this project as a whole.Yet it's easy to say that if a viewer is searching for Chevy Chase's best performance, they may have found it. Chase is a master at deadpanning humor, and nearly every few seconds, spouts off a shamelessly cynical one-liner that would live on in the hearts and minds of Fletch cultists everywhere. To see him relaxed and confident on screen is one of the many pleasures of the picture, and it gives me reassurance of his possibilities after, not long ago, watching the dry and scarcely funny Three Amigos, which totally shoved his character to the background, where he was lucky enough to get a smile in.Fletch works in large part because of Chase's incredibly sophisticated energy, but is sustainable because not only is it an enjoyable piece of comedy, but also a devilishly entertaining crime drama, that sports a simple, yet effectively handled mystery that one could call fulfilling and worthwhile. Composed of its inherently basic material, delivered in a fittingly unassuming way, with a terrific central performance, a script efficiently written by an underrated comedic talent, direction that stays alive, and a supporting cast (comprised of people like Tim Matheson and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) that work well with the Chase's detached title character, as a quick and spontaneous romp, this one carefully constructs its entire setup to make for favorable entertainment.Starring: Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson. Directed by: Michael Ritchie.

Fletch places us in LA that is searching for some heroes that will help them get rid of some local hoodlums.Chevy Chase plays a good journalist.Thankfully, seriousness is in low amounts in this film, and comic hijinks ensure. Our three stumble through bars, the desert, and the final hide-a-way before their creative finale.I remember watching this film with my family when I was really young. I remember laughing at everything these three bumbling idiots did, and how impressed I was by the grace they did it with. As I grew older, this film remained with me. These three actors represent some of the funniest moments in cinematic history, and here they are gathered together to make a film. I loved this movie. I loved the absurdity, the randomness, and the sheer fun of these types of films. I miss this type of physical, pseudo-intellectual humor. I miss laughing as much as I did when I first watched this film, and when I watch it over and over again. The simplistic nature of this film allows it to be enjoyed at any time during your life. Chase is at the top of his game and never let go. It is sad to see these actors getting less and less work today.Overall, this film impressed me. It is funny, enjoyable, and so silly that you don't need to wade through the bathroom humor to get to the good stuff. It is all right there. I suggest this film to anyone that is looking to laugh and be entertained!