Foul Play (1978 film)

promotional poster for Foul Play

Foul Play is a 1978 comedy/thriller film by Colin Higgins starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. Also featured are Burgess Meredith, Brian Dennehy and Billy Barty. Dudley Moore also has a role in one of his first American feature film appearances, as a rather desperate, would-be "swinger" who repeatedly thinks he's going to sleep with Hawn but is consistently disappointed. This movie, which aimed for romantic comedy mixed with Hitchcockian thriller elements, turned out to be a successful vehicle for both Chase and Hawn.

Plot

Template:Spoiler Gloria Mundy (Hawn) is recovering from a recent divorce when she decides to pick up an attractive hitchhiker. Somehow her encounter with him has ensnarled her in a web of murder, deceit and a pending execution attempt. Why are an albino, a dwarf, a Turk and a Catholic Bishop intent on killing her?

Detective Tony Carlson (Chase) is assigned to protect Mundy from her would-be assassins.

Trivia

• In the Scarface Don Calfa attack scene in this film, the television in Gloria's apartment is airing the news. The newscaster announces that Vice-President Abernathy arrived in Guam. Perhaps to make the film more timeless, the film fails to include Walter Mondale, the Vice President of the United States at that time.

• Like the reference to the fictional vice-president, the target of assassination is the fictional Pope Pius XIII.

• The film includes several songs by Barry Manilow, including the main theme.

• The film has aroused some controversy in the albino community, for contributing to the filmic cliché of albinos as villains.

• The Nuart Theater is actually in Los Angeles, California.

• Playing Pope Pius XIII was a well known San Francisco financier, Cyril Magnin, who was also a noted philanthropist and a gentleman of the Jewish faith. He also had a small role as "Mr. San Francisco" in the film Maxie.

External links

• Foul Play at IMDb