At about the halfway point in “The Late Show,” Margo (Lily Tomlin) suggests to Ira (Art Carney) that they form a business partnership akin to that of “Nick and Nora.” Ira doesn’t get the reference and Margo clarifies it by saying they were the lead characters in “The Thin Man” franchise of detective flicks starring William Powel and Myrna Loy.
Either Ira is playing dumb (unlikely) or he’s simply not a movie fan, as he himself is a detective.
This exchange is indicative of the rest of the movie; meaning it goes out of its way to avoid the typical, hardboiled, generic patter contained in most crime mysteries and mismatched buddy comedies.
Old to New School
Like the character of Ira, this film (and especially “Farewell, My Lovely” from 1975) acts as a bridge between “Union Station,” “The Turning Point,” and the “The Thin Man” flicks, and the more recent Elmore Leonard adaptations from Quentin Tarantino, Barry Sonnenfeld, and Steven Soderbergh.Not quite formulaic, these movies all start with one crime, which leads to another (and possibly more) that would likely never had been discovered otherwise. The protagonists have little in common with each other and often exchange random and observational, yet snappy dialogue that often strays far from the main plot.
Semi-retired and not-so-much by choice, Ira has seen everything in seedy Los Angeles two times or more, and is beyond hard-bitten. He takes jobs when they are offered because the idea of not working petrifies him.
Things will never be the same when Ira’s former business partner Harry (Howard Duff) shows up at his apartment, bleeding profusely and mumbling nonsense before expiring.
Although Ira and Harry’s relationship was strained, the former feels he needs to find out who killed the latter, and we’re off to the races.
At Harry’s funeral, Ira is introduced by a shady informant Charlie (Bill Macy) to Margo (Lily Tomlin), a flighty entertainment manager with no clients, who makes ends meet by selling weed. Margo has a new case for Harry: finding her missing cat.
Bulldog Tenacity
Like a tick in the woods and a pair of pants, Margo metaphorically affixes herself to Ira and never lets go. Through sheer will and loopy charm, she wears him down and they eventually become a team, but never an “item.” Bully to writer and sophomore director Robert Benton for not force-fitting an unseemly, phony, and awkward May-December romance into the mix.A lead for Ira points him to Ronnie (Eugene Roache), a fence who unwisely tries to stave him off with a cheap bribe. When Ira balks, Ronnie’s mouth-breathing “bodyguard” Lamar (John Considine) makes the even bigger mistake of thinking he can easily take down a man more than twice his age.
Altman Demurs
“The Late Show” was the first screenplay that eventual three-time Oscar winner Benton (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Places in the Heart”) did not collaborate on with another writer, and he approached Robert Altman to direct it. Altman, a fan of Benton’s debut (“Bad Company”), deferred, and instead chose to produce it, and immediately hired Benton as the director.
For anyone familiar with Altman, a man with a notoriously prickly personality, this was an unexpectedly gregarious and selfless act.
In tandem with frequent co-writer David Newman, Benton more or less ignited the American New Wave movement with “Bonnie & Clyde.” Both men wanted the film to be helmed by Francois Truffaut who passed, but suggested Warren Beatty, and the rest is history.
Carney + Tomlin = Perfection
The crowning achievement of this film was the unlikely pairing of Carney and Tomlin, both regarded as comic TV masters (he for “The Honeymooners,” she for “Laugh-In”). This changed after Carney’s dramatic Oscar-winning turn in “Harry & Tonto” (1974) and Tomlin’s throttling, non-comic Academy Award-nominated performance in Altman’s “Nashville” (1975).Only in hindsight, with the aid of Monday morning analysis, can it be stated that this was a pairing that worked beyond all possible expectations.
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