Peeper (1976)

Set in the 1940s, the story follows a private eye on a case to find a long lost daughter of an oddball client. Two goons are on a mission to stop him.

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers:

Keith Laumer (novel), W.D. Richter

Stars:

Michael Caine, Natalie Wood, Kitty Winn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Caine	...	Leslie C. Tucker
Natalie Wood	...	Ellen Prendergast
Kitty Winn	...	Mianne Prendergast
Michael Constantine	...	Anglich
Thayer David	...	Frank Prendergast
Timothy Carey	...	Sid (as Timothy Agoglia Carey)
Liam Dunn	...	Billy Pate
Don Calfa	...	Rosie
Margo Winkler	...	Woman with luggage
Harvey J. Goldenberg	...	Mailman
Dorothy Adams	...	Mrs. Prendergast
Buffy Dee	...	Bazooka Himself
Gary Combs	...	Torpedo
Robert Ito	...	Butler
Snag Werris	...	Comic

Storyline

Set in the 1940s, the story follows a private eye on a case to find a long lost daughter of an oddball client. Two goons are on a mission to stop him.

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Plot Keywords:

adoption | search | missing person | 1940s | family relationships | 

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Taglines:

Back in '47, a gun was a roscoe, a private-eye was a Peeper, and murder was okay as long as nobody got hurt. In fact, anything was okay with this Peeper on the case because he wouldn't know who-done-it even if he done it himself.

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Genres:

Comedy | Mystery

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fat Chance

Filming Locations:

Harold Lloyd's Greenacres Estate - 1740 Green Acres Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film's "Peeper" title is a slang / colloquial term for a shamus, gumshoe, or private eye / detective. It is particularly used when the private investigator takes photographs though this is curiously not an activity of P.I. Leslie C. Tucker (Michael Caine) in the movie.

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Goofs

The road stripes during the car chase are wrong for the period. The road has a double yellow centerline and yellow road reflectors. Yellow centerlines were not adopted in the USA until 1971. The bridge railings are also too modern for the period.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits are spoken by a Humphrey Bogart impersonator.

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Soundtracks

"Give Me the Simple Life"
(uncredited)
Music by Rube Bloom
Played on the piano at the Penguin Lounge

User Reviews

Not very good, but a curio.

I don't think Peeper is a very good film, but I agree that it shouldn't have completely fallen off the map the way it did. It was given a belated if limited DVD release last year.

Timing was not on this film's side. Chinatown paid tribute to film noir in classic fashion only a year before it was released; Play It Again, Sam had spoofed it successfully only a year before that. Those two films, not to mention the films of the film noir era, leave Peeper looking very slight indeed.

Still, Caine has fun as an almost bumbling detective, and Natalie brings smarts and unparalleled sex appeal to her role as a shady lady. The supporting cast is pretty nigh flawless as well, and production values couldn't be better. The script, unfortunately, doesn't add add up to much.

Director Hyams, in a special feature interview, recalls telling Natalie to turn around at the end of a long tracking shot at the end of a long day. She asked what would motivate her to do that and he answered that the camera couldn't follow her if she didn't. She paused and said, "okay, I can feel that". It's too bad that at no point in her last decade did Natalie get to make a movie where character motivation was prioritized, but it's unsurprising to hear that she was a good sport about it.