A man who loves games and theater invites his wife's lover to meet him, setting up a battle of wits with potentially deadly results.
Inspired by The Farewell director Lulu Wang's call to action at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards, we celebrate women filmmakers working in their field.
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Title: Sleuth (1972)
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Edit
Cast
| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Laurence Olivier | ... | Andrew Wyke | |
| Michael Caine | ... | Milo Tindle | |
 |
Alec Cawthorne | ... | Inspector Doppler (credit only) |
|
|
John Matthews | ... | Detective Sergeant Tarrant (credit only) |
|
|
Eve Channing | ... | Marguerite Wyke (credit only) |
|
|
Teddy Martin | ... | Police Constable Higgs (credit only) |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
See All (102) »
Storyline
Andrew Wyke is a famous and successful author of detective novels. Milo Tindle comes to him with a strange request, that Mr Wyke divorce his wife so that Tindle can marry her. Mr Wyke is not particularly perturbed by this, he and his wife have drifted apart, and he is having an affair with another woman anyway, but uses the meeting and Mr Tindle's request as a chance to play a game, a game with potentially deadly consequences. Written by grantss
Plot Keywords:
battle of wits | suspense | surprise ending | psychotronic film | huis clos |Taglines:
If it was murder, where's the body? [original movie poster] See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See full technical specs »
Details
Release Date:
11 December 1972 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Sleuth See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Westrex Recording System)Color:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1
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See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
(At around one hour and five minutes) When Andrew goes and answers the ring of the doorbell, you see him walk past two pictures of the former King Edward VIII, later the Duke of Windsor on a wall. The Duke of Windsor died during the making of this movie and the production team added a historical touch to mark this event by including pictures of the late Duke. See more »Goofs
(at around 18 mins) While Wyke is clearing the colours in the snooker game, he jumps from blue directly to black, even though the pink is on the table (in a previous shot), and in potting order comes between blue and black. Then, when the black is potted, the pink is nowhere to be seen. See more »Quotes
Andrew Wyke: I have nothing against lapsed Catholics. In fact, some of my best friends are lapsed Catholics.See more »
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Inspired by The Farewell director Lulu Wang's call to action at the 2020 Independent Spirit Awards, we celebrate women filmmakers working in their field.
Brilliant film about two men (Oscar nominees Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine) who meet at Olivier's house and go over an elaborate scheme to keep Olivier's fortune when his wife (about to divorce him to be with Caine) leaves him by staging a robbery performed by Caine. The strangeness does not stop there though as the two men each have personal motives and the twists and turns become dizzying as the movie progresses. Laurence Olivier is truly magnificent here, as he almost always was. Michael Caine, only 39 at the time, holds his own and that is far from an easy thing to do in a production like this. Joseph L. Mankiewicz's brilliant direction makes a film that could have been very dull into a stunning cinematic experience that stands tall against other films from the 1970s and all other decades for that matter. 5 stars out of 5.