The Cheap Detective

The Cheap Detective is a 1978 American mystery comedy film written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore. It stars Peter Falk as Lou Peckinpaugh, a parody of Humphrey Bogart. The film is a parody of Bogart films such as Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. The ensemble cast includes Madeline Kahn, Louise Fletcher, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Stockard Channing, Marsha Mason, Sid Caesar, John Houseman, Dom DeLuise, Abe Vigoda, James Coco, Phil Silvers, Fernando Lamas, Nicol Williamson, Scatman Crothers, Vic Tayback and Paul Williams. Plot Lou Peckinpaugh (Peter Falk), a bumbling San Francisco private detective, tries to prove himself innocent of his partner's murder while helping a bizarre array of characters recover a lost treasure. A large number of people are murdered in crazy death poses before he finds out from Pepe Damascus that they were all after a large egg-shaped diamond. Vladimir Korsokovowitz, who had the diamond, is shot by his partner Marcel in the theft and dies after having been bleeding for 10 years. At the end everyone confronts Peckinpaugh in his office to find that the diamond was actually a real egg.