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Peeper
Peeper
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Hyams
Screenplay by	W.D. Richter
Based on	Deadfall; 1971 novel; by Keith Laumer
Produced by	Robert Chartoff; Irwin Winkler
Starring	Michael Caine; Natalie Wood; Kitty Winn; Michael Constantine; Liam Dunn; Timothy Agoglia Carey
Narrated by	Michael Caine; Guy Marks
Cinematography	Earl Rath
Edited by	James Mitchell
Music by	Richard Clements
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 3, 1975;
Running time	87 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2,325,000

Peeper is a 1975 American mystery comedy film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Michael Caine as Leslie C. Tucker, a bungling private investigator.^[5] A send-up of 1940s films noirs, Peeper was a box-office failure that jeopardized Hyams's career and almost prevented him from obtaining funding to produce Capricorn One.

Plot

The film is set in Los Angeles in 1947. A criminal on the run from hired killers comes to the office of a private detective named Tucker and asks Tucker to find a daughter he left at an orphanage in 1918. The man has a substantial amount of money that he wants to give the girl. Tucker's search leads him to two sisters, daughters of a rich Beverly Hills widow. Tucker is sure one of the sisters is the man's daughter, but he's not sure which is the right one. Meanwhile, the killers chasing Tucker's client are now chasing the detective, and Tucker also discovers that the widow's brother-in-law may be blackmailing the two girls and/or embezzling from the widow. Tucker also keeps encountering a mysterious stranger who seems to know more than he admits, and may or may not be working with the brother-in-law. Ultimately everyone ends up on a cruise ship headed to South America and the various mysteries are resolved.

Cast

Michael Caine as Leslie C. Tucker
Natalie Wood as Ellen Prendergast
Kitty Winn as Marianne Prendergast
Michael Constantine as Anglich
Thayer David as Frank Prendergast
Timothy Carey as Sid (credited as Timothy Agoglia Carey)
Liam Dunn as Billy Pate
Don Calfa as Rosie
Dorothy Adams as Mrs. Prendergast
Buffy Dee as Bazooka Himself
Robert Ito as Butler
Liz Renay as Stripper
Paul Jabara as Janitor

Production

The film originally was titled Fat Chance and began filming in June 1974.^[6] The producers had worked with Peter Hyams on Busting and hired him to rewrite W.D. Richter's script and direct because they liked the comic elements of Busting.^[7]

Reception

In 2002, Hyams observed that he "managed to combine critical and commercial failure. And that made me colder than ice. Nobody wanted me."^[8]

The film rates 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 8 reviews.^[9] Variety called it “flimsy whimsy”^[10] On the other hand, Bill Cosford's review in The Miami Herald is a rave, calling the film “an absolute charm…that hits the right notes over and over again.”^[11]

References

^ Variety Staff (1 January 1975). "Peeper".
^ Holm, D. K. (20 October 2005). Film Soleil: The Pocket Essential Guide. Summersdale Publishers Limited. ISBN 9781848398481 – via Google Books.
^ Allon, Yoram; Cullen, Del; Patterson, Hannah (27 June 2018). Contemporary North American Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide. Wallflower Press. ISBN 9781903364529 – via Google Books.
^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p257
^ Mark Deming (2008). "The New York Times". Movies & TV Dept. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2008-02-25. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
^ Fat Chance' to Begin Shooting Los Angeles Times 3 Apr 1974: 29.
^ Winkler, Irwin (2019). A Life in Movies: Stories from Fifty Years in Hollywood (Kindle ed.). Abrams Press. pp. 1011–1036/3917.
^ "Peter Hyams". www.lukeford.net. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
^ Peeper at Rotten Tomatoes
^ Variety Staff (1975-01-01). "Peeper". Variety. Retrieved 2023-10-24.
^ "Miami Herald Peeper review*". The Miami Herald. 1975-11-12. p. 57. Retrieved 2023-10-24.