Cheap Shamus (DVD) (Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon) (Buzz Kulik) Price

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Customer Reviews of Shamus

Brisk minor PI movie
Shamus is not a great PI movie -like say The Big Sleep or The Maltese Falcon ;nor is it an especially good one but it is briskly paced ,with plenty of decently staged action scenes that divert attention from a convoluted and not especially believable plot.
The eponymous private eye is McCoy -played winningly by Reynolds-who is based in Brooklyn and whose economic state is more than a little parlous.His apartment ,like his wardrobe ,is sparsely furnished -he sleeps on a pool table in fact.A serial womaniser with a line of chat that was probably okay in the era the movie was made ,but now seems distinctly cheesy Mccoy is likeable and a personable man with the usual line of smart one lineres that is an essential part of any fictional pi's armourey
He is engaged by a millionaire to trace the whereabouts of diamonds stolen during a recent robbery/murder.In the course of the investigation he is shot at ;beaten up;is chased and chases bad guys across Brooklyn by foot and by car before a lively climax at a US army base where illicit arms deals are going down.Some measure of compensation is provided by the delectable Dyan Cannon with whom he falls in love.
It was perhaps unwise of the writers to evoke The Big Sleep in the scenes with Mccoy's employer -just as that classic saw the tec being engaged by a client with a passion for heat ,the millionaire here is a man who insists on near freezing conditions.
Best sit back and enjoy it for what it is -a star vehicle that gets by on action and solid playing all round while never rising above the acceptable.

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Respectable cheese
If you have a weakness for early seventies/sexist/private eye B movies like me, this is about as good as it gets. It's not especially believable, but it takes itself less seriously than most modern superthrillers, i.e. Die Hards, Lethal Weapons. Actually, Reynolds gives a pretty good performance. Self deprecating, funny and, (seriously) believably tough. I don't think he lost his perspective until Smokey and the Bandit. Shamus is very much a product of its time; his character beds three different women in the course of the film, something that Hollywood now only allows in French farces and James Bond films.

I liked Dyan Cannon in the film. She didn't have a whole lot to do as "the girl" in the film, but she did bring a certain amount of class to the role. The romance between her and Reynolds was believable. It's somewhat sad, because were the film made today, she would likely have been, at around 33, too old to play the part of the girl. Instead, they'd seek out someone like Rachel Leigh Cook or other nineteen year old babe which would make for a rather unbelievable romantic subtext. Such are the feminist advances Hollywood has made.

Good score by Jerry Goldsmith, too. Good entertainment for a cold winter night.

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Burt in top form
Burt Reynolds gets beat up so much in this film, it's a wonder he can make love to Dyan Cannon on top of a pool table mid-movie! A convoluted action-genre exercise designed to show off it's star, and Reynolds is very low-key, self-depreciating, and sexy in his Cosmo-pin-up era. Dyan Cannon looks even better, though she's given little to do as a woman involved second-hand in a murder. Pretty good for a one-time viewing, but I wouldn't buy it.