| Gumshoe | |
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DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Stephen Frears |
| Produced by | Michael Medwin |
| Written by | Neville Smith |
| Starring | Albert Finney Billie Whitelaw |
| Music by | Andrew Lloyd Webber |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Editing by | Charles Rees |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 1971 |
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Gumshoe is a 1971 film, and was the directorial debut of British director Stephen Frears.
Written by local author Neville Smith, the film is set in Liverpool with Albert Finney playing the role of Eddie Ginley. Ginley is a bingo-caller and occasional club comedian who dreams of being a private eye of the kind he knows from films and pulp novels. Having put an advertisement in a local newspaper (the Liverpool Echo) as a birthday present to himself, Ginley is suddenly contacted for what appears to be an actual piece of detective work...
The film has many comic moments as it switches between detective novel and affectionate spoof. It has some shots of Liverpool buildings that have long since been demolished, including the employment exchange on Leece Street.
Gumshoe was the first of two films with original music scores by Andrew Lloyd Webber (the other was The Odessa File, in 1974). Some of the music was re-used in Lloyd Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard (1993).
Despite its relatively lightweight tone, Frears' film is not without its contentious moments. TV broadcasts are nowadays rare because of Ginley's use of racist insults and language to refer to an African character. Another scene was significantly shortened before release because of its detailed depiction of a heroin-user preparing and taking his 'fix'.
After years of unavailability, Gumshoe was released on DVD in 2009.[1]
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