Peeper (1975)

Peeper?  I’ve never heard a PI called a “Peeper”, 7 April 2020

Bumbling PI Leslie C Tucker (Michael Caine) is hired to track down a little girl who was adopted many years ago.  Her real father has an inheritance he wants to pass on to her. He tracks the girl to a wealthy family, but there are two daughters.  Which of the sisters was adopted? And of course, there are others who would do just about anything to get their hands on the loot.  

Peeper is supposedly a film noir spoof.  I say “supposedly” because you would expect a spoof to be funny.  Watching Peeper, not only did I not laugh, I don’t think I even smiled.  The script isn’t anywhere near as clever and witty as it thinks it is. The jokes fall flat.  In fact, flat is a pretty good adjective to use to describe the whole thing. The comedy is flat.  The action is flat. The mystery is flat. The acting is flat. Caine is fine, but he’s given an abysmal script to work with.  It doesn’t help much that he has about zero on-screen chemistry with co-star Natalie Wood. Even their scenes together are, well, they’re also flat.

Another big problem I had with Peeper is how cheap it all seems.  The film is set in the 1940s. Instead, Peeper looks like a poorly dressed film that can’t hide its 1970s origins.  Rarely did anything have an authentic 1940s feel. The supporting cash doesn’t help any either. It’s not necessarily their fault, but Michael Constantine, Thayer David, and Don Calfa have a 1970s TV vibe about them.  

I honestly think Peeper might have been better had they just made a straightforward 1940s-style PI flick - without the attempts at comedy.  I really think I would have enjoyed that much more. As for film noir spoofs, nothing beats Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. Now that’s a funny movie.

4/10