Like a forties detective / noir transplanted to the 1970s with Lily Tomlin representing that decade's slightly out there sensibility. Art Carney's former partner turns up dead - who did it? His surname is Regan - which gives us a link to The Big Sleep. It involves a hold up and murder over stamps, a dodgy dealer in stolen goods and an unfaithful wife. Bill Macy is the assistant detective, Eugene Roche the dealer, Joanna Cassidy his wife and John Considine the cashmere wearing muscle, plus Ruth Nelson and Howard Duff.
It really works, in a large part down to the Carney-Tomlin relationship. A good score from Ken Wannberg helps, as does photography 'Chuck' Rosher (A Wedding, Movie Movie; son of the legendary Charles Rosher) and editing - Lou Lombardo and Peter Appleton. Produced by Robert Altman. Benton co-wrote Bonnie and Clyde and wrote Kramer vs Kramer and Nobody's Fool.
I note on IMDB that the first thing we see is a photo of Martha Vickers, which further reinforces the Big Sleep connection:
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| An ugly bus |
The makeup is by Monty Westmore and the camera operator is John Bailey (he did Days of Heaven too).
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