I've always loved this movie. I remember when I saw it in the theater. I remember the audience exploding with laughter. The entire cast hits the ball out of the park. Very exciting and wildly funny. Great stuff.

It's a little hard going all the way back to 1978 as I had to tonight watching foul play again for about the dozenth time. I've always enjoyed this movie, and felt like it really symbolized that era well. Chevy Chase and Goldi Hawn were both in their prime then, and their little affair had a lot of good chemistry. As a comedy suspense thriller, this movie suits the genre really well. The pacing seemed a little slow to me this time around, and the dialogue weaker than I expected. But there are so many memorable scenes here. This was back when feminism, political correctness and the swinger lifestyle were all sort of new and topical. And so some of the best scenes revolved around those themes. Also, we have a lot of colorful characters to offset goldie's ditsy blandness. In fact, one of the characters was actually devoid of any color at all in a literal sense i.e. he was an albino. This guy's albino eyes really gave him an unusually sinister quality. And then there was Dudley Moore who almost stole the comedy spotlight from Chevy Chase. No small feat there. But the circus like cast of villains was important to the plot, as early on Goldie comes across as a lunatic for mentioning plots to kill her involving unseen dwarfs, albinos, etc. All very funny. Anyway, in retrospect, Goldie is not given much of a script though, while the dwarf and Dudley Moore provide the best comic relief aside from Chevy who plays his usual droll self.A spoiler would be needed to talk about what happens near the end. There is not much meat to the murder suspense subplot, but thankfully, there are other surprises here and there that will make you smile. Rounding out this blast from the past is Barry Manilows famous song about going for it.If you've ever seen the classic horror thriller "wait until dark" starring Audrey Hepburn, Foul Play is at times reminiscent of it early on, only not so terrifying. It's a good thing, as Foul Play is really more about comedy than suspense, and the Batmanesque cast of villains encourages you to not take it all too seriously. And with Dudley Moore famous swinger pad scene early on, you're definitely laughing more than you are clutching your chair. I've played a clip of that on YouTube many, many times and never tire of Dudleys performance.So, two thumbs up. Vintage Chevy and Goldie, while Brian Dennehy also puts in a nice appearance.

San Francisco librarian Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) leaves a party and picks up hitchhiker Scott. He's being followed and he plants a roll of film with Gloria in a cigarette pack. They meet later at the movies but he is dead. Gloria is being hunted by an albino. She seeks help from sleazy stranger Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore). After attacked at her home, she is visited by police detectives Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase) and Fergie (Brian Dennehy). Neither they nor her landlord Mr. Hennessey (Burgess Meredith) believe her outlandish story. It's a wild conspiracy with the Pope in town.I like the first half with Gloria clueless to what's happening and nobody believing in her. The humor does clash with the thriller action parts of the movie. It keeps it from fully working. The funniest is the old Japanese Kojak couple. Moore, Hawn, and Chase seems to be operating with different levels. The various tones don't always compliment each other.

In continuing to review the early film works of "SNL"ers, we're once again in 1978 with the release of the hit Foul Play. Chevy Chase was the first to leave "Saturday Night Live" after a few shows into the second season. He was able to do that because he was only signed to a one season writer's contract-he didn't become a cast member until rehearsals for the first show. This movie became the first time he starred in a major studio picture, having previously appeared in segments of independent revue films like The Groove Tube and Tunnel Vision. As the police detective sent to protect Goldie Hawn from some killers, Chase is both charismatically funny and romantic with Ms. Hawn a perfect match for him here. Also, in his American film debut, Dudley Moore is hilarious as a would-be swinger oblivious to Ms. Hawn's distress when she desperately tells him to take her to his place and he doesn't ask any questions! And wait till you find out what he actually does for a living! I, for one, am glad Tlm Conway turned down the role as it's hard to imagine him doing what Moore does here. There's also a hilarious turn by Billy Barty as someone Ms. Hawn mistakes for someone else and a good turn by Burgess Meredith as a neighbor of Goldie. If there's one quibble, it's that the car chase scene near the end is pretty ridiculous but even there, there were some good moments like that of Japanese tourists being in one of the cars Goldie and Chevy drive in. All in all, Foul Play was one funny and suspenseful entertaining movie.