On Foul Play
One of the first movies I ever saw in a movie theater. It has Chevy Chase, one of my favorite all-time actors. Goldie Hawn, so darn cute and probably the reason I love blondes. Plus Barry Manilow.
Tell me — do you remember the first movie you saw in a theater?
That wasn’t a cartoon or a Disney movie.
Rocky. Grease.
Well one of my first was Foul Play starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. The year was 1978. The theater — Northpark 3 and 4. Across Central Expressway from Northpark (Northpark 1 and 2 was just north of the mall, which was a shell of what it is now. The theaters are obviously long gone now).
The basic premise of Foul Play is this (spoiler alert) — the Pope is coming to San Francisco and there is going to be an assassination attempt. It’s a crew out of Chicago that includes a man with a scar, a turk and an Albino. More on that to come.
Gloria (Hawn) is a librarian. Tony (Chase) is a cop. They meet by chance at a party being held by a mutual friend. They first eye each other on a deck with Tony next to a bar and Gloria across the way. Hawn is so cute. Amazing.
They notice each other and smile. Something is happening. A strong first impression.
Then Tony clumsily knocks all of the glasses off the bar in a way that only Chase can do.
Gloria rolls her eyes. End of the moment.
This has to be one of the one of the scenes that helped Chase create one of my favorite all-time movies, Fletch.
Tony then eaves drops on a conversation between Gloria and a friend talking about taking chances and he butts in and says, “She’s right, you know. A lot of chances.”
Tony proceeds to ask Gloria to take a shower with him, a perfect stranger.
Classic Chase. “Can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo.”
Yes, Fletch.
Gloria leaves and drives home along the coast line back to San Francisco with the credits rolling and Barry Manilow’s classic “Ready to Take a Chance Again” playing in the background. I always think of that song and the movie.
Gloria, who has suddenly decided to take chances, picks up a hitch hiker. Scottie. He’s a cop that has a Chicago hit team following him. He leaves microfilm with the assassination plan in her purse (in a pack of cigarettes).
From that point on, Gloria has the assassins following her. They believe she has the microfilm. She has no idea.
I don’t want to say too much more about the movie — you might want to watch it. You can do it for free on You Tube.
It’s a classic Rom-Com/cop movie. The chemistry between Chase and Hawn is off the charts. It was the precursor to one of my all time favorite movies, “Seems Like Old Times,” which came out five years later.
Three scenes really captivate me in the movie.
Gloria ends up in the Beaver Trap
Gloria is being chased by the albino (Whitey Jackson). She tries to lose him by going into a swingers club. She meets Stanley (Dudley Moore). Gloria asks Stanley to take her home. Stanley obviously thinks one thing. Gloria just wants to hide and look out the window at Whitey.
It’s just a hilarious scene that takes place in what Stanley calls his “Beaver Trap.” It has all kinds of stuff. It ends with Gloria saying, “Stanley, really?”
It's a reminder of how great Moore was in “10” and “Arthur” and other films.
Gloria gets kidnapped
After Gloria calls the police when she thinks she killed the man with the scar on his face and passes out, she wakes up to the police and Tony sitting on the couch with her.
The body is gone.
Tony and his partner, Fergie (Brian Dennehy), don’t believe her and leave.
The next night Gloria is kidnapped and somehow gets away and walks into the police station with one shoe on and drenched. She hasn’t been making it up.
It’s just a great, really funny scene that convinces the police that something is going on.
Tony takes Gloria back to his houseboat
Tony is assigned to protect Gloria. We all know where this is going.
Tony is suppose to protect Gloria at her apartment, but with the romance already brewing, he takes her to his houseboat on San Francisco Bay.
The scene ends with them talking about the first time they met at the party. How Gloria thought Tony was a complete dunce.
But he asks her, “what did you think about me before that?”
First impressions.
From there it’s super cute and you get that “Hawn look” in her “green” eyes — Tony had insisted they were blue — that only she can pull off. Plus her smile.
It’s one of my favorite movie scenes ever.
Hawn, the mother of Kate Hudson, is one of my all time favorites.
You can see where Kate got it. And her acting style in movies like How to Kill a Guy in 10 Days. I know, it’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.
Back to the first impressions. I think you know in less than five minutes if you want to be with someone for the rest of your life.
It’s automatic. Your first impression is always right.
Foul Play will always hold a special place in my heart. I forgot it also has the great Burgess Meredith (Rocky, The Penguin in the Batman TV series).
It reminds me of my childhood. It has those classic Chase moments that are a precursor to Fletch and Vacation and so many other classics.
It combines many of my favorites — Chase, Hawn, Rom-Coms, Manilow, San Francisco and so much more.
Hope you can take some time and watch it for the first time. Or the 50th.