Papa Mike's Video #23: THE LATE SHOW starring Art Carney

Not to be confused with a story set in TV, this is writer-Director Robert Benton digging into fairly hard-boiled but also idiosyncratic and lightly comic neo-noir, with a plot that kicks off with a dead body and a search for a cat, which is a strange combination that could only come off like this - much less from a major studio like Earners - in the mid 1970s (via Altman too, who I'll get to shortly).  And boy, Art Carney could perform a badass with a hardened but true heart of gold and a bad gut like nobody's business! This may be his high water mark as an actor.  

As I should have expected, the plot has some crafty twists and turns, but it's not what makes The Late Show stand out 40 some odd years later. Altman, who tried briefly to branch out from directing (though was asked originally to direct) just produced, but it's clearly his cup of tea of what he'd like to see. and thankfully wants us to get to see (via Benton): this is really about the quick-and-equally-not-enough wits of people in tight criminal situations, and how interactions involve saying just as much too much (Lily Tomlin, who grew on me as the story went on) and/or not enough. 

 It may seem slight but it actually is about something, which is vulnerability. And not to mention it also gives some excellent time for character actors like Bill Macy as Ira's once-and-always flunkie partner Charlie and Joanna Cassidy as the cuckolding wife of the bad guy.   I almost come close to thinking this might lean too heavily on it being a self-conscious noir homage, from the music to the final expository explanation from our hardened gumshoe.  But again, ultimately and luckily, original behavior prevails as the dominating force - and I simply enjoyed seeing Carney and Tomlin playing off each other, where it's not about romance or even a paternalistic thing, but where a self-imposed loner makes an unlikely friend.