Good start, but then it gets ruined

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Likable comedy murder mystery. Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) gets involved with an assassination attempt. Cop Chevy Chase is hired to protect her. There's more to the plot but that's the basics.This is a beautiful movie--shot on location in San Francisco. The stars are likable; the script is interesting, if all little too confusing and there are many funny--and suspenseful--moments throughout. I saw this back in 1978 and loved it and it still holds up beautifully. A lot of people says this plagiarizes Hitchcock. It does a little but it's so entertaining it doesn't really matter.Chase is good in his first film after leaving "Saturday Night Live" and Hawn is just delightful. There's also strong support from Burgess Meredith, Brian Dennehy and Dudley Moore. Also there are some beautiful shots of San Francisco all through the movie. And it starts off great with the Barry Manilow song "Ready To Take A Chance Again". Just basically a great big fun commercial film. Well worth catching. I'm only giving it a 9 because it IS a little too long.

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.

Alfred Hitchcock's last film, "Family Plot", came out two years earlier than "Foul Play". It is also filmed in San Francisco, also features a winsome heroine and a clutsy hero, and also involves a diabolical plot against a man of the church. But instead of mediocre acting, lame pacing, and an endless car chase, it has Hitchcock's polish and gentle wit. "Foul Play" looks to me like a plagiaristic attempt to combine Hitchcock's work with -- what? -- "Bullitt"?The only thing that saves "Foul Play" for me is the Gilbert-and-Sullivan, although I have to admit that the treatment of what Hitchcock would call the "McGuffin" was somewhat inventive.