Fletch (the Jane Doe Edition)

“Don’t talk to me like that, assface. I don’t work for you yet.”

“What do you do?”
“I’m a shepherd.”

“Can I get you anything?”
“Yes, I’ll have a bloody Mary, a steak sandwich and a … steak sandwich.”

“Can I get you anything?”
“Yes, can you get me a copy of the Beatles’ White album? Oh, and bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia while your out there.”

Well, here it is, a special edition of Chevy Chase’s best (or only good) movie. There are two ways to review this: the movie and the DVD. Let’s go with the latter first.

The DVD

Well, the movie both look and sound fine. It’s a bit grainy and could have used a slight color correction, but otherwise, it is exactly what you would expect. The bonus features are annoying at best and absurd at worst. What is most obviously missing is an interview with Chevy Chase and no one knows why. It likely has to do with the fact that a new Fletch movie (“Fletch Won”) is in production and Chevy was flatly denied consideration. No one has been cast in the lead thus far.

So, without any real significant bonus features, the best thing about the DVD is the movie itself with decent quality anamorphic transfer and 5.1 sound.

The Movie

Irwin "Fletch" Fletch is a journalist who writes under the name Jane Doe. While investigating a boom of drug dealing on the beach, Fletch is approached by a rich man, Alan Stanwyck.

“If you reject the proposition, you keep the thousand - and your mouth shut.”
“Does this proposition entail my dressing up as Little Bo Peep?”

Stanwyck claims to have bone cancer and, in order to spare himself pain but allow his family to collect an expensive life insurance policy on him (invalid if he kills himself) he found what he assumes to be an aimless drifter. This is a mistake.

“Will you murder me?”
“Sure”

The drugs on the beach and Stanwyck become intertwined in Fletch’s investigations … and hilarity ensues …


My Review

There is a strange misconception that “Fletch” was a cult film instead of a pretty decent success. It was strong enough to get a sequel made (though why they chose to diverge from the novel’s I do not know.) And perhaps it is the sequel bogs the memory down, but the original is very classy, very funny, very solid. Based on the first in a series of novels by Gregory Mcdonald, the film has a very solid backbone of a well-toned plot. Add to that the presence of Chevy Chase whose sarcastic one-liners and affront to authority seem tailor made for the character.

A comment made by one of the cast (the alamony attourney) nailed it: “Fletch/Chevy says exactly what you wished you’d have said in a given situation.” And that is it and that is the perfect description. While most of the time Chevy Chase’s smart ass thing is annoying, you feel in “Fletch” that has some purpose because he’s trying to find out something pretty important.

The fact that I still want to be Fletch – my wisecracking is still just as vicious – and that I have read most of the novels means that this is clearly a film that I hold in high esteem. It is probably in the top 10 movies of all time and tied with “Ghostbusters” and “Raiders of the Lost Arc” for best movies of 80s.