 who's harry crumb? (1989) is a comedy-mystery film featuring john candy as the title character. paul flaherty directed the film, which co-stars annie potts, jeffrey jones and shawnee smith. an uncredited cameo appearance is made by james belushi. the story revolves around the often incompetent, sometimes genius, private investigator harry crumb in his search for a kidnapping victim. ==plot== while visiting a health studio in beverly hills, fashion model jennifer downing, the daughter of millionaire p.j. downing, is kidnapped. her father turns to a family friend, eliot draisen, who is president of the detective agency crumb & crumb, to investigate the case. eliot is reluctant to supply p.j. with one of his capable detectives because, as it turns out, eliot himself is the organizer of the kidnapping. but to give the appearance of taking the investigation seriously, eliot offers p.j. the services of harry crumb (candy), the last descendant of the agency's founders. eliot talks up harry's detecting skills to persuade p.j. that he's the right man for the job, but he secretly knows that harry is incompetent and counts on this fact to allow him to slip right through the detective's fingers. harry returns to los angeles (by bus) from an assignment in the firm's tulsa branch office (which he messed up, as usual). he immediately begins his investigation, assisted by p.j.'s younger daughter, nikki, who is considerably smarter than he is. harry's tendency to mix fact with fantasy, however, does not prevent him from noticing that nikki's stepmother, helen downing, is having an affair with her tennis coach vince barnes, and after several incidents and observations, the detective comes to the conclusion that she is behind the kidnapping. helen is also the object of affection of eliot draisen, but all she is interested in is money; to this end, she tries to get rid of her husband on several occasions and even does her best&nbsp;&ndash; along with barnes&nbsp;&ndash; to get the ransom for herself. despite several close calls, eliot manages to outwit harry and the police. he escapes to the airport, from where he intends to depart to buenos aires. but he makes the mistake of informing helen of 
1980s_comedy_films 1989_films American_comedy_films American_comedy_thriller_films American_mystery_films Detective_films English-language_films Films_about_abduction TriStar_Pictures_films