Fletch

Plot synopsis:
Los Angeles Times reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher (Chase) is writing an article exposing drug trafficking on the beaches of Los Angeles. Posing as an addict during his investigation, he is approached by Boyd Aviation executive vice president Alan Stanwyk (Matheson) who mistakenly assumes Fletch is a junkie. Stanwyk claims to have bone cancer, with only months left to live, and wishes to avoid the pain and suffering. Stanwyk offers $50,000 for Fletch to come to his mansion in a few days time, kill him, and then escape to Rio de Janeiro, staging the murder to look like a burglary.
Fletch, while not completely convinced on the truth of Stanwyk's story, reluctantly agrees to the plan. Along with his colleague Larry (Davis), he begins investigating Stanwyk instead of completing his drug trafficking exposé, much to the disapproval of his overbearing editor Frank Walker (Libertini). Disguised as a doctor, Fletch accesses Stanwyk's file at the hospital and learns Stanwyk lied about having cancer.
Fletch visits Stanwyk's wife Gail (Wheeler-Nicholson) at her tennis club. Pretending to be a tennis instructor and friend of Alan's, he flirts with her during an impromptu tennis lesson. Looking into Stanwyk's finances, Fletch finds that Gail recently converted $3 million of her personal stock in Boyd Aviation into cash for her husband, to buy a ranch in Provo, Utah. Fletch breaks into the realtor's office and discovers the deed lists the sale price as only $3,000.
Meanwhile, LAPD Chief Jerry Karlin (Baker) learns of Fletch's drug article. He warns Fletch that the article will jeopardize his undercover operation on the beach. Karlin threatens to kill Fletch unless he agrees to drop the investigation. At the tennis club, Fletch overhears an arrogant club member, Mr. Underhill, insulting a waiter and decides to use Underhill's tab to treat Gail to an expensive lunch in her private cabana. Fletch reveals Alan's murder scheme to her and tells her the true price of the ranch.
Fletch watches Stanwyk making a suspicious briefcase exchange with Chief Karlin, but is unable to determine the nature of their relationship. He returns home to find LAPD officers lying in wait at his apartment. He flees, but is pursued in a harrowing car chase. Forced to go into hiding, Fletch returns to Provo. Posing as an insurance investigator, he interviews Stanwyk's parents. Fletch discovers Stanwyk has been secretly married to another woman for eight years; his bigamous marriage to Gail allowed him access to her personal wealth.
Fletch arrives at Stanwyk's mansion on the night of the planned murder, but finds Stanwyk prepared to kill him instead. Fletch reveals his discovery of Stanwyk's real plan: to fake his own death by killing Fletch and burning his body beyond recognition, then escape to Brazil with his first wife and Gail's $3 million. Stanwyk was also using his private jet to smuggle cocaine from South America to supply Chief Karlin, who blackmailed ex-convicts to peddle it on the beaches. Karlin arrives unexpectedly; learning of Stanwyk's intention to flee with $800,000 of the Chief's drug money, he kills Stanwyk. Karlin and Fletch fight over the gun until Gail strikes Karlin from behind, rendering him unconscious.
Karlin is indicted with Fletch's testimony. Fletch begins dating Gail and, in the final scene, takes her on a vacation to Rio, again using Mr. Underhill's tab.

Tags: cult, humor, comedy

Review:
With repeated viewings I've actually come to appreciate the film more for it's genuinely gripping detective story elements, it really does boast a solid mystery that unfolds well.There's one thing for sure here; you have to be a fan of Chevy Chase for this film to work for you.
Chevy Chase plays Fletch, an undercover journalist with a penchant for clever disguises.The film takes itself seriously, as we see Fletch run from place to place making up names and solving the mystery.
What makes this film great is that it's not a comedy by nature, but that the character Fletch is a comical man.Thus, we laugh at him and the situations he makes for himself.
Although Chase gets more mileage out of it because of the laughs, it's an intriguing character in all respects.Michael Ritchie directs nicely and the supporting cast works well, particularly Libertini as Fletch's noisy and brassy editor in chief.
"Fletch" (circa 1985), the original "Fletch" flick, features Chevy Chase at his prime who, in his own inimitable way, plays a straight-faced, bemused, fast-double-talking investigative reporter who solves a major drug smuggling operation.
It showcases the power of movies in our culture that, to this day, millions of Chase fans think that the Fletch series was actually written that way.
Through the rest of the movie, Fletch has to find out whether Stanwyk is serious and why the chief of police (Joe Don Baker) wants him to stop his investigation on the drug trafficking.The reason I like this movie so much is that it is one of the 1980s movies where an actor who was previously only known for comedy is now playing a more serious character.
Like Axel Foley, Fletch is a really funny character, but also shows intelligence and resourcefulness in difficult situations.Through the movie, Fletch uses a string of aliases and disguises that provide comic relief to a film that could have been a pretty gripping drama.
In what may have been the high point of Chevy Chase's career, he plays Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a reporter who writes a column under the name Jane Doe. When a man hires Fletch to kill him, Fletch decides to investigate the man.
Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase) is a smart-mouthed L.A. investigative reporter with pen name Jane Doe. He's infiltrating the drug trade at the beach when he's approached by Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson).
Irwin M "Fletch" Fletcher (Chevy Chase) is an investigative reporter whom is combing the beach undercover trying to expose a drug ring.
Even if this was filmed at a time before Data Protection existed, I'm still surprised how effortlessly Fletch gathers all of his information and that no-one seems suspicious or questions him at any point.Like I say though, the film is fun in bits and pieces, but this is mainly down to Chevy Chase; his Fletch is quite a dry character with a dry sense of humour and he also delivers his dialogue in a dry manner.
On the surface its in the exact same style as Beverly Hills Cop etc that type of action/comedy with a rogue cop/news reporter, it has all the required elements of the genre -fighting with his boss for being wild, uncovering a huge rare cover-up, doing dashing dangerous stunts and clever schemesthe special thing with this movie though is its amazing inane/ironic dialogue style that fits perfect with the running commentary on similar crime movies of the 80s.Its sort of like the comedy style of Space Balls or Blazing Saddles, but more covertly inserted within another film style instead of openly as an absurd comedy - and both styles are naturally funny and interesting.
'FLETCH'Is one of Chevy Chase's finest hours, Chase plays a Wise cracking Investigative reporter, Who specializes in various disguises and aliases to crack the cases, His assignment is to get the lowdown on drug trafficking in L.A's underworld, Whilst posing as an amiable minor league junkie on a beach,He is approached by Airline Tycoon,Alan Stanwyck (Tim Matheson,who propositions Fletch into 'Murdering' him Fletch agrees to,intrigued by this fletch uncovers a devious plot which finds himself in over his head as he digs without a shovel to uncover the mystery, 'Fletch is directed by Michael Ritchie,(RIP)who lets Chase run amok with his own brand of goofiness, As you can expect from an Andrew Bergman script, it's hilarious stuff!
Love chevy Chase & grew up watching lots of his movies & loved most of them like SPIES LIKE US, CADDYSHACK,THE VACATION FILMS & FLETCH & FLETCH LIVES.
Chase is hilarious as Fletch a sarcastic & very silly master of disguise reporter who is trying to solve a mystery & that's all you need to know.
If you love chase or watched his films or love a good FEELGOOD comedy then check out the BRILLIANT Fletch it's great fun & chase is so funny.
As all good thrillers, an original investigator is not enough and there must be an original case as well: here it's perfect and the investigation is really interesting to follow!At last, if you love the 80s, you won't be disappointed: sunny LA, Lakers vs Celtics and the expected synthesizer score that really gives energy to the scenes...Being so happy with this witty movie, i remember to have read the original novel from McDonald and they are truly like the movie: funny, fast and gripping!
Fletch attempts to do for Chevy Chase what Beverly Hills Cop did for Eddie Murphy: turn the comedian into a wisecracking, street-wise hero who is always one step ahead of the bad guys.It doesn't work.Chase gives it his best shot, but the part simply isn't right for him: he's much more suited to playing the lovable, well-meaning fool, as seen in the Vacation movies, Spies Like Us and ¡Three Amigos!.
Of course, it doesn't help either that the script is so short on genuine laughs and decent action, the several scenes involving Fletch sporting a variety of crazy guises providing only moderate giggles, the excitement limited to one unimpressive car chase and some brief gun action.The Beverly Hills Cop connection goes so far as to having Harold Faltermeyer providing the score, but his music for Fletch is nowhere near as good as Axel F, being extremely monotonous and incredibly intrusive (the same few notes repeated again and again and again, no matter what the situation).5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for the lovely Geena Davis, who has a supporting role as Fletch's loyal newsroom assistant Larry (huh?!?!)..
Chevy Chase is perfectly cast as Irwin Fletcher, a wise cracking newspaper reporter working undercover on a beach to expose a drug running operation.
Director Michael Ritchie's lightness of touch, along with understated support from Richard Libertini, Tim Matheson, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joe Don Baker and an early-in-their-careers Geena Davis and George Wendt, allow Chase's style of comedy to never become either too overbearing or too quirky (although Ted Underhill's credit card must have helped...).
It's a surprisingly funny little movie in which the star plays an inept investigative reporter who finds himself involved in a bizarre case of drug smuggling after a wealthy man asks to be murdered!
Yes the movie Fletch is a great mystery-crime comedy that is worth viewing.
The legendary actor enacts the title role with the best comic-timing possible & owns the film as if he was born to do so.'Fletch' Synopsis: An investigative newspaper reporter tries to the solve the mystery of a fishy aviation president.
Now, Fletch is at it again: In disguise as a bum, he lives at the beach, researching drugs and their dealing.With some brief supporting roles from George Wendt and Geena Davis, this is a fun film with Chase playing a character who plays many characters.
Watched this last weekend at home with family, where Chevy Chase plays an investigative journalist with a passion for clever disguises.We see Fletch going from place to place making up interesting characters with a great presence of mind to turn every situation into his favour and solving the mystery.
It takes a strong central lead in the role of a movie like Michael Ritchie's Fletch to make the end product one of a worthy status and, thankfully, Chevy Chase capably handles the task at hand, playing the title character, who is a typical journalist, penning articles under the pen-name "Jane Doe" by day, and a crafty disguise artist by night, carrying his deadpan cynicism with him like a lawyer and his briefcase.While Fletch is undercover one day he runs into Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), who gives him a generous offer; $50,000 if he would be willing to murder him.
This leads Fletch to pose as a number of disguises to get where he needs to be.Director Michael Ritchie directs this picture with the kind of energy it needs, and screenwriter Andrew Bergman (who would write the fabulous It Could Happen to You roughly a decade later) drums up several different sketches that never seem to tread the line of strenuous parodies or a compilation of something resembling Saturday Night Live skits; one of the biggest problems that could've plagued this project as a whole.Yet it's easy to say that if a viewer is searching for Chevy Chase's best performance, they may have found it.
To see him relaxed and confident on screen is one of the many pleasures of the picture, and it gives me reassurance of his possibilities after, not long ago, watching the dry and scarcely funny Three Amigos, which totally shoved his character to the background, where he was lucky enough to get a smile in.Fletch works in large part because of Chase's incredibly sophisticated energy, but is sustainable because not only is it an enjoyable piece of comedy, but also a devilishly entertaining crime drama, that sports a simple, yet effectively handled mystery that one could call fulfilling and worthwhile.
Composed of its inherently basic material, delivered in a fittingly unassuming way, with a terrific central performance, a script efficiently written by an underrated comedic talent, direction that stays alive, and a supporting cast (comprised of people like Tim Matheson and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) that work well with the Chase's detached title character, as a quick and spontaneous romp, this one carefully constructs its entire setup to make for favorable entertainment.Starring: Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson.
Chevy Chase makes the most of what is one of his best ever roles, in this adaptation of the comedy / mystery novel by Gregory McDonald, scripted by Andrew Bergman.
The supporting cast is great, including Joe Don Baker as the police chief, the lovely and appealing Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as the leading lady (she easily could have had an even better career in film), Richard Libertini as Fletch's long suffering editor, M.
Comic highlights include Fletch's visit to Dr. Dolan (Walsh), wherein he gets a rectal exam, the mystery element of the movie works pretty well, and there's some good action to boot, with an impressive climactic car chase.
The movie is not all laughs though as there is a rather good chase scene, though actually that was rather funny too.
Based on a series of mystery novels by Gregory McDonald, Fletch follows the misadventures of Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase), a quick-witted investigative reporter who gains notoriety with several scathing exposés published under the name Jane Doe. Going undercover as a homeless man to root out drug traffickers in Los Angeles, the all-too-clever writer is approached by a millionaire (Tim Matheson) offering a chunk of change to anyone willing to kill him before his cancer leads to an untimely and agonizing death.
I simply adore the sequel 'Fletch Lives', as for the original (There no hiding the fact it's a star vehicle) I found it a respectably lightweight and relaxed comedy/mystery that knew accordingly how to use Chevy Chase's smart-alec attitude for the character of Fletch.
If you didn't enjoy the film, try the book instead!The main problem is that the film takes the book's title, some characters and parts of the plot and then uses them as a vehicle for a comedy thriller instead of staying with original - good - idea.Chevy Chase brings his usual "aimiable idiot" twist to the characterisation, but he plays it a bit too much like Clark S Griswold (European Vacation was released the same year); I kept expecting Beverley D'Aneglo to appear with a pained expression exclaiming, "Oh, Sparkey".Although I enjoy the film whenever it happens to be on, I have to say it's not a patch on the original....
For other great Chevy Chase movies, see "National Lampoon's Vacation" or "Spies Like Us"..
A vehicle for (the huge star at the time) Chevy Chase Fletch is an instantly likable 80's comedy all the trademarks of the decade are in evidence electro theme tune, LA montage shots and the perm haired love interest.
1985 was a great year for Chevy (Spies Like Us is also an underrated classic) and it's hard to believe it's been so long, but this movie holds up well and few comedies have trumped it since..
If you like Chevy Chase at all, you will LOVE Fletch.....and "never call me IRWIN"..
"He's 6,6" - 6,10" with the afro"This is by far the BEST movie that Chevy Chase has ever been a part of - which isn't actually saying a lot - he,he.
I just laugh at everything in this movie, especially the Utah references-  "Those are three names I enjoy; Marvin, Velma, and Provo." Very funny stuff!I think if you have any sense of humor, you will enjoy this movie.p.s. I know that Kevin Smith is working on 'Fletch Won' rumored to star Jason Lee as a young Fletch, but as much as I love Jason, I don't know if he will compare to Chevy Chase.
...in the sense that people will continue to quote this movie until the end of time.This is the kind of role Chevy Chase should have built his career on, and for whatever reason didn't.
I am anxious to see the upcoming prequel with Jason Lee as well.Okay, so the story and characters will never be mistaken for Billy Wilder, but this has got to place in the top ten comedies of the 80s at very least.In addition to Chase, Joe Don Baker, Tim Matheson, and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, some great supporting performances by George Wendt, Geena Davis, M.
I still laugh out loud when I see this movie.Chevy Chase is hilarious as investigative reporter Irwin M.
Chevy Chase's comedic genius is displayed like never before (and never again) in this hilarious adaptation of the very serious Fletch mystery series.
Chevy Chase found the character he was born to play and a comedy storyline like no other before or after.
Released six months after Eddie Murphy's "Beverly Hills Cop",Fletch tried to deliver the former's success with Chevy Chase as a wise-cracking"detective"reporter on the trail of finding out the sorces behind drugs on a beach.The movie is very funny,blending Chevy's dead-pan punchlines with his unusual disguises(and those names,which are the funniest,i.e.,Ted Nugent,John Cocktolstoy,Don Corleone,etc.),and a simple plot.Irwin Fletcher is doing a story on drugs on the beach until one day when a wealthy man takes him to his home and hires him to kill him cuz he says he's dying of bone cancer.Throughout the movie,he goes into incognito to find out info on this wealthy man,he finds out he's behind the drug set up along with the chief of police(played hilariously by Joe Don Baker).The movie gets boring in some scenes but quickly redeemed by Chase,which this may be his best comic vehicle ever,as well as his best performance,better than those "Vacation" movies or the herrendous"Funny Farm".It even includes a funky synthesizer beat excessively(possibly trying to copy "Axel F."from"Beverly Hills Cop").Overall Fletch is a comedy classic from the 80's.I rate it 8 of 10..
The sympathy that Fletch shows to the female characters in this and Fletch Lives means the film also has a visceral effect as we can literally feel our hearts warming to the protagonist.In conclusion I would like to highly recommend Fletch to any Chevy Chase fans or infact anyone who likes to laugh.
Fletch might look like an average 80's movie but its actually quite good, and is supposedly being remade and will debut in 2002.Providing you follow the plotline all the way through Irwin Fletcher will keep you entertained throughout the movie on why Alan Stanwyk wants to be killed, and who is controlling the drug traffic at the beach.
The film itself deals with some serious subjects  murder for hire, police corruption, and drug trafficking  and apart from the hero of the film, Fletch, a.k.a. Irwin Fletcher (Chevy Chase in his best role ever), every character treats the events of the film with great seriousness.
If a movie like this were made today, it'd probably be just an action film with a few good wisecracks, or a slapstick comedy that couldn't treat anything seriously.Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, the title character and driving force behind `Fletch', is a Los Angeles reporter who delights in tormenting the establishment with scathing exposé articles.
What makes the film, though, is Chevy Chase as Fletch.
Chevy Chase gives a fine performance as smart-aleck investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher,who while doing a story on drug traffic along a Los Angeles beach,stumbles upon another mystery involving a businessman's unusual request.
Fletch is without a doubt one of the funniest films of the 80s, it is definetly Chevy Chase's funniest work.
I love them both.Chevy Chase is great as Fletch.
Fletch (1985) *** (out of 4) Extremely entertaining film has Chevy Chase playing Irwin 'Fletch' Fletcher, a reporter who is working undercover as a bum when a multi-millionaire (Tim Matheson) asks him to kill him for insurance purposes.
Outside the bad 80s soundtrack, this film has enough laughs for two movies and it's the perfect example of how great Chase could be..
I love the Fletch novels, I like Chevy Chase when he has a good script, and director Michael Ritchie has a great eye when it comes to comedies.