Coming Distractions

Film/TV Editor Chris Baldemor is On the Case

Our film and TV editor Chris Baldemor has been sending me leads for years, and he’s relentless in his search for P.I. gold–and garbage. The world is truly his beat… and what he comes back with is astounding. And sometimes a little frightening. And sometimes the lead goes nowhere. 

Such is life.

But thanks to Chris’ tireless legwork, I’ve received a slew of leads to TV shows, mini-series, straight-to-DVD clunkers and even feature films to follow up on. I’ve also included a few of our preliminary comments. If there’s no active link, investigation is still pending…

• Molly & Gina
  1994 film. When a P.I. is murdered, his gal Friday steps up.
• The Big Bang
  A 2010 with Antonio Banderas poking his finger into all sorts of existential posturing.
• 2 Minutes Later
  2010 film
• Un Affair Privée
  2003 film
• Bored to Death
  An HBO comedy/mystery starring Jason Schwartzman as a novelist suffering a writer’s block who moonlights as an unlicensed private detective by advertising on craigslist.
• A Professional Affair
  With Robert Z’Dar
• A Private Affair
  Starring Marion Coitillard
• Case Histories
  A 2011, BBC mini-series starring Jason Isaacs as Kate Atkinson’s emphatic British P.I. Jackson Brodie.
• Little Miss Millions (aka “Home for Christmas”)
  Howard (WKRP) Hesseman is a private eye hired to track down a runaway teenager (Jennifer Love Hewitt) in this 1993 family comedy.
• El C.I.D.
  Starring Alfred Molina
• The Tracker
  Starring Casper Van Diem
• Give ’em Hell, Malone
  Not even real cheese, but processed cheese food.
  
• Detective Susumu Samonji
  Starring Yutaka Mizutani
• Tantei Monogatari
  With Yusaku Matsuda
• The Missing Person
  2009 film noir starring Michael Shannon as John Rusow, a bitter and burned out alcoholic Chicago private eye shambling through life.
• Detective Story
  With Yusaku Matsuda
• Lonely Street
  A 2009 flick with Jay Mohr as Steve Brewer’s gullible Albuquerque-based private eye Bubba Mabry.
• The Kill
  Starring Richard Jaeckel as Ming, a private eye based in Macao.
• Bride and Doom
  An independent film shot locally about two bumbling private detectives who are trying to solve a murder during a wedding ceremony.
• Lady Ice
  1973 movie shot on location in Miami, FL starring Donald Sutherland as an insurance investigator who is after the lovely Jennifer O’ Neill who fences stolen jewelry.
• Mystery Team
  2010 film
• Jigsaw
  1969 film with Bradford Dillman and Harry Guardino
• Cat Run
  In this 2011 film, two young American ex-pats decide to open up a detective agency in Montenegro. Right…
  
• Michael O’ Hara The Fourth
  1970 film
• Christine Cromwell
  1992 film with Jacklyn Smith
• Injured Angels
• Kindaichi
  A series of popular films and TV shows from Japan, including The Case Files of Young Kindaichi
• Murders in the Doll House
• Susumu Samonji
• Aah Tantei Jimusho
• Kibun Wa MeinTantei
  A “sense” detective
• PS I Luv U
  Starring Greg Evigan and Connie Selecca
• The Food Detective
  TV series
• Detective Boogie
  TV series
• Ulterior Motives
  Starring Thomas Ian Griffith
• The Manchu Eagle Caper Mystery
  Some movies are the kind of bad that are so bad they’re (almost) good. This one’s just bad.
• The Return of the World’s Greatest Detective
  Starring Larry Hagman
• Pointman
  Starring Jack Scalia
• Big Man
  Starring Bud Spencer
• Extralarge
  Starring Bud Spencer
• Mataharis
  A Spanish film about female private detectives
• Deadly Deception (aka “Lolita Desnuda”)
  Starring Andrew Stevens
• If I Didn’t Care
  2007 flick starring Roy Scheider as a private investigator named Linus. Good grief.
• Torrente: Mission Marbella
• Quo Vadis, Baby
  Italian tv series
• Peter Strohm
• Detektivburo
• Varg Veum
  A 2007-08 TV series from Norway, well worth investigating, based on the popular private eye novels by by Gunnar Staalesens.
• The Octopus
• We Got in While You Were Out
  Starring Jerry Lewis
• Come Die With Me
  Starring Rob Estes as Mike Hammer
• Goldberg. P.I.
  A 2011 movie starring Jackie Mason as Miami-based private eye Jackie Goldberg.
• Jack Taylor
  A series of four (so far) made-for-TV movies about Ken Bruen’s Galway-based private eye.
• So Undercover
  A 2012 movie starring Miley Cyrus. When will the madness stop?
• Jasper
  A 2011 movie about an Ausse P.I. named Jasper Clay.
• Indiscreet
  Starring Luke Perry
• Jack Irish: Bad Debts and Jack Irish: Black Tide
  Two Aussie TV movies starring Guy Pearce as Peter Temple’s mucker, minder and part-time P.I.
• Carla Cametti PD
  A 2009 Australian TV series
• Heroes Three (aka “To Live and Die in Hong Kong”)
  A 1988 Hong Kong production about a Chinese P.I. assisting two Westerners solve a murder.
• Rogue’s Gallery
  A 1968 movie. Although often assumed to be based on the classic radio drama, Rogue’s Gallery, this cheese stands alone.
• O’Malley
  A failed 1983 pilot starring Mickey Rooney
• Private Eye: Two Plus Two Plus One
  An 1997 Indian movie starring Nasurraden Shah.
• Ein Fall Fur Zwei
  A long running German crime drama featuring the partnership of a prominent criminal lawyer and an ex-cop turned private investigator working for him.
• Peter Strohm
  An action packed German TV show about a lone P.I.
• Backstreet Justice
  A 1993 P.I. film starring Linda Kozlowski, Hector Elizondo, John Shea, and Paul Sorvino.
• Detektivburo Roth
  Another action-packed German P.I. show.
• Wilsberg
  A German P.I. who runs an antiquarian bookstore in the city of Munchen.
• Anthonsen
  About the adventures of a Danish private detective.
• Feluda
  An extremely popular Bengali private detective created by renowned Indian director Satjyit Ray.
• The Detective is in the Bar
  A 2011 film about a private eye based in Hokkaido, Japan.
• Susumu Samonji
  A series of telefilms about a private detective based in Tokyo, Japan.
• Tokumei Tantei
  Another TV series about a Japanese private eye.
• Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime
  A period piece about the adventures of British private eye couple Tommy and Tuppence Beresford.
• Alien Private Eye
  1987 flick about a female alien sent to Earth to track down a black disc has to fight off another race of aliens also after it.

List respectfully compiled by Thrilling Detective film and TV editor Chris Baldemor.