Shamus (1973)

Director:

Buzz Kulik

Writer:

Barry Beckerman (written by)

Release Date:

5 February 1973 (Sweden)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

SHAMUS a pool-shooting, card-playing, broad-chasing, private eye...cross him, and he'll blow your head off!

Plot:

New York private eye Shamus McCoy likes girls, drink and gambling, but by the look of his flat business can't be too hot...

Plot Keywords:

Diamond | Flamethrower | Cat | Private Detective | Character Name In Title

Cast

Burt Reynolds	...	Shamus McCoy
Dyan Cannon	...	Alexis Montaigne
John P. Ryan	...	Hardcore
Joe Santos	...	Lieutenant Promuto
Giorgio Tozzi	...	Dottore
Ron Weyand	...	E.J. Hume
Larry Block	...	Springy
Beeson Carroll	...	Bolton
Kevin Conway	...	The Kid
Kay Frye	...	Bookstore Girl
John Glover	...	Johnnie
Merwin Goldsmith	...	Schnook
Melody Santangello	...	Alice
Irving Selbst	...	Heavy
Alex Wilson	...	Felix Montaigne

Also Known As:

Passion for Danger

Runtime:

106 min | Norway:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1973) | Finland:K-16 (uncut) (1990) | Iceland:16 | Norway:16 | UK:18 | USA:PG (certificate #23378)

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Although the "87th Precinct" series of novels by author Evan Hunter (writing as "Ed McBain") have sold millions of copies since the first one appeared in the late 1950s, and still sell well today, this is one of only a relative handful of theatrical films - not counting a few made-for-TV movies and a TV series in the 1960s - to have been made from them.

Goofs:

Continuity: When McCoy enters the shipping room at the warehouse, the border pattern on the front of the glass panel does not match that seen through from the rear. The two verticals over the PP in SHIPPING should be visible through the frosted glass, but there is a horizontal join instead.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Jay Leno Show: (#1.23)" (2009)

A Forties retread with Seventies violence...

In "Shamus," Burt Reynolds is a New York private eye afraid of big dogs and keeps a beautiful ginger cat…

He lives in a single room and sleeps on a pool table… He is quite capable of pushing a heroin addict's face into the garbage… He is certainly the 1970's version – almost in comic-strip – of the private investigator…

Reynolds lives cheaply, yet is hired to pursue a theft of diamonds; he is big and sexy, and the gorgeous Dyan Cannon is only too happy to dally with him at the drop of a clue; and he is apparently so tough that he can take all manner of beatings and emerge unscathed…

It is doubtful if he is the sort of man one would want to introduce to one's maiden aunt (the one with all the money), but he is certainly a character to fulfill all the audience's fantasies of violence, sex and thrills…