Gumshoe (film)

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Gumshoe is a 1971 film, and was the directorial debut of British director Stephen Frears.

Written by local author Neville Smith, the film is set in Liverpool with Albert Finney playing the role of Eddie Ginley. Ginley is a bingo-caller and occasional club comedian who dreams of being a private eye of the kind he knows from films and pulp novels. Having put an advertisement in a local newspaper (the famous 'Liverpool Echo') as a birthday present to himself, Ginley is suddenly contacted for what appears to be an actual piece of detective work...

The film has many comic moments as it switches between detective novel and affectionate spoof. It has some shots of Liverpool buildings that have long since been demolished, including the employment exchange on Leece street.

'Gumshoe' was the first of two films to be scored by Andrew Lloyd-Webber (the second was 'The ODESSA File', in 1974). Some of the music went on to be re-used in Lloyd-Weber's 1993 musical Sunset Boulevard