As soon as Gumshoe begins, it's quite clear we are in for a treat. The opening music (by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, the Evita men) and credit titles are both superbly evocative of those Forties' detective thrillers which Gumshoe seeks to gently spoof and, at the same time, celebrate. Director Stephen Frears never loses this mood, from the moment one first meets Eddie Ginley (a marvellous performance by Albert Finney), a small-time bingo caller and even smaller-time private eye who dreams of being Humphrey Bogart, Elvis Presley and Dashiell Hammett rolled into one. His subsequent adventures on the trail of the Fat Man will delight any film fan with an affection for the kind of films whose atmosphere Gumshoe conjures up. All through the story (cleverly written and constructed by Neville Smith), characters play along with Eddie's fantasies of greatness partly because they know him and partly because they find it difficult to resist. You'll find Gumshoe difficult to resist, too.

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