DVD Review: Fletch (The 'Jane Doe' Edition)

By Adnan Tezer May 1, 2007, 14:32 GMT

Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, Los Angeles journalist, really lives for his profession. As Jane Doe, he publishes articles that have caused several heads to roll in the past. Now, Fletch is at it again: In disguise as a bum, he lives at the beach, researching drugs and their dealing. One day, Fletch is addressed by Alan Stanwyk, a rich man, who asks him, the bum, a favour. For the sum of ...more

Normally, I would go on a rant about how stupid and unoriginal the titles are getting for these special edition DVDs that are being double or triple dipped; Major League: Wild Thing Edition, Trading Places: Looking Good, Feeling Good Special Edition, i.e. just take a famous line of dialogue from a classic film and throw it before “Special Edition.” What amazing creativity these marketing people have at the studios. What community college did they go to? 

But, in this case, I’ll make an exception even though the title does indeed suck. The reason is simple: FLETCH IS FINALLY BACK ON THE OPEN MARKET. You’re wondering why the extreme happiness and joy over one of the most popular comedies of the 80s and easily one of the five most quoted films ever being re-released in a Special Edition with some fairly spare extras?
 
That would be that for the last 2 years, the only other DVD version of Fletch, that being a bare bones, no extra version released by Universal in 1998, had been discontinued and was out of print. Unless you were willing to fork up as much as 100 bucks for a USED copy on eBay or Amazon, you couldn’t find it anywhere.

There was a brief period last year where a boatload of copies ended up in scattered Wal-Mart DVD bins but they were scooped up faster than you could blink an eye. There were web sites that were devoted to the film and had sent signed petitions to Universal with hundreds of thousands of names DEMANDING that the film be re-released as a special edition.

Maybe my name was on one of those petitions, maybe it wasn’t. The important thing is that some kind of updated version has finally been released by Universal.
 
Fletch, originally released in 1985, and directed by the late, great Michael Ritchie would be the apex of Chevy Chase’s career.  With the exception of Ty Webb in Caddyshack, his arrogantly smug and sarcastic personality (which was notoriously worse off-screen) was never more perfectly suited for a role and was never that funny or good again.

True, he would provide some laughs in later films like Spies Like Us, Three Amigos and Christmas Vacation but more often than not there was Caddyshack II, Fletch Lives, Nothing But Trouble, Cops and Robbersons and Vegas Vacation.  Then God help us, there was his notoriously awful talk show that lasted 10 seconds in 1993 and had him the butt of every joke after he was arrested for D.U.I right before the show was dumped and the running joke was that his blood alcohol content was higher than the ratings for his talk show.

It was a painful fall to watch. THEN, he further trashed what was left of his career with Stealing Bess, Bad Meat and Funny Money. Never heard of them? They were all straight to DVD garbage.
 
Irwin M. Fletcher a.k.a. Fletch (Chase) is an investigative journalist who writes for an unnamed Los Angeles newspaper under the byline “Jane Doe”, is a HUGE Lakers fan and REALLY hates Tommy Lasorda.  With the aid of a voice-over narration that actually works quite well, we are clued into Fletch’s predicaments through out the film.

As the film opens, he is posing as an “amiable, minor-league junkie” as he investigates the drug trade on the local beaches. And he’s not talking about Robitussin and No-Doz. He’s talking about the hard stuff, and a lot of it. He doesn’t shower much.  He has befriended the front man for the operation Fat Sam (George “NORM” Wendt) and a drug mule Gummy (Larry Flash Jenkins) but Fletch is after the big fish behind the operation.

As this unfolds, he is approached by a wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) and is offered a job. Stanwyk offers him 50, 000 dollars and way out of the country if he will kill him. Stanwyk claims to be dying from an incurable bone cancer and wants to end the suffering and make sure his wife can collect the insurance money. Turns out Fletch did such a good job impersonating a worthless junkie; Stanwyk is convinced he is some drifter that no one will notice.

Despite the fact that this seemingly has nothing to do with his drug trade story, Fletch agrees “Sure” and starts looking into Stanwyk’s background as well as following his drug leads. Thus begins a convoluted but highly entertaining plot that has Fletch getting himself out of continuous tight spots and morphing on the fly from one hilarious false identity/disguise after another as he stumbles onto police corruption that intersects with both Stanwyk and the drug trade story and finds himself a wanted, “man without a country.”   Needless to say, no one is who they seem they are.
 
This is a showcase for Chase to be sure as Fletch is the central character and we see and hear everything through his smart-ass, wise cracking mind. Much of his dialogue was improvised with his Saturday Night Live background never having been used before or after, this perfectly. But director Michael Ritchie and for that matter screenwriter Andrew Bergman, who adapted Gregory McDonald’s novel, provided enough room for an excellent supporting cast to have their moments alongside Chase.

In addition to Wendt and Matheson, who’s no slouch when it comes to playing smug and self-assured (remember this is Eric “Otter” Stratton), you have a pre-stardom Geena Davis as “I love your body” Larry, one of Fletch’s newsroom co-workers who has a crush on him and does crucial research for him throughout the film. There is the wonderful Richard Libertini as Fletch’s harried editor Frank Walker, who is constantly beating Fletch down “Give me something I can print” for his beach story; Joe Don Baker (Mitchell and Buford Pusser himself) as the shady Police Chief Karlin; Dana Wheeler-Nicholson as Stanwyk’s hot wife Gail, who is in the dark as to the true nature and character of her husband; M. Emmet Walsh as a Dr. “Jellyfinger” Dolan, whom Fletch sets up a false check-up under the guise of having kidney pains so as to find out information on Stanwyk and ends up getting a LOT more than he planned on; and William Traylor as Ted Underhill, a pompous, arrogant country club ass that Fletch takes great delight in duping.  All that, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Chick Hearn make cameos in a hilarious dream sequence.
 
Ritchie, who also directed such 70s classics like The Candidate (1972), The Bad News Bears (1976) and Semi-Tough (1977) keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and keeps you constantly engaged. The classic 80’s synth-pop score, courtesy of one Harold Faltermeyer, provides us with Fletch’s theme music.  Laconic and cool in a classic 80s fashion; it grabs you from the opening shot of Fletch walking on the beach and introducing himself to the audience.

No surprise that this was the same man that created the immortal Axel F for Beverly Hills Cop and the high-tech, blow your head off score for Top Gun.  The 80s pop songs that accompany the score are perfect complements especially in the one of many classic scenes where Fletch, posing as a smog patrol officer, steals a car from a baby-faced car thief and leads the cops on a high speed chase.
 
The extras included are not anything spectacular but they are better than nothing. Wisely, Universal has not called this a Special Edition. You know what that means. The original theatrical trailer is included along with a five minute featurette “From John Cocktoastin to Harry S. Truman: The Disguises” which highlights the many different characters Fletch pretends to be and a two and a half minute montage “Favorite Fletch Moments” which is basically classic lines/scenes from the film.

The only extra of any substance is the 26 minute “Just Charge It to the Underhills: Making and Remembering Fletch” that features interviews with selected cast and crew members as they talk about the making of the film and the enormous cult status that it enjoys to this day. Surprisingly, Chase is NOWHERE to be found in any of the extras. You’d think that given his career free fall, he’d jump at the chance to be a part of a retrospective that highlights some of his best work when he was at his peak.

It’s a shame that director Michael Ritchie, who passed away in 2001, was not able to be a part of this, but the crewmembers speak lovingly of him. There are some still shots of the legendary deleted dream sequences of Fletch as a pitcher for the L.A. Dodgers and as a hockey player for the L.A. Kings but none of the footage was recovered. 
 
I know I speak for others when I say thank you Universal for finally putting this classic comedy back on the open market.  The crisp, remastered picture and 5.1 surround sound is a joy to behold and the film holds up remarkably well after 22 years. It continues to be funny even if you know every stitch of dialogue by heart.

If you haven’t seen this….BUY IT IMMEDIATELY and prepare yourself to be in pain from laughing so hard. I fear though that this will be yet another title alongside Scarface and Jaws to name a few other classics that will be triple and quadruple dipped as the years go on. Expect Fletch: The “Never, Never,” “Print This,” “Hug A Cop,” or “Five, Ten Minutes Tops Maybe” Special Edition in 2 years.  Anyone care for Mr. Underhill’s AMEX number?

Fletch (The "Jane Doe" Edition) is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.