spoiler nostalgic 1977 movie that more like a 1940 film noir crime suspense or drama with an over the hill private eye ira well and art carney and team up with a middle age hippie margo sperling and lily tomlin and to solve the murder of ira long time friend of over 30 year and and also private detective and harry regan and howard duff . harry come to see ira at his room house one evening collapse and dy right in front of him from a 45 slug in his chest . at harry funeral ira get to see his friend charlie and bill macy and who have this young woman margo sperling with him and want ira to find her miss cat winston . have no patience to go look for cat at his age ira change his mind when he find out that harry be on the case and in find winston and at the time of his murder and feel that harry try to find margo cat may have have something to do with his untimely death . ira be right dead right . the serious ira team up with space out and on idea about life not drug and margo realizes that harry murder be but a small part of a series of crime and include at least four other killing and involve big time l. a gangster ron birdwell and eugene roche . brdwell wife laura and joanna cassidy and have be miss for some three day and be involve with a mr. white who together with his wife both end up dead . it take a while for ira to get to the bottom of what be go on between birdwell and the whiting but with the help of screwy pseudo philosophical margo and who turn out to be a lot smarter then ira at first thought and he put all the piece together . ira come up with not only who kill both the whiting but who murder his friend harry regan a well and and on top of all that and ira find margo cat winston . the cat it turn out have be sit on the evidence and a . 32 pistol and to connect all the killing as well a it be use to blackmail laura while in keep her mouth shut about who responsible for a sting of unconnected and unsolved murder in the l. a area . art carney give the performance of his life a the broken down pi ira well take it on the chin and in the gut throughout the entire movie from hoodlum like birdwell and his sadistic bodyguard lamar and john considine . ira also have to put up with the new age guru like margo and who he get to like despite her almost talk him to death . lily tomlin be perfect a the over age hippie margo sperling who also begin to take life seriously when she realize that she and ira life be in danger in an elaborate scheme to distance the whiting murder away from those responsible for them and make them look like a robbery go wrong . ira who really get on the case to find who murder harry regan find winston be only secondary for him and get a lot more then he bargain for include a brutal beating by lamar and who he later pay back with interest . in the end he find not only who kill harry but a new place to stay and margo place and after his landlady kick him out of her house for give her more headache and excitement then his rent could compensate her for represent $ 42 and 50 a month . art carney besides have ulcer problem in the movie a ira well walk with a limp and because of a bum leg and which in real life he really have from be wound in france and by an exploding german artillery shell in world war two .