Sleuth (1972 film) was considered unsuccessful in comparison to the original. Sleuth (1972 film) Sleuth is a 1972 British-American mystery thriller film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. The screenplay by playwright Anthony Shaffer was based on his 1970 Tony Award-winning play. Both Olivier and Caine were nominated for Academy Awards for their performances. This was Mankiewicz's final film. Critics gave the film overwhelmingly positive reviews, and would later note similarities between it and Caine's 1982 film "Deathtrap". Andrew Wyke, a successful writer of crime fiction, who lives in a large country manor house filled with elaborate
Sleuth (2007 film) Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 36%. Of 118 reviews, 42 were "Fresh" (positive) and 76 "Rotten" (negative). The critical consensus states that "Sleuth is so obvious and coarse, rather than suspenseful and action-packed, that it does nothing to improve on the original version." "Time" film reviewer Richard Corliss indicated he was not pleased with the outcome, concluding, "...[I]f you consider what the exalted quartet of Branagh, Pinter, Caine and Law might have done with the project, and what they did "to" it, "Sleuth" has to be the worst prestige movie of the year." Claudia Puig of "USA Today" was