My Week In Movies - The Private Eyes

The Private Eyes (1980)[PG] This is one of those movies that was so high on my list of favorite things in the world when I was a kid. For me, there was just no better pairing than Tim Conway and Don Knotts. Now that I'm a mature grown-up I can honestly say that there are still few things better than the teaming of Conway and Knotts. I hadn't seen this gem in quite a while. I even passed up my old VHS copy that was taped off Channel 13 many years ago and got the DVD from Netflix. Ahh...good times. Ya see, ol' Tim and Don are Scottland Yard detectives sent to the Morley Manson to investigate the murder of Lord and Lady Morley. Wackiness ensues as Tim Conway acts like a bumbling idiot and Don Knotts looks at him with his eyes popping out of his head. There's some great bits in this flick like notes left from the murderer which rhyme...except for the last line. They use that joke at least 10 times over the course of 90 minutes and it gets funnier each time! There's no hiding the fact that this movie is just an excuse for Tim Conway and Don Knotts to goof around and be funny as all get out in the process. Simply put...one of the finest films ever committed to celluloid.

The Private Eyes was filmed at the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC. The Biltmore boasts itself as something like the largest privately owned home in the country. I toured the property in 2002 and while the visit is somewhat interesting it would have been exponentially more thrilling had they included information about the filming of this modern masterpiece of film work!

It's Rated PG, there's no foul language and even though half a dozen or so murders take place they are mostly off screen and/or not violent. There is some very mild, innocent sexual innuendo that even if a kid were to pick up on it then they deserve to laugh at it. The word "bosoms" is used, that should about sum it up.