Word: libertini
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Back from a lengthy concert tour, Claude meets his agent Norman Robbins (Albert Brooks) and listens to some gibberish about a private detective's report on his wife. Confused about the detective. Claude denies any jealous tendencies. His manservant, Giuseppe (Richard Libertini), misunderstood Claude's request "Keep an eye on her" for the Italian equivalent of "Get a private eye to follow her." With the requisite veneer of trust, Claude poo-poos the report and falls back into the arms of Daniella...
Several excellent supporting roles complete the comic balance. As his agent, Norman, Albert Brooks plays the perfect straight man for the dynamic Moore. In a riotous scene, a freshly released from jail Claude attacks Brooks in the police station. "Police, Police." Norman cries with blue suits literally everywhere. Richard Libertini as the manservant plays the clown character, forcing Moore to focus on his more diverse and definitely more interesting talents...
...with violent unpleasantness, but the volume is cranked up too high. It tends to drown out the good and far more surprising minor-key work that has gone before it. Still, the pleasure of watching good character men like Brian Keith, Charles Burning, Bernie Casey and the estimable Richard Libertini going pocketa-pocketa as Sharky's Machine warms up is not to be lightly dismissed. And neither is Reynolds' good sense of the way the sordid and the sleek coexist in Big City life. The man has a feel for the director's craft that could, some...