The plot of the movie is fairly basic. It begins with the death of a dentist - which death turns out to be tied in with a 6-year-old armored car robbery investigation, another murder, and a circus. The Fat Man, Brad Runyon, is a private investigator hired by the dentist's nurse to investigate, since the police are satisfied that his death was an accident.
The movie's humor is fairly silly - for one thing, the director went a bit overboard on using all the sight gags that they couldn't use on radio (see below), such as Brad trying to fit into a tiny car, a phone booth, and dancing (which was kind of adorable).
One interesting bit of trivia about this movie - J. Scott Smart, the actor playing Brad Runyon (the titular "Fat Man") also played him in the radio serial of the same name. It was really nice to see that (unlike many actors) he really looked the part he played.
In the radio serial, he didn't have the sidekick character they gave him for the movie - but the guy was pretty harmless and amusing, so it worked out pretty well (it didn't turn them into a Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin clone or anything). On the radio, what made Runyon stand out was that he was a big guy, but not the least bit sedentary.
It's a movie to watch if you like the radio serial (another trivia point - the radio show was inspired by a CHAPTER TITLE from the Maltese Falcon) or if you want to see famous clown Emmett Kelley play - well - a clown. Or if you like Julie London who looks pretty stunning in a cocktail dress.
The movie's humor is fairly silly - for one thing, the director went a bit overboard on using all the sight gags that they couldn't use on radio (see below), such as Brad trying to fit into a tiny car, a phone booth, and dancing (which was kind of adorable).
One interesting bit of trivia about this movie - J. Scott Smart, the actor playing Brad Runyon (the titular "Fat Man") also played him in the radio serial of the same name. It was really nice to see that (unlike many actors) he really looked the part he played.
In the radio serial, he didn't have the sidekick character they gave him for the movie - but the guy was pretty harmless and amusing, so it worked out pretty well (it didn't turn them into a Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodwin clone or anything). On the radio, what made Runyon stand out was that he was a big guy, but not the least bit sedentary.
It's a movie to watch if you like the radio serial (another trivia point - the radio show was inspired by a CHAPTER TITLE from the Maltese Falcon) or if you want to see famous clown Emmett Kelley play - well - a clown. Or if you like Julie London who looks pretty stunning in a cocktail dress.