The Late Show Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

The Late Show Blu-ray Movie Review

"One of these days, Margo..."

Reviewed by Randy Miller III May 31, 2026

Despite no connection to David Letterman or Stephen Colbert, Robert Benton's 1977 The Late Show is the kind of stuff worth staying up for: this underappreciated mystery features a career-best performance from the great Art Carney, as well as anther great role for Lily Tomlin less than two years after her Oscar-nominated breakthrough in Robert Altman's Nashville. The Altman connection continues since he serves as a producer for this well-cast and solidly scripted drama, one that features an amusingly convoluted plot and great chemistry between our two disparate leads.

It all starts off with a murder and a missing cat. The former is poor Harry Regan (Howard Duff, for about five minutes), the ex-partner of aging private detective Ira Wells (Carney), who shows up at his old friend's apartment nursing a nasty gunshot wound. He passes long before the ambulance arrives and, at Harry's funeral, Ira runs into an old acquaintance Charlie Hatter (Bill Macy). Charlie introduces him to Margo Sperling (Tomlin), an outspoken young woman who begs Ira to find her missing kitty Winston. Flatly turning down the insulting job, he's later talked into it when Charlie reveals that Harry was actually on Margo's case when he got shot. Jumping at the chance to track down his friend's killer, Ira does his best to ignore Margo's annoyingly neurotic personality and immediately hits the streets.

The resulting path is long and twisted, involving a mystery man named Brian Hemphill (who apparently cat-napped Winston after Margo stole money from him while smuggling weed), another shooting, a stolen stamp collection, at least one extramarital affair, a fence, a bodyguard, blackmail, a body in a refrigerator, a ruined cashmere jacket, a nighttime car chase, a missing gun, and a trip to an adult theater -- not necessarily in that order, of course. While it's certainly at least one layer too thick to fully grasp the first time through, The Late Show unfolds at an enjoyable clip and doesn't require your full understanding to nonetheless recognize it as a fun -- and frequently funny -- mystery that nonetheless travels down a few surprisingly dark roads along the way to its semi-circular conclusion. The chemistry between Carney and Tomlin is absolutely flawless, the script is loaded with great dialogue, and the original score by composer Kenneth Wannberg (who's better known as the long-time music editor for John Williams) supports The Late Show's atmosphere perfectly, which falls somewhere between film noir, screwball comedy, and the previous year's Taxi Driver.

Previously issued on DVD as far back as 2004 (from Warner Bros.) and again by Warner Archive in 2016, the boutique label takes a second stab at The Late Show in this nicely restored Blu-ray edition, which I suspect is going to make a lot of folks extremely happy. It looks and sounds exactly like a film from this era ought to, preserving it for long-time fans to appreciate and newcomers to discover, and is one of many titles in their May lineup worth picking up immediately.

The Late Show Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sourced from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, The Late Show looks very impressive on Blu-ray. Films from this era were known for their coarse amounts of grain and distinct color palette, which in this case balances earth tones with the bold hues of 1970s interior decorating and fashion, not to mention the priceless time capsule footage of Los Angeles streets from that time period. Fine detail is robust in ideal lighting conditions, with dimly-lit interiors and nighttime sequences flattening out considerably while still looking very true to their source. As usual, Warner Archive's meticulous manual cleanup process leaves no dirt, scratches, or other damage remaining, even though Ira and Margo visit a few pretty grungy-looking apartments, while the aforementioned grain remains fully intact and only occasionally competes with varying amounts of noise that thankfully haven't been scrubbed away.

This was likely a uniquely challenging restoration but Warner Archive's 1080p transfer once again produces an optimal end result for purists, and the whole show runs at a high and supportive bit rate on this dual-layered disc with no signs of macro blocking or other stubborn compression artifacts. In fact, the only distractions I spotted were slightly wavering levels of saturation during adjacent shots in selected scenes, rendering some more pleasingly vivid against others that seemed more muted in direct comparison. (Then again, these differences may be part of the original cinematography, which is territory Warner Archive doesn't invade.) From all other perspectives, it's terrific work and those who haven't seen the film in years -- or even decades -- will be absolutely thrilled with how great it looks now.

The Late Show Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Likewise, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix offers a fine presentation of its original mono source in a split two-channel container for wider playback The Late Show is not a sonically demanding production with largely portions dominated by one-on-one dialogue, and even the film's stray moments of action -- save for the nighttime car chase -- generally don't last more than a few seconds. Everything's rendered clearly and sounds decently rich and dynamic within era-specific expectations; this includes the memorable original score by Kenneth Wannberg, who would revert back to music editing duties for John Williams on Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind just a few short months later.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

The Late Show Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with poster-themed cover art; two vintage extras are also included.

• "Dinah!" Excerpt With Lily Tomlin (4:53) - A fun 1976 daytime TV clip featuring Lily Tomlin talking to Dinah Shore about the upcoming release of The Late Show alongside most of The Doobie Brothers.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:55) - This vintage promotional piece can also be seen here.

The Late Show Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Writer-director Robert Benton's The Late Show is a fine slice of 1970s filmmaking which the director would follow up with the even more impressive Kramer vs. Kramer after a writing detour on Superman: The Movie. There's no bitter divorce here nor is there any time travel, but this noir-tinted mystery has great dialogue and chemistry between its two perfectly cast leads, Art Carney and Lily Tomlin. Warner Archive's Blu-ray features another terrific A/V restoration and a few appreciated bonus features, making it a great choice for fans and first-timers alike. Recommended.