Why we ought to show more love for Richard Dreyfuss

If you can somehow track down the obscure 1978 shaggy dog thriller The Big Fix, I strongly recommend it.  I was able to catch a screening of this overlooked gem and it reminded me of what a national treasure Richard Dreyfuss is. Although he is known as a veteran character actor now, for a time in the 1970s he was a major movie star.

And this film, which Inherent Vice owes a huge debt to, in many ways provides him with his quintessential role.

He plays Moses Wine, a wisecracking, pot smoking, private eye who has to think quick on his feet and unravel a labyrinthine plot. The movie, which both satirizes and pays homage to radical idealists of the 60s, is genuinely funny, fascinating and like Dreyfuss himself, surprisingly cool.

Dreyfuss is rarely thought of as a peer of Pacino, De Niro, Hoffman, Hackman and other 1970s-era movie acting giants, but his turns in the blockbusters American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and this movie are among the decade's best.

I can only assume that his later career, more comedic work in hit movies like What About Bob? have clouded people's perceptions of him as an actor. Although his Oscar nominated performance in Mr. Holland's Opus -- which I have admittedly never seen -- is supposed to be a real tearjerker.

At his best, the diminutive, motor-mouthed Dreyfuss was terrific at playing not just the smartest guy in the room, but someone who was intensely aware of that fact that he is. His unconventional looks and nasal delivery are ripe for parody, but he brings the pathos just when his performances could veer into the silly.

Yes, he always had innate comic timing -- and I love his comedies like Stakeout and Down and Out In Beverly Hills -- but The Big Fix showed other facets to his persona I had not seen before. Sadly his prodigious drug abuse during this era sidelined him from further developing that aspect of his image.

Still, I'm so grateful to have discovered The Big Fix, which should be mentioned in the same breath as another great spin on the detective genre starring an unlikely Jewish sex symbol: The Long Goodbye with Elliot Gould. Like that movie, there are bursts of shocking violence, unconventional casting choices, incredible supporting turns and an oddball mix of mirth and menace.

Dreyfuss has a great running gag throughout the film -- he wears a cast on one forearm for the entire film. Whenever anyone asks him how he injured himself he delivers an explanation tailor made to whoever he is speaking to which feels improvised (for instance, he tells some Latin America activists he broke it defending immigrants at the border).

The real reason for this bandaged arm is not revealed until the end -- but before that charming and adorable conclusion (Wine often does his investigate work with his two young sons in tow) -- the movie is a real fun ride that keeps you guessing.

Kind of like the career of Dreyfuss himself.