The Late Show is a 1977 neonoir, mystery film written and directed by Robert Benton and produced by Robert Altman. It stars Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche, and Joanna Cassidy.
A financially strained, aging Los Angeles private detective named Ira Wells isnt a well man and is barely active in the business. He is a loner who doesnt much care for company or small talk. When his expartner Harry Regan, however, shows up at Iras boarding house one night mortally wounded while on a case, Ira feels its up to him to get to the bottom of it.The trail leads Ira to a smalltime fence named Birdwell, whose young bodyguard Lamar is only too happy to rough up the old man when Ira pays a call. But they make a mistake in intimidating and underestimating Ira, who ends up paying Lamar back in kind as well as tracking down Birdwells missing wife. ........
Source: Wikipedia