Movie Analyst of Fletch

Chevy Chase portrays, Erwin “Fletch” Fletcher, an investigative reporter who, at the start, is determined to cover the mystery source behind the hardcore drugs that are pouring into the city of Los Angeles. While this may have been his initial intent, after a “chance” encounter with Alan Stanwyck, which does not add up, Fletch turns his sights on a new mystery. Why does Stanwyck what to be murdered? From the most minor offense of loitering (MPC 250.6)to major offenses like entrapment and kidnapping, Fletch and the cast take you through the twists and turns of this plot with a mix of police misconduct and a personal offense committed by Fletch himself, all in the pursuit of a story.

Within the first five minutes of the movie we come upon our first potential offense, loitering (MPC 250.6). Fletch, in an attempt to infiltrate the drug scene, has decided to portray himself as a junky in order to monitor the activities at the beach. Now if Fletch can provide reasonable evidence of why he is there and his presence is necessary then law enforcement would not be able to take action, however, one caveat could be that Fletch provide his real name if asked, which seems to be difficult for him based on his other antics throughout the movie.

While loitering is a minor offense, not two minutes later we encounter, Alan Stanwyck. It is at this point that Fletchs’ investigation takes a turn. Fletch is asked to return to Stanwyck’s house with the promise of $1,000 upon listening to Alan’s proposition. At Stanwyck’s house, Alan tells Fletch that he is dying of bone cancer and in an attempt not to suffer and still leave his family covered under his insurance policy, which would be null and void with suicide, he has asked Fletch to kill him. If Fletch agrees to this Alan promises him $50,000. Alan tells Fletch that the window will be open, where the gun will be keep and where he can find the keys to the car. Alan even go as far as to tell Fletch to have a pair of gloves with him and to acquire a passport because a plan ticket will be waiting for him. Both Stanwyck and Fletch would be guilty of criminal conspiracy (MPC 5.03). Criminal conspiracy is an agreement between two or more individuals to commit a crime. Stanwyck is also guilty of criminal solicitation (MPC 5.02) because he has requested that Fletch engage in a specific conduct that would constitute a crime.

In Fletch’s defense one could argue that we do not know if he has actual intent to commit the crime. Additionally, based on the fact that Fletch is an investigator is could be argued that he is only agree to get a story or that he was under duress to agree for fear of repercussions from Stanwyck. After all only a mad person would ask you to commit a murder. Fletch would not have a hard time arguing that he agree only so he could leave the house and escape a dangerous situation. While he may be innocent in this situation, Fletch commits two crimes that he would have no way of explaining.

Under MPC 221.1 and MPC 221.2 Fletch is guilty of both Criminal Trespassing and Burglary. By Fletch climbing a tree, hopping a fence and shimming down to an unlocked window he has trespassed on to private property. According to the MPC, a person commits an offense if, knowing he/she is not privileged, enters any building. Additionally, as Fletch could be charged with burglary if it could be proven that his intention was to enter a building with the purpose to commit a crime therein. This crime could be the stealing of Stanwyck’s file on land purchase. However, Fletch could argue that he was not stealing anything by taking a picture and since most land deeds are public record it might be hard to charge fletch for burglary in which case it would be plead to criminal trespassing.

The second crime that Fletch committed happened on two separate occasions, therefore Fletch could be charged with two counts of theft by deception (MPC 223.3). Fletch visited the country club, where he is not a member, in order to learn more information on the Stanwyck’s, specifically by talking to Ms. Stanwyck. On both occasions Mr. Fletcher pretends to be with Mr. Underhill for the specific purposes of charging food and drinks to his house account. Theft is the taking of another property and decapitation is with false pretenses therefore by Fletchs own admission of a relationship with Mr. Underhill he is attempting to steal food from the country club that Mr. Underhill will be responsible