They Might Be Giants is a 1971 American comedy mystery film based on the 1961 play of the same name (both written by James Goldman) starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward.

[2] Justin Playfair is an eminent judge who retreats into fantasy after his wife's death, imagining himself to be Sherlock Holmes, the legendary fictional detective.

Complete with deerstalker hat, pipe and violin, he spends his days in a homemade criminal laboratory obsessing over plots hatched by his (Holmes's) archenemy, Professor Moriarty, and pursuing clues throughout the city.

She insists on doing a proper interview and is immediately fascinated by Justin, who demonstrates a knack for what Holmes describes as "deduction" (technically better categorized as abductive reasoning) as well as for hand-to-hand combat.

“I am not that man,” he declares, and tests his logic on her with a scathing analysis of her lonely life, down to the fact that her suit is 10 years old.

They begin an enigmatic quest for Moriarty,  following all manner of bizarre and (to Watson) unintelligible clues and encountering a rich tapestry of people in assorted urban situations.

I like you very much.” At an abandoned building, they find an older couple who retired from the world in 1939 to grow magnificent topiaries.

Watson is wearing a white organdy dress with short puff sleeves and a pink satin sash.

Wilbur and the other fascinating people they met earlier join in a brisk parade past New York City landmarks.

The title is an indirect reference to Don Quixote's famous exploit of tilting at windmills, believing them to be "monstrous giants".

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "a mushy movie with occasional, isolated moments of legitimate comedy.

The largest missing material is a long sequence near the end that takes place in a grocery store.

[6] Several months before the opening of the film, Lancer Books published James Goldman's screenplay as a tie-in mass market paperback, profusely illustrated with black and white movie stills.