Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. anything, e.g. a film or play, produced on a low budget; also adj.

1937		J.M. Cain Serenade (1985) 164: Either this is a little epic all by itself, or it’s a goddam cheapie not worth hell room.
1944		R.L. Bellem ‘Focus on Death’ Hollywood Detective Jan. 🌐 Then he sells the action to a cheapie firm [...] before my own production is even ready for cutting,.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 60: Wild Guitar (1962): Very funny super-cheapie wild youth movie.

2. anything or anyone of little value or poor quality.

[1905		J. Wright EDD I 571/2: Cheapy, sb. and adj: Yks. [...] A present; a second-hand article].
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 65: Know who I am, cheapie?
1973		G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 3: It’s [i.e. an alarm] a cheapie.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 187: Some claimed more sophisticated tastes in liquor and wanted nothing to do with the real cheapies.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] ‘It’s [i.e. a piece of jewelry] just a cheapie,’ said McCormack.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 85: Babs is turning cheap tricks out of Stan’s Drive-In.

3. (orig. US) a mean person.

1978

S. Longstreet Straw Boss (1979) 226: Some tin-horn cheapy [...] got gunned down.