Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

The private eye Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) receives the visit of Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward), a client requesting his service for investigation of the death of her father in a car accident. Juliet believes he was murdered. While conducting the investigation, Rigby makes contact with Edward Arnold, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, Vincent Price, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner, in a wonderful work of edition. I do not know how many times I have watched this movie. It is the greatest homage to the classics film-noir I have ever seen. The fantastic screenplay was certainly written by an expert in film-noir. The edition and the photography are outstanding. My vote is nine. Title (Brazil): 'Cliente Morto Não Paga' ('Dead Client Doe Not Pay')

I am a big fan of both Steve Martin and Carl Reiner, but can't say too many positive things for this one. It was interesting to see how they meshed the old scenes with new ones and a couple times it actually didn't seem too forced. That's about the best I can say for them. Contrary to what I've read here, it was totally obvious when the old clips came in and went out. Yes, there were a few chuckles here and there and Rachel Ward is beautiful. Unfortunately what it accomplished was that it made me long to see one of those old classics with Bogart or Cagney again or one I hadn't seen such as the one with Vincent Price. I think as a college project it would be called creative and fun, but coming from these 2 comedy greats it was really less than what I was expecting.

You have to give Carl Reiner and Steve Martin some credit: They tried to make a "film noir" that would be funny and incorporate film clips from famous movies as though they were part of the story. Despite their best effort, this doesn't come off. The film quality is never duplicated, the doubles in the Martin scenes are unconvincing, and the hopelessly complex story is obviously designed to include names used in the old movies. Worst of all, the movie just isn't funny. Oh, there are a few good lines, but most of the humor is junior high sexual banter about "feeling up" and grabbing breasts and the like. The Nazi villains are so tediously predictable and trite that the film's conclusion just comes apart of itself. Rachel Ward is gorgeous. Martin does a competent job. But this is not a good film, in large part because it is not amusing.

Carl Reiner, the multi-talented director of this film, is the only one that could have pulled it off. Working with George Gipe, and Steve Martin in the screen play that serves as the basis of the movie, Mr. Reiner has done the impossible with "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". Of course, this film is blessed with the magnificent editing by Bud Malin, who meshed the present images against those film noir masterpieces we see, blending the characters of this movie with the stars of the past, in what seems to be a seamless product. It also helps that Miklos Rozsa was the man composing the music, as everything shows a cohesiveness that is hard to distinguished in what was shot in 1982 and the old movies. This spoof to the film noir genre is a pure delight. The main character, Rigby Reardon is the P.I. from hell, but thanks to the creators of this movie, he is perfect as the man at the center of the action. Not being a Steve Martin fan, one has to recognize that when this actor is inspired, he can do excellent work. It would appear that with a director like Carl Reiner, he would have gone off the top, but instead, Mr. Martin gives a good reading of Rigby. Rachel Ward, as the typical woman of those films, is charming. Reni Santoni, Georege Gaynes and the rest of the supporting cast do wonders under Carl Reiner's orders. The film brought back memories of those timeless masterpieces of the past and the stars that shone in them. We get to see Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergman, Vincent Price, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, Edward G. Robinson, and the others at the height of their fame playing against the present cast and making the viewer happy watching all the antics which Mr. Reiner and his team have created for our amusement. This is a funny look at the old movies!

I had to watch this a second time to appreciate it. The story is not the most impressive; but the concept is. Steve Martin plays a detective in a parody of classic film noir. The movie features actual scenes cut from several films and blended with precision. These skillful splices feature some of the great names from old time Hollywood. Names like Cagney, Douglas, Davis, Crawford and Bergman. Martin really shows his talent and ability to make a scene imitate reality. His comedic wit is sharp as a switchblade. His co-star is Rachel Ward, who can vamp or play coy with the best of them. Along with directing, Carl Reiner has a cameo part. Swift directing, with superb lighting and shading made this black and white crime comedy shine.

I enjoy classic film noir AND classic Steve Martin, so I was really looking forward to seeing "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid". Boy was I disappointed. First of all, the storyline is truly contrived. You can tell they chose the film clips first, and then wrote their story around them. Bad idea. Should've come up with a great story first, and then hunted for appropriate classic clips to augment it. Of course that would've been tougher, but I think it would've paid off, if done well. Secondly, why do so many people find this movie clever and hilarious? I found it painfully unfunny. And since when are jokes about * and dog poop, considered CLEVER? Was this film written by 13 year old boys? Or was it just written *for* them? Major miscalculation, 'cause, would horny adolescent boys be aware of/interested in a spoof of old film noir movies? Would they be able to identify the clips (which is, in theory, half the fun)? I don't think so. So who's the audience for this thing anyway?! Not me, that's for damn sure.

Rigby Reardon, private eye, runs the gauntlet of hoods, femmes fatales and crazed Nazis as he investigates the death of beautiful Juliet Forrest's father. Who are the mysterious "Friends of Carlotta"? And why does Rigby keep dressing in women's clothes? And where did Juliet learn to do that trick with her lips? This celebration of the black and white movies of the 1940's and 50's is a very clever and very amusing film. Extracts from celluloid classics are skilfully spliced into the action (check out the architectural detail on the doorframe in the Alan Ladd sequence). The film is a vehicle for Martin's comic talent and he carries it off beautifully. Rachel Ward as Juliet is terrific: she can hold her own with the screen goddesses who so liberally populate the film (Bergman, Davis, Turner and Crawford all make inserted appearances). A project like this could easily have come a cropper, but thanks to the brisk direction of Carl Reiner (who has a great cameo) and Steve Martin's ability to dominate the screen, the movie is a resounding success. It's also very funny.

I first saw this in the theater with my dad, at the age of 13, when it was first released - he was a huge fan of classic movies and usually suffered through the stuff he took me to. Not this one - we were both in hysterics, and I'd have to say I owe my huge love of classic Hollywood (and global) cinema to this film. CITIZEN KANE it may not be but no matter - I dug the humor and the atmosphere at the time, and even then was aware of how much work this must have been. I still watch this one on occasion, and it is the rare comedy that has held up very well with the passage of time - critics at the time seemed to write it off as a stunt, but I've noted that at least a little reevaluation of DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID has occurred over the years. The performances - as both a spoof and a love-letter to film noir - are top notch, with Steve Martin at his best here. The dialog gets deep into Raymond Chandler/Dashiell Hammett hard-boiled private-eye stylishness, serving up gumshoe-with-dame clichés just juiced up enough to give Steve something to run with, while still offering an a solid story. The finale is magnificent, Martin and Carl Reiner jousting their way through an avalanche of every two-bit dime-store whodunnit game-over cliché to ever grace the big screen, cheap alibis falling like drunken angels across the naked city as the big heat descends... Or - ahem -something like that...

Trailer—Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

To explain, should it be necessary, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a black and white crime thriller set in the 40s, starring Steve Martin and a host of the top noir actors and actresses of the 40s, created by taking assorted scenes from those classic movies of the past and hanging them on a framework of a newly written story centred on Martin's character. The idea is smart. The screenplay is smart in the way that it cleverly integrates the old and the new. The film is technically smart in the way it seamlessly joins footage shot in the 1980s with footage from various films shot 40 years earlier. And the performances are particularly smart in the way that they play to the knowing humour underlying the whole project which remaining true to the spirit of the originals. Oh, did I mention that it's very funny?