Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is the perfect introduction to actor/writer/director/producer extraordinaire Carl Reiner. I had never before seen anything Reiner had acted in or directed, so his 1982 feature was a brilliant introduction. The comedy starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, and several famous faces from 1940's film noirs was a brilliant homage/parody of the detective film genre. A detective trying to solve his current case with the help of many top-notch detectives from yesteryear intercut into this black and white film is a treat for audiences everywhere.Juliet Forrest (Rachel Wood) is convinced that her father's death from an apparent vehicle crash was no accident. To prove her theory that her father was murdered, she enlists the help of a detective Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin). Reardon, however, is not the private eye Juliet thinks he is. He is unable to solve the case alone and enlists the help of his many famous friends. Mostly aided and mentored by Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) himself, Reardon begins to piece together the many pieces of the puzzle while winding through 19 well-known films from the golden age of Hollywood. With the help of his mentor and many sidekicks, Reardon is able to uncover the sinister plot involving a member of the nazi party, Field Marshall VonKluck (Carl Reiner).Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was my first go with Carl Reiner, and I could not have been more pleased with the outcome. I am attempting to become more familiar with the spoof genre, and this film is a notable entry on many "best of" spoof lists. It was great to see the legendary Edith Head's name in the opening credits; it was then, in fact, that I knew this film was going to be a great time of visiting many of the film noir films that I love so much. It was wonderful to see this film dedicated to Edith and her memory, as well as the many others who have worked on classic cinema of the 40's and 50's, considering this would turn out to be Head's final film. The notion to intercut the scenes with classic scenes from noir films was comedic brilliance. It became a game to see how Reardon would make the scenes work within the context of his case, leaving the audience fully engaged throughout the entire film. Anytime you see a clip of one of your all-time favorite, and oft forgotten about films (The Lost Weekend) in a contemporary film, it is sure to bring some personal joy. Steve Martin was perfectly cast in the role of the bumbling, light-hearted yet well-meaning and determined detective. A laugh a minute, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is one of those difficult to achieve comedies that one is able to watch again and again and still find extremely funny. What I wouldn't give for a cup of Reardon's famous java!

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)I'm a film noir buff. Fanatic. Devotee. So I really loved how this movie was made--not what happens in it, but the main trick of inserting real film noir clips with new footage starring Steve Martin. When it first happens (with Alan Ladd) it's like, what? Is this for real? And then it keeps happening, usually with easy cuts where the original noir shows someone on the phone and it can cut to Martin talking on the phone, or with two people on each side of a room or a door, the camera changing positions and allowing the cuts from one world to the other. In a few special cases they get fancier, like the Cary Grant insert--you'll have to see about that. (I just corrected the wikipedia page on this note.)I also think the director (and co-writer) Rob Reiner makes the new footage (which is 90 percent of the movie) take on an authentic black and white feel--heavy shadows, moving camera, and so on. Martin of course is a somewhat comic version of a film noir hero or anti-hero (this movie is a spoof overall) but he's got more presence than you might expect. It's smart and respectful and well done.What it lacks is a genuine plot. The many various clips require such somersaulting to work them into the script, any hope of an overarching drama is dashed. I found myself watching just to watch, and to wonder who would get included next. Martin's sidekick played by Rachel Ward is a bit drab, too, if pretty (she was a model) and is for some reason very English, a big monkeywrench in the film noir universe. Steve Martin deserves some admiration for pulling this off. There is not only a filming continuity needed but one of acting and delivery, which he masters. Now if only he and Reiner had a plot to carry the thing through as a movie, and not just a big, sophisticated, beautiful gag.

This is one that every fan of films noir has to see. It's a parody of the genre, in which Steve Martin plays a private eye and Rachel Ward his sexy client. Ward wants Martin to find out who killed her father. To do so, Martin must track down the list of names that is the only clue. So he meanders through an impossibly complicated plot and runs into numerous odd and dangerous people, just as in one of the originals.The people he meets and the situations in which Martin finds himself are represented by clips taken from noirs and semi-noirs, well known and some less well known. In his first encounter, for instance, there is a knock on his office door. "It's open," calls Martin. And it's Allan Ladd from "This Gun For Hire," in fedora and trench coat. Martin invites him to sit down. We see Ladd take a seat. "Have a cookie," suggests Martin, and Ladd picks up a cookie from the end table and munches it wordlessly. Then Ladd suddenly draws his automatic from a briefcase, Martin dashes into the next room and slams the door behind him, and Ladd shoots a hole through the door, then leaves.The other faux encounters are a little more complicated and require skillful integration into the nonsensical plot because the rest of the original actors have lines. Martin's behavior and dialog have to be suited to theirs. Thus, when Edward Arnold, out of "Johnny Eager", angrily orders Martin to "Pick that up!", Martin must have brought Arnold a puppy which has done it's business on the carpet. "But," Martin protests, "it's all wet and steamy." "PICK THAT UP!" It's like one of those all-star movies that were popular some years ago, rather on the order of "Around the World in Eighty Days," in which you wait for the next appearance of a genuine, historical noir figure and thrill quietly when it comes.The problem is that integrating clips from old noirs with a superimposed parody is that it's tough work making them funny in and of themselves. And so the encounters between Martin and Kirk Douglas and the rest aren't really very funny. The thrills are effective and short, and that's about it. The framing story has its moments but it's a long wait between funny lines and silly Three Stooges assaults.It's fine, seeing it once, but after that -- well, the thrill is gone.

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?