Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Film noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut.

Director:

Carl Reiner

Writers:

Carl Reiner, George Gipe

Stars:

Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Alan Ladd

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Martin	...	Rigby Reardon
Rachel Ward	...	Juliet Forrest
Alan Ladd	...	The Exterminator (archive footage)
Carl Reiner	...	Field Marshall VonKluck
Barbara Stanwyck	...	Leona Hastings-Forrest (archive footage)
Ray Milland	...	Sam Hastings (in 'Lost Weekend') (archive footage)
Ava Gardner	...	Kitty Collins (archive footage)
Burt Lancaster	...	Swede Anderson (archive footage)
Humphrey Bogart	...	Phillip Marlowe (archive footage)
Cary Grant	...	'Handsome' (in 'Suspicion') (archive footage)
Ingrid Bergman	...	F.X. Huberman (archive footage)
Veronica Lake	...	Monica Stillpond (archive footage)
Bette Davis	...	Doris Davermont (archive footage)
Lana Turner	...	Jimmi-Sue Altfeld (archive footage)
Edward Arnold	...	Altfeld (archive footage)

Storyline

Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are "The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta." Searching for answers, Rigby encounters assorted low-lifes: dangerous men and women who were the hallmarks of the classic detective movies of the 40's and 50's. Filming in black and white allows scenes from old movies to be cut into this film. It is through this process that Rigby's assistant is none other than Philip Marlowe himself.

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Plot Keywords:

revolver | prison | jail | conspiracy | island | 

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Taglines:

Laugh... or I'll blow your lips off!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 May 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dead Men Wear No Plaid

Filming Locations:

Pasadena, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,289,601, 23 May 1982, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$18,197,170

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aspen Film Society, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steve Martin suggested using footage of William Hartnell, Red Skelton, Jerry Lewis, Jack Benny, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. But Carl Reiner refused, because he felt it would be funnier if they used footage of actors who spent their careers mostly away from comedies.

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Goofs

When Rigby is sitting in a chair with a drink while talking with Huberman (Ingrid Bergman)the film was reversed during editing resulting in Rigby appearing as a mirror image. Specifically, holding the glass in his right hand with his breast pocket and pocket square appearing on the right hand side of his suit, instead of the correct, left side. Between cuts, the image reverts to normal.

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Quotes

Rigby Reardon: [voice-over] Was she real? There was only one way to find out. But I remembered Marlowe's words.
Rigby Reardon: [a picture frame on the wall reads "Don't Fall in Love with a Client. Marlowe"] What the hell does Marlowe know?
Rigby Reardon: [voice-over] She was real, all right.
Juliet Forrest: What are you doing?
Rigby Reardon: Adjusting your breasts. You fainted and they... shifted all outta whack. There.
Juliet Forrest: Thank you.
Rigby Reardon: You're welcome.

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Crazy Credits

There is a spelling mistake with the Composer. In the credits at the beginning he is spelled: Miklos Rosza. In the credits after the end he is spelled correct: Miklos Rozsa.

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Connections

Edited from The Lost Weekend (1945)

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Soundtracks

Dead Men's Bolero
Music by Miklós Rózsa
Lyrics by Steve Goodman

User Reviews

Mostly fun, but loses its way a bit

DMDWP is a black and white film noir comedy that uses footage from real film noirs from the 40s and 50s and inter cuts them with the plot to make it appears that Steve Martin is really talking to/acting with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, James Cagney etc. The effect is almost seamless but for a movie made in 1982 it's quite impressive.

Martin plays the wonderfully named Rigby Reardon, a typical, gritty private eye who narrates the story with sarcastic observation and gets involved in the usual femme fatal plot and a conspiracy surround the death of a cheese maker. Yes, it's nonsense, and towards the end it becomes a bit hard to follow and the silliness gets out of control. But it's all played straight and for most of the film you could believe you were actually watching a classic film noir.

Steve Martin should have done more of these movies. Rigby Reardon was a great character and could have lasted for a few more movies. The humor is frequently hilarious and he certainly retains a lot of the integrity he has lost in recent years since he went the way of Eddie Murphy and sold himself out to family audiences. Either way, I say you should give this movie a go if you're a fan of his older work.

The DVD is sadly in non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 2.0 surround. It still looks quite good for a black and white film and the sound has that limited sound space effect to it to make it fit in with the older footage. A Dolby 5.1 remix would have been totally unnecessary. Some boring extras (trailer, cast bios) are included.