Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Director:

Carl Reiner

Writers:

Carl Reiner (written by) &
George Gipe (written by) ...

Release Date:

21 May 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Pastiche | Parody | Homage | Kidnapping | Murder

Cast

Steve Martin	...	Rigby Reardon
Rachel Ward	...	Juliet Forrest
Alan Ladd	...	in This Gun For Hire (archive footage)
Carl Reiner	...	Field Marshall VonKluck
Barbara Stanwyck	...	in Sorry, Wrong Number (archive footage)
Ray Milland	...	in Lost Weekend (archive footage)
Ava Gardner	...	in The Killers / The Bribe (archive footage)
Burt Lancaster	...	in The Killers (archive footage)
Humphrey Bogart	...	in The Big Sleep / In A Lonely Place / Dark Passage (archive footage)
Cary Grant	...	in Suspicion (archive footage)
Ingrid Bergman	...	in Notorious (archive footage)
Veronica Lake	...	in The Glass Key (archive footage)
Bette Davis	...	in Deception (archive footage)
Lana Turner	...	in Johnny Eager / The Postman Always Rings Twice (archive footage)
Edward Arnold	...	in Johnny Eager (archive footage)

Also Known As:

Dead Men Wear No Plaid

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/12 | USA:PG (#26624) | Iceland:12 | Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | West Germany:12 | Spain:7 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Aspen Film Society

Trivia:

The car accident at the beginning of the movie (the killing of the scientist) is taken from Keeper of the Flame (1942). That movie, however, is not listed in the credits as the source of the footage.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Juliet first sucks a bullet out of Rigby, she wipes off her lipstick first. After sucking out the bullet, she's wearing lipstick again although she never reapplied any.

Quotes:

Juliette Forrest: What does "Foc" mean?
Rigby Reardon: It's a slang word. When a man and a woman are in love, the man puts his...
Juliette Forrest: No, no. Here: "F. O. C."

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Watching the Detectives (2007)

Soundtrack:

Dead Men's Bolero

As strong as a cup of my famous java...

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...