Genres

Visitors Review

loufalce 2013-05-03 15:26:08

Don't watch it if you hate Film Noir

A one joke movie- but its a great joke.1940s gumshoe RigbyReardon{Steve Martin} gets a visit by sultry client Rachel Ward whosefather has gone missing. Then the fun begins.Set in and around 40s LA,this film combines Martin interacting with clips of characters andscenes from classic 40s noir.He gets advice from Marlowe- the actualclip of Bogart is shown and flawlessly inserted into the film. Alongthe way, he gets to interact with Alan Ladd{This Gun For Hire}, BarbaraStanwick and Fred Mac Murray{from Double Indemnity}, BurtLancaster{from The Killers}, Cagney {The prison scene from White Heat}Cary Grant {from Suspicion} Edward Arnold, Bette Davis, CharlesLaughton, etc. This film works like a charm because it parodies thenoir that it spoofs in a lovable and respectable way. It is never heldup to ridicule. The beautiful black and white photography and costumedesigns by the late great Edith Head all work as one.The ending is ariot! If director Reiner playing a Nazi with a bogus German accentdoesn't make you laugh, hothing will. Its all there- the seedy office,the rainy nights, the 40s cars, and the typical noir jargon that madethese films great. Ir will probably appeal more to film buffs than theaverage viewer, but thats OK. Martin has never been better- and RachelWard is a knockout too.Great fun!

2013-05-03 01:49:35

Imaginative Film Noir Spoof

Carl Reiner earned his spurs as a comedian and comedy writer for the great sketch comedy giant Sid Caesar in the early days of television. He turned his genius loose in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" by not only writing and directing, but also portraying the film's villain.Steve Martin is hilarious in deadpanning macho film noir lines in this spoof of the genre. The ingenious part of the film resides in the way that Reiner has taken key scenes of film noir classics and used the famous personalities and dialogue to serve this film's ends. Humphrey Bogart is used in his Philip Marlowe character, but the two hilarious scenes involving him stemmed from the 1950 Nicholas Ray classic about Hollywood, "In a Lonely Place," in which the famous actor played a screenwriter with a strong penchant for violence. After Steve Martin has dressed in drag as a sexy blonde to trap Fred MacMurray in his Walter Neff role from "Double Indemnity" an angry Bogart almost strangles him. This was the scene where he almost strangled Gloria Grahame in "In a Lonely Place." Eventually Martin fires Bogart's Marlowe character, telling him he is past his prime as a detective. Bogart stalks off dejectedly toward the courtyard of the apartment complex where he and Grahame live, a classic scene from the same film. With the Reiner script insertions for Martin's role it all plays hilariously.Rachel Ward is the sexy beauty that hires Martin to solve the murder of her father. The trail eventually ends with Carl Reiner. The veteran comedian plays the role of the Nazi officer in a convincing manner with proper comedic gusto.

2013-05-02 01:58:39

Underrated Masterpiece

Amazing movie. It's an incredible achievement, perhaps one of a kind. It's half-comedy, half film noir. What Carl Reiner and Steve Martin did, they took clips from twenty disparate films from the noir period, 1941-1950. Using those clips, the filmmakers then crafted their screenplay, uniting all those individual scenes into one seamless movie. It had to be a painstaking process. If one actor from a movie in 1944 says the wrong word, you're s.o.l. You have to find another scene, perhaps another movie. And of course it's not enough to succeed in crafting a coherent screenplay from these old reels. You have to make it funny. And on top of all this, the filmmakers then added some original dialog that is not only funny, but also works as homages to great lines from the past.To give just one example, Johnny Eager is a movie from 1941 about a District Attorney's daughter who has a romance with a gangster. Here's the clip of the D.A. warning off the gangster: "Don't go near my daughter again. Don't try to see her. Don't write her and don't phone her."Reiner takes this clip and then seamlessly edits in a shot of Martin's response: "Can I use her underwear to make soup?"For any film buff who enjoys movies, this is cool stuff. It's almost like Martin and Reiner are playing jazz, as they riff off the old line and give it a fresh meaning. It's a send-up and a loving homage, all at once.Sometimes the filmmakers don't use actual clips. For example, in To Have and Have Not, Lauren Bacall says, "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."This scene isn't used, but certainly Reiner and Martin had it in mind when Rachel Ward says: "If you need me, Rigby, just call. You know how to dial, don't you? You just put your finger in the hole and make tiny little circles." You have to love a dirty line that is so clean and PG. And of course when you're aware of the original line, you have to appreciate the wit even more.I also enjoyed watching Martin in a wig, disguised as Barbara Stanwyck. She's in a movie from 1944 (Double Indemnity). Watch the seamless editing, as we cut from Barbara Stanwyck passionately kissing Fred MacMurray, to Martin-in-a-wig, who's clearly appalled that Fred just had his tongue in his mouth.If you think Steve Martin is funny, or you enjoy film noir, or both, you absolutely have to see this movie. You see all that dedication on the screen, from Edith Head's wonderful costumes, to the black and white cinematography, to Reiner's classic turn as zee bad guy. An underrated masterpiece.My Absolutely Insane Attempt To Rank All Cinema

Hal-900 2013-05-01 10:30:31

An Amusing - One-Joke - Film That Doesn't Work

"Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" is not very effective, but I did admire thefilm's attempts at trying to do something that I don't think could everwork as a feature film. It is a one-joke film; the kind of gimmick thatis amusing for about 30 minutes, but wears thin quickly. The story hasSteve Martin interacting with old film clips as he tries to solve acomplicated murder-mystery. The film's plot is charmingly confusing thesame way Hawks' 1946 movie "The Big Sleep" is, which I thought was anice touch. Unfortunately, director Reiner has a technical problem thathe simply cannot hide. The old footage is in much need of restoration,making the interaction between Martin and the old clips less credible –the transition between new photography and old footage feels veryawkward. Michael Chapman's ultra sharp cinematography does not helpeither. Still, one has to praise Martin, Reiner and Co. for thisvaliant try, but seriously, this thing simply doesn't work. Film noirfans should see this movie at least once, though.

2013-04-21 03:08:36

Classic Film Noir with a Twist

This review is from: Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (Amazon Instant Video) In Steve Martin's usual style he honors the idea of Film Noir with a zany comedic twist. With a bizarre premise, the story of Digby Reardon is deftly woven together with clips from classic films of the 1930s to create a cohesive story with favorite stars of the past.

randyhndrsn 2013-04-20 09:13:44

Hilarious movie.

This movie is very funny and well written, it is another classic comedyby the great Steve martin and excellent Carl reiner.The night i firstwatched this movie, my dad had told me he thought it was very funny andsaid id like it.Well because i have a good sense of humor, i just lovedthis movie for all the comedy it had in it.I think it is great how theytake the old detective type movies and make it into this comedy, what aexcellent idea to have Steve martin in it.I love movies and comedy isone of my favorite type of movies to watch, dead men don't wear plaidis one of the best out there.If you want to watch a good comedy orwanna watch a pretty well done movie, then i say watch dead men don'twear plaid and have a good time.

Dalbert Pringle 2013-04-18 17:12:49

A Word Of Advice - Never Fall In Love With Your Client

Favorite Movie Quote - "I'm re-adjusting your breasts. When you faintedthey shifted out of whack. And, so, I was just re-aligning them foryou." I'd easily say that this picture has got to be one of the best and mostentertaining parodies of the 1940s Film Noir/Detective genre that I'veever seen.This film really delivers some great laughs.Filmed in glossy black and white, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ingeniouslyweaves its plot and production design around numerous movies clips fromsuch golden-oldie classics as This Gun For Hire, Double Indemnity,Notorious, The Big Sleep - To name but a few.Steve Martin plays Rigby Reardon, a $10-a-day gumshoe (working in LosAngeles) who is hired to solve a truly incomprehensible mystery thatinvolves the apparent death of brilliant scientist, Dr. Forest.Reardon immediately smells a rat as he sets out to follow a complexmaze of clues that eventually lead him to the "Carlotta Lists" offriends and enemies.Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was directed by Carl Reiner and stars thegorgeous screen-siren, Rachel Ward. (Whatever became of thehusky-voiced beauty, anyways?)

blanche-2 2013-04-18 05:13:47

For classic film buffs

Steve Martin is a Sam Spade-type detective who takes a case for abeautiful woman (Rachel Ward) in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Like the1983 "Zelig," the film deftly mixes actual old clips in with thestoryline very cleverly. In this case, the clips are all from old blackand white movies featuring some of our biggest and most beloved stars:Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman, BetteDavis, Alan Ladd, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Ray Milland, andothers, all of whom have roles opposite Martin with the help ofintercuts and some great editing.Besides these costars, Martin has one from the '80s, Rachel Ward, whofits in beautifully with the past goddesses. Martin is hilarious as PIRigby Reardon. Of course, in order for some of these clips to work, hisdialogue had to make sense as well, which makes it even more fun. Ithink the scene visiting Jimmy Cagney in prison is still my favorite,along with his impersonation of a beautiful blond in a grocery store(the scene from Double Indemnity). We always see Martin from the backand then it cuts to his costar. Edith Head's recreation of the costumesis mind-boggling, and there is a lovely tribute to her at the end ofthe film, as this was her last.This film is very entertaining, though it has no real story and thegimmick wears thin toward the end. It's still a lot of fun and franklybetter than Martin's latest recreations of light '60s movies - thoughyou can see he had remakes in mind even back then.

2013-04-16 04:23:52

overlooked gem

this is one of the greatest spoofs ever put to film.it is in the same vain as Young Frankenstein,and is equally good.but this film has something that young frankenstein doesn't have,brilliantly edited in stars from the past.this is probably the best film steve martin has ever done.the movie is also hilarious thanks to the great minds at work,martin and reiner.everything about this film is superb,from the recreation of 40's film noir music,sets,dialogue,acting,and costume design,in which was done by edith head who died shortly after films completion,making this her last film.if you're a fan of 40's film noir than this should definitely be something of a treasure.but what makes this so great is that you don't even have to be a film noir fan to appreciate this.amazing how they edited in scenes of stars from various film clips and used them to develop this story,which may be ridiculous but than noone should expect anything less from martin.of course the academy overlooked this film and what a disgrace that is.in the future the oscars should have some time dedicated to their mistakes,as they do with their lifetime achievement awards for those who they never gave an oscar to,giving awards to those who they overlooked.this should definitely be one of those examples.great film.

OGRE 2013-04-15 10:53:08

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

What a movie, Steve Martin at his best. Yes, it's pretty silly, but then this IS a spoof of the Grade B detective film of the black & white film noire genre. Who'd have ever thought that I would get to see a movie with Veronica Lake ( what a babe). Rachel Ward plays a great "dame in distress". Not enough of Bogart, though.

Michael Coy 2013-04-12 13:16:37

Steve Martin's Affectionate Parody of 1940's Thrillers

Rigby Reardon, private eye, runs the gauntlet of hoods, femmes fatalesand crazed Nazis as he investigates the death of beautiful Juliet Forrest'sfather. Who are the mysterious "Friends of Carlotta"? And why does Rigbykeep dressing in women's clothes? And where did Juliet learn to do thattrick with her lips?This celebration of the black and white movies of the 1940's and 50'sis a very clever and very amusing film. Extracts from celluloid classicsare skilfully spliced into the action (check out the architectural detail onthe doorframe in the Alan Ladd sequence).The film is a vehicle for Martin's comic talent and he carries it offbeautifully. Rachel Ward as Juliet is terrific: she can hold her own withthe 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 thebrisk direction of Carl Reiner (who has a great cameo) and Steve Martin'sability to dominate the screen, the movie is a resounding success. It'salso very funny.

DarkVulcan29 2013-04-12 12:58:10

The people that brought you The Jerk(1979), try to make it up to you.

The funny teaming of Carl Reiner and Steve Martin after The Jerk(1979),brought you a funny send up of private eye films of the 1940's, butinstead of it being just a simple spoof, the filmmakers went further,on having old film footage of great actors like Bette Davis, BarbaraStanwyck, Alan Ladd, and Humphrey Bogart for Steve Martin to play offof. The results is a funny mystery, I like the way it was in black andwhite, it blends in well with the old footage. It begins with detectiveRigby Reardon(The always funny Steve Martin), is hired by JulietForrest(The gorgeous and talented Rachel Ward) to solve the mysteriousdeath of her father, Reardon starts to investigate, but will he getinto deep? A classic comedy for years to enjoy, Steve Martin and theold film footage blends in well together, it almost looks real. SteveMartin is funny, even when moments he's not trying to hard to be funny,he's even funnier. So is Rachel Ward, she's enjoyable to watch, evenwhen she plays off Martin So We'll. If you are in the mood for a comedyclassic with Steve Martin, then go out and rent Dead Men Don't WearPlaid.

2013-03-31 10:29:07

A simple plot with sublime execution

Steve Martin stars in this satire of 1940's film noir detective stories. The plot is simple, but the execution is sublime. Steve Martin's character is hired by a beautiful and mysterious woman who thinks that the death of her famous scientist father was no accident, despite what the police and newspapers are reporting. The movie is filmed in black & white and employs creative editing to splice in scenes of the great actors of the Golden Age: James Cagney, Veronica Lake, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Laughton, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Barbara Stanwyck, Betty Davis and more.The action teeters between melodramatic and pure slapstick, with sharp dialog. The photography is stunning, and I remember being amazed at the glow in the actors eyes', even with black & white film. Costuming was done by Edith Head, the winner of more Oscars than any other woman. Head was the perfect choice to match the modern actors costumes to those in the classic film footage.

2013-03-30 16:43:18

the people who brought you THE JERK try to make it up to you...

that line from the trailer is a surprisingly insightful comment on the matter. much as i've always loved Steve Martin - what DVD collection is complete without THREE AMIGOS!, ROXANNE, PLAINS TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, or FATHER OF THE BRIDE? - i ultmately have about as much affection for THE JERK as i have for Adolf Hitler. i just didn't find it all that amusing. it was so unbearable for me, in fact, that i might very well of favored crucifiction for Steve Martin, were i not already a fan.and more to the point, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID does indeed make up for it's ancestor. of course it doesn't hurt that i was an old movie buff as well.Martin, who co-wrote the script with director/co-star Carl Reiner, is virtually faultless in the role of cookie-cutter film noir private eye Rigby Reardon. the basic but irrestisible gimmick is that Reardon gets to intereact with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Ingrid Bergman, Alan Ladd, Cary Grant, Ava Gardner, Kirk Douglas, Fred MacMurray, Vincent Price, Veronica Lake, and Charles Laughton via clever editting. what's more, DEAD MEN did so a good 12 years before one of the most overrated films of all time, that melodramatic Gomer Pyle FORREST GUMP, took home one of it's many erroneous Oscars for supposedly inventing the technique (if not the idea)!the hilarity is potent and consistent, and the story is just strong enough to of been a straight film noir plot of the time. this is a particularly pleasant surprise, given the slapdash way the story would've had to be cobbled together to accomodate the already released footage it borrows.for my money, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID is the absolute pinnacle of Steve Martin's career in front of the camera. but alas, it remains just about the most underrated movie ever made. (only "just about" because such other films i've reviewed as THE SEVEN-PER-CENT SOLUTION and THE SHADOW are also vying for the title.) fortunately though, it's just appreciated enough to be readily available on DVD for you to experience (wink, wink).

2013-03-27 20:12:30

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

My five stars for Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid are primarily for Miklos Rozsa's beautiful and serious musical score, which stands alone by itself.

Magenta_Bob 2013-03-26 22:08:50

Carlotta was the kind of town where they spell trouble T-R-U-B-I-L, and if you try to correct them, they kill you

Carl Reiner's collage film homage and/or parody to 1940s film noirs andthrillers is unusually funny and a clever example of placing moviescenes in a new context as a means for comedy. I'm not sure if youactually need to be familiar with the noirs that the film borrows from,but having only seen one (the excellent Notorious) of the nineteenfilms from which scenes are lifted, I didn't get much enjoyment throughrecognition.I used to think that the film would have been successful even withoutthe recycling of old material, but it struck me this time that thatwould wipe out the entire movie. Nevertheless, the funniest part isSteve Martin's deadpan narration that helps framing the clips. The onlything that I don't think is very funny is the recurring cleaning womangag, but that still makes for a very high success rate.

2013-03-24 19:02:02

A clever idea that works hilariously

Crazyman Steve Martin's spoof of the private eye and film noir genres of the 1940s. Martin plays a 1940s detective tracking down some killers, and his scenes are interspliced with clips from famous movies of the same time period (WHITE HEAT, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE BRIBE, LOST WEEKEND, to name a few). It's pretty much a singe idea sketched out into a full-length movie, so we laugh at the same joke over and over - but the joke is a funny one. The original dialogue is also very funny. The blending of old movies into the Martin scenes works brilliantly, as does the b&w photography. The plot with Martin chasing the killers is pretty shallow, but that doesn't really matter at all. It's what else is going on that we pay attention to and laugh over anyway. Great fun to watch.

2013-03-24 10:32:32

I'm German and I love this movie.

This is one of Steve Martin's best. But only good in english. END

kayaker36 2013-03-22 01:49:09

Clever Movie Making, In Many Ways

When you think of it, this is a very inexpensive way to produce amovie. Imagine what it would have cost to hire **real** actors for allthose scenes lifted from the old detective pictures. This movieactually has a quite small cast, with one of the parts played bywriter/director Carl Reiner--more money saved! The marvelously talentedReni Santoni, who portrays a South American policeman to hilariouseffect, is a Reiner favorite. Santoni actually played a character basedon the young Carl Reiner in the semi-autobiographical "Enter Laughing"fifteen years earlier.There is much clever writing here and Steve Martin's deadpan style ofcomedy is right on the money. As this is satire, not drama, the virtualabsence of plot isn't a major flaw. Likewise the limited acting skillsof Rachel Ward who only has to do sexy.

ShootingShark 2013-03-21 09:24:32

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To

Rigby Reardon, a private detective, is hired by the glamorous JulietForrest to investigate the tragic death of her father. Piecing togetherthe clues from a myriad of desperate characters, the trail leads to themysterious South American island of Carlotta, where a dastardly schemefor world domination is about to be launched.This is a peach of an idea for a comedy; take a bunch of unrelatedscenes from some great old forties movies, and weave them togetherusing a harebrained plot and some new material. Thus we have Martinmixing it up with a veritable who's-who of hardboiled black-and-whitecrime pictures; Edward Arnold, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, JamesCagney, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, CaryGrant, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake (my personal favourite forties dame),Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton, Fred McMurray, Ray Milland, VincentPrice, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner. Whilst there is the occasionalcomposite shot (Martin shares a train-compartment with Grant fromSuspicion), the trick is mostly done with doubles, careful matching ofsets and wardrobe and clever use of props (a teacup from The LostWeekend, the key Bergman steals in Notorious, etc). The effect ischarming and if you allow yourself to be seduced by the goofy story -which involves Nazis using cheese to melt America - you do genuinelystart to forget that the magic of editing is at work. It cheats alittle towards the end by pretty much substituting Martin for RobertTaylor in the 1949 flick The Bribe, but the contemporary scenes arebeautifully stylised (rich black-and-white, lots of hats,poor-man's-process driving shots, etc) and the script comes up withsome pretty good film noir dialogue of its own ("I planned to kiss herwith every lip on my body."). Just for extra credibility, it hasterrific music by the veteran composer Miklos Rozsa, who scored atleast three of the old movies featured. Written by Reiner, Martin (whodoes some great sleight-of-hand tricks) and George Gipe, and dedicatedto the legendary costume designer Edith Head, whose last film this was.And remember - cleaning woman !!