Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Rating:
Summary: The Best Plaid Plans
Review: The novelty of incorporatiting film clips from classic gangster and noir movies with a cast of crazy characters was a fresh idea when Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was released in 1982. Now as CGI technology leaps ever forward, what made for a fun film at first, seems suprisingly dated. But the movie's real problems don't lie in its execution...

Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is the private eye of private eyes. He's tough, rough and ready to take on anything when Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) appears on the scene with a case: her father, a noted scientist, philanthropist and chesemaker, has died mysteriously. Reardon immediately smells a rat and follows a complex maze of clues that lead him to the "Carlotta Lists."

Directed by Carl Reiner, from a script he wrote with George Gipe and star Steve Martin, the film does a masterful job at having Rigby interact within the scenes used from The Killers, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, White Heat, This Gun for Hire, Sorry, Wrong Number, and Notorious. The problem here is that as clever as those sequences may be, the rest of the film is not nearly as much fun or funny. By the halfway mark, I was just looking for more of the integration stuff, rather than following the plot. While I have great respect for Reiner, he did after all create The Dick Van Dyke Show, I don't know why he had to play two roles in the film. Surely someone else could have done one of them. Having him play Juliet's Butler and Field Marshall Wilfred von Kluck seemed overdone.

The DVD extras are quite slim. The theatrical trailer, filmographies, talent bios, a few production notes, and web links are all you get. I had problems with the movie, to be sure, but I still wanted to know more about how they did it.

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a great idea--with problems not related to the technical challenges posed by the film.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome for any film noir lover!
Review: This film creatively integrates clips from great old films like "The Killers" with Burt Lancaster, and "Sorry, Wrong Number" with Barbara Stanwyck.

Steve Martin is great in an early 1982 performance. He steals the show. If you feel like watching something sort of goofy, then go for this one.

Rating:
Summary: One of Steve Martin's best!
Review: This film would make a great gift for older parents. The movie includes many of the great actors and actresses of the 40's and 50's. Seeing them pop up in one scene after another brings the comments of "do you remember her(him), who is that?, oh my that is Ingrid Bergman, look how young she looks, etc. I know my mom would love it and so would others of her generation.

Rating:
Summary: I'm German and I love this movie.
Review: This is one of Steve Martin's best. But only good in english. END

Rating:
Summary: A comedy film noir of many film noirs.
Review: Universal Pictures presents a Carl Reiner film, directed by Carl Reiner. This is a good comedy film noir. It's a film noir of many film noirs. The gimmick in this 1982 black & white film is many clips are used from other black & white films of the 1940's you may have seen. Many stars you will recognize. This is a fun film to watch. Film stars Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Carl Reiner and Reni Santoni. DVD contains production notes of how the film came to be, a filmography of other films the cast has been in and the Theatrical Trailer.

Rating:
Summary: A great concept, but the rest of the film can't compete
Review: When Steve Martin schmoozes with the great stars in the great film noirs, this movie is wonderfully entertaining. You get to watch Steve interview Jimmy Cagney in prison (WHITE HEAT), make out with Fred McMurray (DOUBLE INDEMNITY), suffer through Bette Davis' stale toast (DECEPTION), and give Edward Arnold a puppy (JOHNNY EAGER). If you have knowledge of these old films, it's even funnier. But away from these little miracles of editing the movie tends to drag and Martin's humor is sometimes a bit off and inappropriate for a noir parody. Still, if you haven't seen it, you need to check it out.

Rating:
Summary: wickedly funny noir tribute & send-up.
Review: Whether you're a Steve Martin fan or a noir fanantic, this comedy is worth a look. Hard-boiled p.i. Martin helps the required beautiful heiress find lost mad-scientist dad, foils nazis, finds true love & interacts with most of hollywood's noir greats via interspersed clips of old movies.