Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Good concept, poorly executed.

As Good As It Gets

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Film noir parody with a detective (Steve Martin) uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut.This film seems to be best enjoyed by those who love film noir. I do not necessarily think that is a prerequisite, but if you are familiar with the older actors and the films that are mixed in here, you will probably get a little more out of it. (And, heck, if you have not seen these, I strongly recommend you rectify that.) I have a love-hate relationship with Steve Martin. Some of his stuff I think is genius and others I am left unfulfilled. Many people think "The Jerk" is among the greatest comedies of all time. I liked it, but have no desire to push it on others. This one I liked much more.

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.

Ooh deary me. Either I forgot or didn't realize Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid took basically three main actors and spliced them into decades old films. (I did eventually, roughly one third of the way in, but I'll get to that later.) This Steve Martin feature escaped me for years until a close friend recommended it to me. I'm not the biggest Martin fan – I can only name three I especially liked, Roxanne, All of Me and (guilty pleasure) Housesitter – so I was in no hurry to watch this. And as much as my friend and I agree on 90% of movies, some we don't. So, it was no 100% guarantee I would like this.Well, just to sum it all up, that 90% statistic turned to 95% of our movie compatibility. I was laughing throughout this movie, way after and when I woke the next morning, more scenes floated in my head and I found myself laughing some more.Private detective Rigby Reardon (Martin) is so stereotypically almost flat broke and down on his luck when "doll face" Julie Forrest (Ward) shows up at his office door with an assignment for Rigby to investigate her father's murder. (Yeah, I say stereotypically but not in a bad way as that's the premise/spoof of this movie – either mocking or playing homage to film noir of half a century earlier.) Slapstick immediate surfaces and he takes the case on, meeting dozens of individuals (from a grand multitude of black & white features) who advance the case/story so he can get to the bottom of the murder.Seriously, as a joy this was to watch – my first time of many guaranteed viewings – I don't want to give away any more. Each scene opened up more laughs for me. And it's one of those rare, VERY RARE films that starts off slow, mediocre even, and gets progressively BETTER.One of the biggest complaints I have with a lot of films is the fact the director and/or writer is so incredibly preoccupied on making a movie based solely on one HUGE SECRET or TWIST that they simply forget to make a movie that happens to have a twist. M. Night Shyamalan films fit perfectly into my argument – but more recently, A Perfect Getaway. The worst part of those films is if you happen to figure out the "secret twisted" climax in the first few minutes (or someone spoiled it for you), you're literally sitting there for two hours where they try and confuse you and throw obvious clues your way. And you never actually get a well made movie – just a bunch of misdirection so you'll be so-called blown away at the end.Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid didn't do this. They played homage to anyone who is in LOVE with those 1930-1940s classics and grand stars (my personal favorite of the group was Grant and Davis) and used wonderful splicing new and old techniques. This is obviously a "gimmick" yet, when other lesser directors/writers would rely on this, this was only part of the equation. There was really a story here and it really was built as a film noir mystery, albeit slapstick 1980s humor.As I stated, I didn't catch this "device" of using old and new until about 1/3 in, with Cary Grant. I didn't read anything about this movie, so since it was black & white (and Martin actually had dark hair) I figured they filmed this when Bogart, Grant and Davis were all still alive and dyed their own hair to appear younger. Yeah, I'm a dope. Seriously, I should've known better.Obviously, I won't make that mistake again (i.e. in my definite repeat viewings) and when I realized what was happening, the movie opened up to me, making it all the more hilarious and especially when Martin dresses as some of the characters they're mimicking.I would highly recommend this movie, especially to those movie buffs of decades past. Though I am only rating it 9 out of 10 stars now, that might change, even with viewing #2. And I can't wait to see this again. There's severe comic genius here – the finale's battle of words between Reiner and Martin is just one of many examples. SEE IT! Side Note: If you have the DVD – make sure you watch the hilarious trailer, namely the last 2-3 seconds had me rolling.

I was really interested in seeing this movie, because I like film noir and I like Steve Martin. And you know what, this is a very clever and affectionate homage. My complaints are that the story is disappointingly convoluted so it is sometimes very hard to keep up with what is going on and one or two of the jokes don't quite work. But overall it is very funny, and seems to have held up well over the years. The script is clever and sophisticated enough, and Carl Reiner directs with precision and acts his part of Field Marshall VonKluck very well. The cinematography is smooth and crisp, and I thought the performances were excellent. Steve Martin is great here, not only do I think Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is underrated but this is one of his roles where Martin deserves a lot more credit. Rachel Ward looks lovely as Juliet Forrest and is terrific acting wise. The real joy is watching the archive footage of all those wonderful actors and actresses in those timeless masterpieces. Spotting stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Ray Milland, Vincent Price and Ingrid Bergman all but to name a few was a delight in itself. Also the finale while silly is great fun. All in all, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is well worth the look. 8/10 Bethany Cox