Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
Tags: entertaining, cult, mystery, neo noir, murder

Plot synopsis:
In the opening scene, John Hay Forrest (George Gaynes), noted scientist and cheesemaker, dies in a single-vehicle car accident (represented by the car wreck scene from Keeper of the Flame). In the next scene, private investigator Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) is reading a newspaper when Forrest's daughter, Juliet (Rachel Ward), enters his office and faints when the paper's headline reminds her of her father's death. Upon coming to, she hires Rigby to investigate the death, which she thinks was murder. In Dr. Forrest's lab, Rigby finds two lists, one titled "Friends of Carlotta" and the other "Enemies of Carlotta", as well as an affectionately autographed photo of singer Kitty Collins, whose name appears on one of the lists. His search is interrupted by a man posing as an exterminator (Alan Ladd, in This Gun for Hire), who shoots Rigby in the arm and frisks the lists from the seemingly dead investigator.
Rigby manages to find his way to Juliet's house, where she sucks out the bullet, snakebite-style, and points Rigby to the club at which Kitty sings. Juliet also reveals a note to her father from her alcoholic brother-in-law, Sam Hastings, which in turn reveals that Dr. Forrest gave him a dollar bill "for safekeeping". Despite warnings that the mentally disturbed Leona will not be of much use, Rigby calls Leona, who after a rambling discussion, hangs up (Barbara Stanwyck, in Sorry, Wrong Number). On the way out, Juliet asks Rigby to leave further news with her butler or cleaning woman. Mention of the latter causes Rigby to go berserk due to his own father running off with the cleaning woman and his mother dying of a broken heart.
Rigby tracks down alcoholic Sam (Ray Milland, from Lost Weekend) and gets Dr. Forrest's dollar, which has "FOC" (Friends of Carlotta) names scrawled on it — including Kitty Collins and Swede Anderson (Kitty's boyfriend). Rigby tracks down Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner, from The Killers) at the Brentwood Room. He asks if she's one of Carlotta's friends, which causes her to leave abruptly. He trails her to a restaurant, where she ditches her brooch into her soup. Rigby subsequently retrieves the brooch, which contains an "EOC" (Enemies of Carlotta) list, on which all names are crossed out, except Swede Anderson's. Rigby visits Swede (Burt Lancaster, from The Killers) but while Rigby prepares his famous "java", Swede is killed.
Rigby is also shot, in the same arm as last time, causing Juliet to suck out another bullet. Rigby calls waking Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart, from The Big Sleep), his mentor, for assistance. Juliet hands over a key from Dr. Forrest's desk, a key to a train station locker. The accompanying note, "most recent rat", tells Rigby to look for locker 1936, the last Chinese Year of the Rat. Upon exiting, she asks Rigby to call with any progress. Marlowe arrives (Bogart, from In a Lonely Place), and picks up the EOC list to check against unsolved murders.
Rigby goes to the train station to collect the contents of locker 1936, which contains more lists. A "handsome" guy (Cary Grant, from Suspicion) follows him onto a train, but Rigby puts him to sleep with the help of his harmonica. Rigby finds F.X. Huberman, whose name he found on one of the lists and who turns out to be a "classy dame with bedroom eyes," throwing a party (Ingrid Bergman, from Notorious). She flirts with Rigby (represented by Cary Grant's silhouette), then drugs his drink and steals the locker key.
Rigby wakes up after crawling back to his office, where Juliet finds him. She informs Rigby that Sam Hastings has died falling out of a window reaching for a bottle of whiskey. She also has a New York Times reference for him from her father's office. The reference is to an article about a South American cruise ship called Immer Essen (German for always eating) on whose last voyage Sam Hastings was a passenger. When Marlowe (Bogart, from The Big Sleep) calls, Rigby questions him about Walter Neff, the ship's owner, and learns that Neff cruises supermarkets looking for blondes.
Juliet offers to dye her hair to serve as bait, but Rigby is protective of her as more than a client. He first tries to recruit Monica Stillpond (Veronica Lake, from The Glass Key), but she's not as willing as she used to be. Next he tries Doris Devermont (Bette Davis, from Deception), she offers Rigby coffee and sandwiches but he ruins his chances with her by strangling her for saying "cleaning woman". Then he successfully recruits Jimmie Sue Altfeld (Lana Turner, from Johnny Eager, and the apartment scene from The Postman Always Rings Twice) and unsuccessfully attempts to make peace with her father (Edward Arnold, from Johnny Eager) by giving him a puppy. He then is beaten up by four thugs (Kirk Douglas and others from I Walk Alone).
After this, Rigby disguises himself as a blonde and meets Neff (Fred MacMurray from Double Indemnity). Rigby drugs him and finds documents about the Immer Essen, including a passenger list identical to an EOC list, and articles about the ship's imprisoned captain, Cody Jarrett, who refuses to talk to anyone about it but his mother. Rigby then dresses up as Jarrett's mother to visit Jarrett in prison without arousing the prison guards' suspicion (James Cagney from White Heat). He tries to win Jarrett's confidence by explaining the Friends of Carlotta are after him. Rigby doesn't learn anything from Jarrett though, so he cashes in a favor with the warden to act as a prisoner for a few days. Jarrett turns out to be a Friend of Carlotta after all, kidnaps Rigby on a jail break, and shoots him while he's still in the trunk of the getaway car.
After sucking out a third bullet, Juliet leaves for the drugstore for medicine. On her way out, a call comes in from an old flame (Joan Crawford, in Humoresque). Juliet overhears parts of it on an extension in the next room, and thinking Rigby is two-timing her, calls Rigby from a pay phone and closes the case. While Rigby is drinking, thinking himself betrayed by Juliet, Marlowe (Bogart from Dark Passage) calls and tips Rigby off that Carlotta is an island off Peru. At a cafe, Rigby finds Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner, from The Bribe) there. Carlos Rodriguez (Reni Santoni), a local policeman from Rigby's gun-running past, warns Rigby of the locals, including Kitty's new boyfriend, Rice. The next day, one of the characters Rodriguez warned Rigby of (Charles Laughton, from The Bribe) approaches him and tries to bribe Rigby into leaving the island.
Next, Kitty drops by Reardon's room. Carlos calls to tell him Rice is in town with a group of Germans when the telephone line is cut. Kitty then drugs Rigby's drink, causing him to pass out. He wakes up to see Rice (Vincent Price, from The Bribe) trying to suffocate him. After exchanging shots and chasing through the "Fiesta de Carlotta" fireworks celebration (much of it archived footage from The Bribe), Rigby shoots Rice and frisks the corpse for instructions leading him to a hideout where he finds Juliet, her father (actually still alive), and her butler, who introduces himself as Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck (Carl Reiner).
Rigby and the Field Marshal compete about the right to explain what happened by interrupting each other's monologue. It turns out that Dr. Forrest had been tricked into divulging a secret cheese mold by Nazis posing as a humanitarian organization. Once he discovered their true intent, to use the mold's corrosive properties to destroy America with strategically placed cheese bombs and make a comeback, he assembled a list of Nazi agents, the "Friends of Carlotta." Before he could divulge the names to the FBI, he was abducted and his death faked to prevent a police investigation. The Immer Essen, a cruise ship passing by, witnessed the corrosive effects of the mold tests, making all passengers "Enemies of Carlotta" and targets for murder. Rigby is captured but Juliet gets the Field Marshal to say "cleaning woman," causing Rigby to go berserk, break his chains and overpower the Nazis. While Juliet gets Rodriguez, the Field Marshal manages to pull one of the switches, destroying Terre Haute, Indiana, before being shot dead by Rigby. Rodriguez rounds up the other Nazis while Rigby shares a long kiss with Juliet.

Review: If it weren't for the bundles of humour employed, one would almost think at times that this actually is a film noir from the 1940s, so legitimate and believable is the 'feel' or the atmosphere of the film.I cannot believe that some people who commented on this film have said that the plot is merely an excuse to hang old movie clips onto, and not much use at all; and the person who claims that Steve Martin overacts in this movie mustn't realise that this is regarded as one of Steve's more restrained, deadpan comedic performances (the 'cleaning woman!' device turns out to be an important part of the plot and also seems to be a way of using the strangling scene that is taken from the Bette Davis movie - it is also a chance for Steve to get in a very tiny element of his 'wild and crazy guy' persona, which he substituted with a more suitable [for parody] 'straight' performance).A rousing and side-splittingly funny success - they don't make 'em like this anymore!.
Working with George Gipe, and Steve Martin in the screen play that serves as the basis of the movie, Mr. Reiner has done the impossible with "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid".Of course, this film is blessed with the magnificent editing by Bud Malin, who meshed the present images against those film noir masterpieces we see, blending the characters of this movie with the stars of the past, in what seems to be a seamless product.
The main character, Rigby Reardon is the P.I. from hell, but thanks to the creators of this movie, he is perfect as the man at the center of the action.Not being a Steve Martin fan, one has to recognize that when this actor is inspired, he can do excellent work.
I remember reading reviews in The New York Times and elsewhere in 1983 fawning over Woody Allen's brilliant and wholly original idea of inserting himself into old film footage in "Zelig." They'd not noted, of course, that everyone from Ernie Kovacs to John Zacherle had already done that "brilliant and wholly original idea" on television -- and, most notably, Steve Martin did it in a feature film, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," one year prior to "Zelig." While "Zelig" has its moments, it is ultimately tedious, running about twice as long as it's one-note gag treatment can sustain.
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.
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.
The issue for me however is that Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is one very funny film.With the best faux authenticity (another sterling effort by Michael Chapman) blending of its day Steve Martin in on spot comic dead pan mixes with the greats of American cinema in a cleverly devised parody on film noir .
Steve Martin, Rachel Ward and a few others actors are seen talking to many classic stars of the past as director Carl Reiner used clips of those films to fake conversations with the up-to-date real actors of this film .
You get so captivated watching those old stars that you lose track of the storyline.That's a big reason I don't think this film ever caught on that much - the story is too convoluted, just too hard to follow.Ward was great to watch and Martin was annoying after awhile.
If you like older films, comedies, mystery and trying to help solve a crime in a movie then you may enjoy "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid".If you want a double feature I would watch this movie along with movies like: "Clue (1985)", "Murder by Death (1976)" or " Deathtrap (1982)".9.5/10.
Reiner & Martin's Laugh-In. This film couldn't miss for me as I love Steve Martin's irresistibly funny early films and rank film noir as probably my favourite movie genre.Right from the start, we're comfortingly deposited back into the noir era, with the classic Universal revolving black and white logo presaging Miklos Rosza's sweeping score and the equally welcome news, in the title credits, that the great (sadly soon to be late) Edith Head is costume designer.
From there, it's a short journey into beautifully shot monochromatic cinematography and Martin's deliberately clichéd voice-over, setting the scene for a roller-coaster plot, as deliberately convoluted, as anything this side of "The Maltese Falcon" or "The Big Sleep".The humour is typical early-Martin which you either love or hate (I'm in the former camp) and as ever Steve's not above a little vulgarity to drive out the bigger laughs - for instance his hilarious re-organising of passed-out leading lady Rachel Ward's "out of whack" breasts or his answer to Lana Turner's "What are we going to do now" question as she enters his bedroom - "Kinsey, cover-to-cover".The vintage film-clips are cleverly inserted into the plot, so that we get a dream cast, their lines and actions woven even if tenuously into the narrative, although ironically the poorer film-quality of some of their scenes work against the glossier quality of the modern camera-work.Martin's by turns quirky and laconic delivery works well in context although Rachel Ward, pretty as she is, seems too lightweight in her part, although she does have some considerable footprints to step into (Bette or Lana she isn't).
I myself will try to look up one or two of the vintage prototypes which I hadn't even heard of, never-mind seen, - "I Walked Alone" starring Kirk Douglas and especially "The Bribe" with a stellar cast of Ava Gardner, Charles Laughton and Vincent Price, with what looks like literally a crackerjack of a finale.The combination of old film and new was later taken up by Woody Allen in "Zelig" and was further elaborated on in subsequent Hollywood films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and the overrated "Forrest Gump", but I'll take Messrs Martin & Reiner's stylish rib-tickling homage any day of the week.
I also have to admit that I am simply not knowledgeable enough about film noir to appreciate most of the clips; although I consider myself a movie buff and regularly watch classic movies, out of the movies used by DMDWP I had only seen, well, "The Big Sleep".So: still a good Steve Martin comedy..
A one joke movie- but its a great joke.1940s gumshoe Rigby Reardon{Steve Martin} gets a visit by sultry client Rachel Ward whose father has gone missing.
While conducting the investigation, Rigby makes contact with Edward Arnold, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, Vincent Price, Barbara Stanwyck and Lana Turner, in a wonderful work of edition.
And, so, I was just re-aligning them for you." I'd easily say that this picture has got to be one of the best and most entertaining parodies of the 1940s Film Noir/Detective genre that I've ever seen.This film really delivers some great laughs.Filmed in glossy black and white, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid ingeniously weaves its plot and production design around numerous movies clips from such 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 Los Angeles) who is hired to solve a truly incomprehensible mystery that involves the apparent death of brilliant scientist, Dr. Forest.Reardon immediately smells a rat as he sets out to follow a complex maze of clues that eventually lead him to the "Carlotta Lists" of friends and enemies.Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was directed by Carl Reiner and stars the gorgeous screen-siren, Rachel Ward.
So I really loved how this movie was made--not what happens in it, but the main trick of inserting real film noir clips with new footage starring Steve Martin.
Yet, Carl Reiner's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is in many instances a charm, and it also succeeds to be funny and respectful in its reverence to the film noir movies of the 40s and 50s.Even the much younger Steve Martin, with black hair and sparkling eyes looks here completely fresh as private eye Rigby Reardon, hired to solve a Californian mystery which combines all the 1940s detective novels that you may have read and the films inspired by them all together.
Borrowed scenes come from famous movies like Notorious, Suspicion, or The Big Sleep, but you need not worry, there is no real scary stuff, it is all fun.I do not know if Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid received any award, but the cinematography, editing and make-up are all amazing.
Carl Reiner's collage film homage and/or parody to 1940s film noirs and thrillers is unusually funny and a clever example of placing movie scenes in a new context as a means for comedy.
I'm not sure if you actually need to be familiar with the noirs that the film borrows from, but having only seen one (the excellent Notorious) of the nineteen films from which scenes are lifted, I didn't get much enjoyment through recognition.I used to think that the film would have been successful even without the recycling of old material, but it struck me this time that that would wipe out the entire movie.
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, but instead of it being just a simple spoof, the filmmakers went further, on having old film footage of great actors like Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Alan Ladd, and Humphrey Bogart for Steve Martin to play off of.
It begins with detective Rigby Reardon(The always funny Steve Martin), is hired by Juliet Forrest(The gorgeous and talented Rachel Ward) to solve the mysterious death of her father, Reardon starts to investigate, but will he get into deep?
A classic comedy for years to enjoy, Steve Martin and the old film footage blends in well together, it almost looks real.
Santoni actually played a character based on 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 of comedy is right on the money.
I DID enjoy the premise meaning the interaction/interjection of the '40's film noir characters slipped into this.I also admit that going in I knew that the combo of Steve Martin with Carl Reiner's direction it was going to be somewhat silly but wow, it was done wonderfully..AND again I had a fun time.
This movie is very funny and well written, it is another classic comedy by the great Steve martin and excellent Carl reiner.The night i first watched this movie, my dad had told me he thought it was very funny and said id like it.Well because i have a good sense of humor, i just loved this movie for all the comedy it had in it.I think it is great how they take the old detective type movies and make it into this comedy, what a excellent idea to have Steve martin in it.I love movies and comedy is one of my favorite type of movies to watch, dead men don't wear plaid is one of the best out there.If you want to watch a good comedy or wanna watch a pretty well done movie, then i say watch dead men don't wear plaid and have a good time..
Rachel Ward plays femme fatale called Juliet Forrest who comes to private detective Rigby Reardon (Steve Martin) to ask for help.And how could Rigby say no to a beautiful woman who keeps collapsing.Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid from 1982 is a brilliant crime comedy from Carl Reiner.Reiner himself plays Field Marshal Von Kluck.The movie is black and white and you can see a punch of old film noir stars from the 40's and the 50's in the movie.Humphrey Bogart is Rigby's assistant.Then there are stars such as Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Cary Grant with lots of others.Your job is to recognize them.Steve Martin is an excellent comedian and he does brilliant work in this cult classic.And Rachel's not bad either.This movie offers you lots of laughs.It's impossible to get bored with Martin and the gang.I guarantee it.I recommend Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid for everyone who is a fan of good comedy..
Thus you see bit parts by famous actors of the past, like Humphrey Bogart, Burt Lancaster and Alan Ladd and by actresses like Barbara Stanwyck, Veronica Lake and Ava Gardner.The reason why I think this movie, although still very good, is not quite as brilliant as it might have been, is that Steve Martin is terribly overacting.
The inter-cutting is cleverly and convincingly done, the gags hit more times than they miss and the whole is a worthwhile watch for anyone with a penchant for 40s film noir and enjoys a game of name-that-star.Probably the saddest thing is that it's unlikely that Steve Martin will ever make me laugh this much again.
This movie seemlessly blends scenes from great films like Hitchcock's Notorious and Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity with a very funny story that has Steve Martin and Rachel Ward actually interacting with the likes of Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, and Jimmy Cagney.
I enjoy classic film noir AND classic Steve Martin, so I was really looking forward to seeing "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid".
The premise to this is pretty simple: parody film noir movies by inserting old movie clips and have Steve Martin say things that turn serious lines from those movies into jokes.
In order to do that Rigby enlists the help from the greatest detective of all time, Philip Marlowe, and nods his hat to every great star of the era in this brilliant and largely forgotten Steve Martin film from a time when he was heading back to the top and working damn hard to do so.This is the second great collaboration he did with the writer/director Carl Reiner, and while the man with two brains may be more laugh out loud funny, there have been few films more clever inventive and downright audacious in their attempt to recreate a bygone era by basically, well, stealing it!
It actually takes the parody as far, as it's fully black and white and it even uses some old footage from the noir movies of 40's and 50's, so we have a change of seeing stars like Ava Gardner, Cary Grant and Humphrey Bogart in scenes whit Steve Martin.I suppose no one is surprised with the plot, as it's constructed from every cliché in the book.
Steve Martin is a Sam Spade-type detective who takes a case for a beautiful woman (Rachel Ward) in "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid." Like the 1983 "Zelig," the film deftly mixes actual old clips in with the storyline very cleverly.
In this case, the clips are all from old black and white movies featuring some of our biggest and most beloved stars: Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Alan Ladd, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Ray Milland, and others, all of whom have roles opposite Martin with the help of intercuts and some great editing.Besides these costars, Martin has one from the '80s, Rachel Ward, who fits in beautifully with the past goddesses.
Couple all this with the lovely Rachel Ward, Reni Santoni with a "payamas" obsession, and Carl Reiner as Von Cluck, then you have a great slice of comedy for anyone who was a fan of 40's noir, and of a time when Steve Martin was still making good movies..
But, of course, being Steve Martin, the end result is a witty and entertaining spoof.Martin plays Rigby Reardon, a typical hard-boiled detective in the Phillip Marlowe/Sam Spade mold, Rachel Ward (who, by the way, has never looked lovlier,) is Julia Forest, the "slinky dame" who collapses in his office (the scene of what Martin does, and his explanation, when she passes out in his arms is hilarious.)The real hook of this film, however, is Martin's co-stars: such names as Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, James Cagney, Bette Davis, Burt Lancaster, to name but a few.
The comedy starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, and several famous faces from 1940's film noirs was a brilliant homage/parody of the detective film genre.
The only trouble with DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID is that Carl Reiner's script is so convoluted that you stop paying attention to the storyline after awhile and get hooked on waiting for the next film clip to pair STEVE MARTIN with a classic star.
DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID (1982) **** Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Reni Santoni, Carl Reiner.
After their triumph with ALL OF ME, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner decided to try something very different with this clever detective movie spoof called DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID, where Martin plays a 40's private eye named Rigby Reardon who is hired by a cool brunette to solve her father's murder.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) ** (out of 4) Disappointing comedy from Carl Reiner has Steve Martin playing a detective spoofing older detective and gangster films.
There is a lot to admire about "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" in which Steve Martin and director Carl Reiner collaborated for the second of four films.