Movielogr

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Directed by Carl Reiner

Comedy | Film Noir

Most recently watched by danielt, krazykat, noahphex

Overview

Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are ‘The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta’.

Rated PG | Length 89 minutes

Actors

Steve Martin | Rachel Ward | Alan Ladd | Carl Reiner | Barbara Stanwyck | Ray Milland | Ava Gardner | Burt Lancaster | Humphrey Bogart | Cary Grant | Ingrid Bergman | Veronica Lake | Bette Davis | Lana Turner | Edward Arnold | Kirk Douglas | Fred MacMurray | James Cagney | Joan Crawford | Reni Santoni | Charles Laughton | Vincent Price | George Gaynes | Francis X. McCarthy | Gene LeBell | William Conrad | Charles McGraw | Jeff Corey | John Miljan | Brian Donlevy | Norma Varden | Edmond O'Brien

Viewing History (seen 1 time)

Date ViewedDeviceFormatSourceRating
07/10/2020TVDVDLibrary7.5 stars
 

Viewing Notes

RIP Carl Reiner
March 20, 1922 – June 29, 2020

When Carl Reiner passed away last week I knew I wanted to revisit this movie. It’s been at least 25 years since I’ve seen this perhaps even longer. It was originally introduced to me by my best friend at the time maybe a couple years after it was released, on VHS from the video store. I recall really enjoying the novelty of it, splicing old movies with a new movie and making it a comedy.

Viewing this now is quite a wild experience since I’ve seen so many noir films and totally get what they (Steve Martin and Reiner) we’re going for. So amusing to see these old b&w flicks edited into this movie, in a new context. I enjoyed naming each actor as they appeared (a couple I didn’t know). A fun project would be to watch all the original films these scenes were taken.

Worth noting that Rachel Ward is a perfect femme fatale. She’s styled period appropriate and nails the role. She’s also stunningly gorgeous and now I realize why that same best friend was so obsessed with her when we were teens. What is bananas is that she was only 24 when she made this movie! She comes across much older but damn she’s something.

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