☆ ☆ ☆
Dead
Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) – C. Reiner
It’s ridiculous to see Steve Martin
inserted into old films noir, playing against the likes of Alan Ladd, Humphrey
Bogart, Ava Gardner, and Barbara Stanwyck – and that’s the point. However, there aren’t as many belly laughs as
one would hope (although the “cleaning woman” bit makes a good plot
device). Martin is a private dick and
Rachel Ward is his client/love interest.
The plot was sewn together by finding suitable clips from a dozen movies
(The Killers, Double Indemnity, Lost Weekend, Notorious, etc.) and then fitting
a story in between. It mostly works – or
as they say in the production notes, it isn’t as confusing as The Big Sleep
(which isn’t saying much). Everyone
plays it straight, except for a streak of goofiness throughout (of
course). Carl Reiner directs and plays a
small part, but this was clearly a labor of love for him. He also assembled
some veterans of the noir era: the
soundtrack is by Miklos Rozsa and the costumes are by Edith Head. Classy, except it’s not.
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