# Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID (director/writer: Carl Reiner; screenwriters: George Gipe/Steve Martin; cinematographer: Michael Chapman; editor: Bud Molin; cast: Steve Martin (Rigby Reardon), Rachel Ward (Juliet Forrest), Carl Reiner (Field Marshal Von Kluck), Reni Santoni (Carlos Rodriguez), George Gaynes (Dr. Forrest), 1982)

    Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

This is Carl Reiner's cleverly adapted spoof on noir films of the post-World War11 days. The comedy film relies on creative editing of the classics of the forties, somehow including a host of stars from Bogart to Cagney to Ava, as part of its story. Steve Martin plays the private eye Rigby Reardon, who is a cloddish imitation of Bogart in "The Big Sleep." Any scene could have Martin conversing with someone like a Cary Grant or a Veronica Ladd, or being shot at by Alan Ladd. Rachel Ward is the sexy doll with the husky voice who plays his client Juliet Forest. She comes into his office and faints at seeing the newspaper headline announcing that her father, Dr. Forrest, has died in an auto accident and she awakens to Martin's breast rearrangement of her. But she hires him, anyway, for $10 a day plus expenses to find the killer of her father, as she doesn't believe his death was accidental.

This is basically a one-idea film, and that idea, although cleverly worked out as far as special effects, begins to run dry after a while, as the story lags in character development. It seems cute to have the stars of the forties say their straight lines from their film and then have Martin put his comedic routines into it in order to fit it in with the present story. But enough's enough! What keeps the film hopping are some very funny quips and some dumb bon mots that were infantile but amusing.

Dr. Forrest is a renown scientist and his hobby is in making cheese molds. After Ward gives Martin the key to her father's lab, he goes there to search his lab for clues and tells us he found the lab in room no. 2 because it smelled like that number. His first clue is in the form of a cryptic list he finds on the tip of a money bill, which is labelled "The Friends of Carlotta." Unfortunately there are others who are after that list, as the shamus must take precautions, even getting a bullet in his shoulder for his troubles.

Back in Ward's house, Martin is about to faint and the haughty butler (Reiner), when asked to catch him, says, "Sorry, I'm a butler not a catcher." Ward uses her skill she learned at summer camp for taking care of snake bites, to suck the bullet out of him.

With the help of Bogart's detective work ala Marlowe, Martin finds that Carlotta is not the name of a woman, but an island off South America. If you've seen "The Bribe," you've got the rest of the film's story, as the Reiner team ran out of ideas and winged the ending the lazy way, with old film clips. Martin does his best to pump energy into the tank, doing sight gags, abetted by the manic role of Reni Santoni, as the friendly policeman on the island who tells him the Nazis have landed. Nazis and cheese go together in this film like Vincent Price to villainy.

A knowledge of some of the more popular noir classics like The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, and Suspicion, might help in soaking up the films' nostalgia. The overall effect is not bad for a few belly laughs and to marvel at the skills of 1980s technology, but no Cuban cigar for the film, as the story went up in smoke somewhere over the hills of Hollywood.

    REVIEWED ON 6/4/2000     GRADE: C

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

    ozus@sover.net

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