Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Directed by

Carl Reiner

Genre

film noir, crime film, mystery film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 28m

Rated

PG

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 450 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A private detective takes on a case involving a mysterious woman and a missing scientist. The film mixes black-and-white footage from old movies with new scenes starring Steve Martin.

wittyclevernostalgicplayfulstylizedfast-pacedmetalight-hearted

What happens

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 American neo-noir comedy-mystery film, directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward and Reiner. Co-written by Reiner, Martin & George Gipe, the film is both a parody of and an homage to film noir and the pulp detective films of the 1940s. The title refers to Martin's character telling a story of a woman obsessed with plaid, a scene which was ultimately cut from the film. Edited by Bud Molin, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is partly a collage film, incorporating clips from 19 vintage films. They are combined with new footage of Martin and other actors similarly shot in black-and-white, with the result that the original dialogue and acting of the classic films become part of a completely different story. Among the actors who appear from classic films are Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Brian Donlevy, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland, Edmond O'Brien, Vincent Price, Barbara Stanwyck, and Lana Turner. Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was the final film for both costume designer Edith Head and composer Miklós Rózsa. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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