Les cadavres ne portent pas de costard

The b&w flick's a "can't miss" for fans of 40's noir and crime. It's like a big re-union for the gritty stars of that memorable time, from Bogart to Stanwyck to Ladd, the list goes on. (Be sure to check either the epilogue or IMDB for a full list, as they make their appearances in unpredictable fashion). Martin's quite humorous as the story-connecting detective trying to solve the narrative's bloated mystery, along with the delectable Ward as his suspicious foil. But who really cares about the main story since it's just a long thread to let the classic celebrities tie into. Inserting those many old film excerpts into the new scenes with Martin must have been an editor's and set designers' field day or nightmare. Still and all, they do blend well. Anyhow, it's a heckuva chance to see those greats of old together in one flick, even if only briefly. So here's my big salute to the great, underrated Fred MacMurray. Now if his Walter Neff can just resist Stanwyck's rolling up her hosiery, he might re-earn bossman Keyes' respect. Good luck, Mr. Double Indemnity.

I first saw this in the theater with my dad, at the age of 13, when it was first released - he was a huge fan of classic movies and usually suffered through the stuff he took me to. Not this one - we were both in hysterics, and I'd have to say I owe my huge love of classic Hollywood (and global) cinema to this film. CITIZEN KANE it may not be but no matter - I dug the humor and the atmosphere at the time, and even then was aware of how much work this must have been.

I still watch this one on occasion, and it is the rare comedy that has held up very well with the passage of time - critics at the time seemed to write it off as a stunt, but I've noted that at least a little reevaluation of DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID has occurred over the years. The performances - as both a spoof and a love-letter to film noir - are top notch, with Steve Martin at his best here. The dialog gets deep into Raymond Chandler/Dashiell Hammett hard-boiled private-eye stylishness, serving up gumshoe-with-dame clichés just juiced up enough to give Steve something to run with, while still offering an a solid story. The finale is magnificent, Martin and Carl Reiner jousting their way through an avalanche of every two-bit dime-store whodunnit game-over cliché to ever grace the big screen, cheap alibis falling like drunken angels across the naked city as the big heat descends... Or - ahem -something like that...

Starring Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, and Carl Reiner. My first time watching this comedy/mystery; I liked it enough. I appreciate the decision to film it entirely in black and white; the reasoning for this primarily being because of the several "cameos" by such stars as Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster. The writers really did their research. Bits of movies with some of Hollywood's most illustrious stars like Stanwyck, Cagney, Crawford, Lake, Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Bogart, Laughton, Price, Ladd, Bergman, Cary, Kirk Douglas, Gardner, and Lancaster were incorporated into the movie's plot.

It was interesting to see classic Hollywood actors "co-starring" with Steve Martin. I thought that was an original and ingenious idea. I thought it was funny how Veronica Lake's character was named "Monica Stillpond." I quickly figured out who they were talking about once they said her name.

Actually, most of the vintage-clip characters are more or less playing themselves-- When Martin calls up hysterical Barbara Stanwyck from Sorry, Wrong Number, he explodes "Listen, you phony fruitcake!", Ingrid Bergman from Notorious is "F. X. Huberman" and James Cagney in prison from White Heat is Cody Jarrett who won't talk to anyone but his mother (or Martin in disguise). And of course, the line where Charles Laughton from The Bribe asks "And do you know who I might be?", Martin replies, "...The Hunchback of Notre Dame?"

I remember when this movie came out in 1982, when B/W movies were still "the Late Show" trivialized on television before the VCR and Cable movie-rennaissance came along, and nobody got the jokes. That is why it flopped. Most knew that old movies in general were being featured, but only about 10% actually knew which movies, and--as it was Martin's first movie after "The Jerk"--most just focused on the comedy scenes where Steve pours coffee or shaves his tongue.

Dead Men.. maintains a delicate equilibrum between a re-enactment and an original script. On one hand, Carl Reiner offers a comedy which compilates several film noir classics (the strongest influence seems to come from the Maltese Falcon)and makes fun of their profound grim atmosphere, but without ever loosing its self-esteem. On the other hand, it combines at least a dozen scenes from those movies with stand-ins in order to establish a believable (physical) interaction between actors who differ 40 years in age.

Steve Martin would play the same kind of unwilling comedian in Plains, Trains & Automoblies. His voice-over definitely was an inspiration to Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun series. Along with Dragnet (1987), both owe, of course, a lot to the police serials from the 50's.

This movie is mostly suited for classic film buffs such as me

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. Yes, it's nonsense, and towards the end it becomes a bit hard to follow and the silliness gets out of control. 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. Rigby Reardon was a great character and could have lasted for a few more movies. The humor is frequently hilarious and he certainly retains a lot of the integrity he has lost in recent years since he went the way of Eddie Murphy and sold himself out to family audiences. Either way, I say you should give this movie a go if you're a fan of his older work.

The DVD is sadly in non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 2.0 surround. It still looks quite good for a black and white film and the sound has that limited sound space effect to it to make it fit in with the older footage. A Dolby 5.1 remix would have been totally unnecessary. Some boring extras (trailer, cast bios) are included.