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IMDb > Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
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Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

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User Rating: 6.5/10 (5,595 votes)
Directed by
Carl Reiner

Writing credits
Carl Reiner (written by) &
George Gipe (written by) ...
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Release Date:
21 May 1982 (USA) more view trailer
Genre:
Comedy / Crime / Thriller more
Tagline:
Laugh... or I'll blow your lips off!
Plot Outline:
Film noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from real noirs appear as scenes from various films are intercut. more
User Comments:
Film noir was never this funny! more

Cast(Cast overview, first billed only)

Steve Martin ... Rigby Reardon

Rachel Ward ... Juliet Forrest

Alan Ladd ... Gunman at Cheese Factory (archive footage)

Carl Reiner ... Juliet's Butler/Field Marshall Wilfred von Kluck

Barbara Stanwyck ... Leona Hastings (archive footage)

Ray Milland ... Sam Hastings (archive footage)

Ava Gardner ... Kitty Collins (archive footage)

Burt Lancaster ... Swede Anderson (archive footage)

Humphrey Bogart ... Marlowe (archive footage)

Cary Grant ... Man in Train Compartment (archive footage)

Ingrid Bergman ... F.X. Huberman (archive footage)

Veronica Lake ... Monica Stillpond (archive footage)

Bette Davis ... Doris Devermont (archive footage)

Lana Turner ... Jimmie Sue Altfeld (archive footage)
Edward Arnold ... Jimmie Sue's Father (archive footage)
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Additional Details
Also Known As:
Dead Men Wear No Plaid
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Runtime:
89 min / Spain:84 min (DVD edition)
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Stereo

Fun Stuff
Trivia:
This was legendary Costume Designer Edith Head's final film. There is a tribute to her in the closing credits denoting this. Fittingly, the film features many of her earlier designs in cleverly edited clips from old movies. more
Goofs:
Miscellaneous: When Juliet sucks bullets out of Rigby, they are shown between her teeth with the flat back of the slug facing out. But if she sucked it out from the entry wound, the pointed head of the slug should be facing out. more
Quotes:
Field Marshal Von Kluck: It is customary in zese situations for ze developer of ze plan to describe it.
Rigby Reardon: I beg your pardon. But it's also customary for the private eye to tell how he figured it out.
Field Marshal Von Kluck: No, it is my right! We were able to dupe Dr. Forrest by posing as a humanitary organization, who planned to wipe out hunger, by ageing cheese faster.
Rigby Reardon: But when your father finally saw what they were doing...
Field Marshal Von Kluck: - he began to assemble lists of names of our agents...
Rigby Reardon: - and seemed about to go to the FBI.
Field Marshal Von Kluck: We were zerfore obliged to kidnap him, drug him ang bring him...
Rigby Reardon: - here! First faking his death so there'd be no further investigation.
Field Marshal Von Kluck: But vile testing ze mold on a small island nearby...
Rigby Reardon: - cruise ship "Immer Essen" passed by. Some of the passengers saw the tiny island dissolve.
[...]
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in The Making of 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial' (1996) (V) more

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User Comments (Comment on this title)
9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful:-
Film noir was never this funny!, 22 October 2005
8/10
Author: jotix100 from New York

Carl Reiner, the multi-talented director of this film, is the only one that could have pulled it off. Working with George Gipe, and Steve Martin in the screen play that serves as the basis of the movie, Mr. Reiner has done the impossible with "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid".

Of course, this film is blessed with the magnificent editing by Bud Malin, who meshed the present images against those film noir masterpieces we see, blending the characters of this movie with the stars of the past, in what seems to be a seamless product. It also helps that Miklos Rozsa was the man composing the music, as everything shows a cohesiveness that is hard to distinguished in what was shot in 1982 and the old movies.

This spoof to the film noir genre is a pure delight. The main character, Rigby Reardon is the P.I. from hell, but thanks to the creators of this movie, he is perfect as the man at the center of the action.

Not being a Steve Martin fan, one has to recognize that when this actor is inspired, he can do excellent work. It would appear that with a director like Carl Reiner, he would have gone off the top, but instead, Mr. Martin gives a good reading of Rigby. Rachel Ward, as the typical woman of those films, is charming. Reni Santoni, Georege Gaynes and the rest of the supporting cast do wonders under Carl Reiner's orders.

The film brought back memories of those timeless masterpieces of the past and the stars that shone in them. We get to see Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner, Ingrid Bergman, Vincent Price, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred McMurray, Edward G. Robinson, and the others at the height of their fame playing against the present cast and making the viewer happy watching all the antics which Mr. Reiner and his team have created for our amusement.

This is a funny look at the old movies!

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