THE TWELFTH OF A REGULAR-ISH SERIES OF FORGOTTEN FILMS THAT SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

So another of these forgotten film posts and this one mourns the passing of one of the cleverest and funniest films of all time that WASN’T made by Woody Allen BUT more remarkably than that, Woody’s own attempt at a similar type film was arguably less-funny and less-clever (A rare feat perhap?)  Now this is a film that many film may never have heard of and those that have may have dismissed it as being gimicky and trite but I think that it’s cleverness almost puts people off what a stunning achievement this is in writing and directing.  Around this time the films star made four films all of which were decent but were largely over-looked at the box office with all but one exception, so tonight I’m making this the exception for the ever-so exceptional “DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID”.

DEAD MAN DON’T WEAR PLAID (1982)

Rigby Reardon is a private detective who meets a new client Juliet Forrest who is looking into her father’s mysterious death.  From then on Rigby Reardon dances in and out of some of Hollywood’s greatest films with its greatest stars of thirties, forties and fifties to solve a mystery involving femme fatales, Nazi spies, tough guys, double-crossers and even cross-dressers.

The film is a labour of love as sets are painstakingly recreated as well as costume, helped in part by the work of legendary costume designer Edith Head who no doubt originally created many of the looks in this period.  Miklos Rosza is also the composer of “DEAD MEN” and this allows the film to recapture the feel of the era.  The script is a beautiful pastiche of the noir films of the era and deliciously captures and sends-up the classics of this period, largely helped by the multiple uses of Humphrey Bogart in a number of his classic films “DARK PASSAGE”, “IN A LONELY PLACE” and my favourite of the three “THE BIG SLEEP”.  The direction is flawless and puts Steve Martin effortlessly in every scene creating some memorable exchanges, so why has it been so forgotten?

Well, to be honest it may well be that the film is overlooked by it’s more successful counterpart “THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS” which is a more ridiculous and outlandish spoof of 50’s horror films that takes most of the plaudits.  This is probably why “DEAD MEN” doesn’t get the attention it so richly deserves.  

“DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID” is a wonderful tribute to the fantastically gritty yet elegant noir films of the 1940’s yet it also works as a fantastically clever comedy that is woefully unappreciated and one of the wonderful series of films that Steve Martin made around this time that started with “DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID” continued with “THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS” and concluded with “THE LONELY GUY” and finished with the wonderfully bizarre “ALL OF ME”, a time when Steve Martin was exceptional but nobody knew it (FYI The trailer at the bottom for "DEAD MEN" is AWESOME!)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2efDnLZjsk