Before I go any further, "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" has got to be one of the greatest movie titles ever. I mean, we all agree on that, right? It's brilliant, and instantly spells out what kind of movie you're in for.I love that Steve Martin is playing the cynical P.I. yet he's always getting shot; it's his signature silliness through deadpan delivery. And he maintains an excellent banter with femme fatale Rachel Ward (who, by the way, is unbelievably attractive) while bungling his way through the case.It's completely conventional until the third act, when Martin ships off to South American and the Nazis show up. But that swtch-up just folds in nicely with the film's overall sense of humor. With this arsenal of memorable dialogue and the well-tuned jokes, this thing's just a guaranteed win.I love this movie.8/10

This is one that every fan of films noir has to see. It's a parody of the genre, in which Steve Martin plays a private eye and Rachel Ward his sexy client. Ward wants Martin to find out who killed her father. To do so, Martin must track down the list of names that is the only clue. So he meanders through an impossibly complicated plot and runs into numerous odd and dangerous people, just as in one of the originals.The people he meets and the situations in which Martin finds himself are represented by clips taken from noirs and semi-noirs, well known and some less well known. In his first encounter, for instance, there is a knock on his office door. "It's open," calls Martin. And it's Allan Ladd from "This Gun For Hire," in fedora and trench coat. Martin invites him to sit down. We see Ladd take a seat. "Have a cookie," suggests Martin, and Ladd picks up a cookie from the end table and munches it wordlessly. Then Ladd suddenly draws his automatic from a briefcase, Martin dashes into the next room and slams the door behind him, and Ladd shoots a hole through the door, then leaves.The other faux encounters are a little more complicated and require skillful integration into the nonsensical plot because the rest of the original actors have lines. Martin's behavior and dialog have to be suited to theirs. Thus, when Edward Arnold, out of "Johnny Eager", angrily orders Martin to "Pick that up!", Martin must have brought Arnold a puppy which has done it's business on the carpet. "But," Martin protests, "it's all wet and steamy." "PICK THAT UP!" It's like one of those all-star movies that were popular some years ago, rather on the order of "Around the World in Eighty Days," in which you wait for the next appearance of a genuine, historical noir figure and thrill quietly when it comes.The problem is that integrating clips from old noirs with a superimposed parody is that it's tough work making them funny in and of themselves. And so the encounters between Martin and Kirk Douglas and the rest aren't really very funny. The thrills are effective and short, and that's about it. The framing story has its moments but it's a long wait between funny lines and silly Three Stooges assaults.It's fine, seeing it once, but after that -- well, the thrill is gone.

I was really interested in seeing this movie, because I like film noir and I like Steve Martin. And you know what, this is a very clever and affectionate homage. My complaints are that the story is disappointingly convoluted so it is sometimes very hard to keep up with what is going on and one or two of the jokes don't quite work. But overall it is very funny, and seems to have held up well over the years. The script is clever and sophisticated enough, and Carl Reiner directs with precision and acts his part of Field Marshall VonKluck very well. The cinematography is smooth and crisp, and I thought the performances were excellent. Steve Martin is great here, not only do I think Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is underrated but this is one of his roles where Martin deserves a lot more credit. Rachel Ward looks lovely as Juliet Forrest and is terrific acting wise. The real joy is watching the archive footage of all those wonderful actors and actresses in those timeless masterpieces. Spotting stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Ray Milland, Vincent Price and Ingrid Bergman all but to name a few was a delight in itself. Also the finale while silly is great fun. All in all, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is well worth the look. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This demented one-of-a-kind comedy works best if you've seen 4 or 5 noir/hard boiled detective movies. Because at that point you begin to notice the plots become conflated and entangled. The gag is that with a bit of thought you can splice 20 of them together and get something pretty similar. The resulting mystery and detection results in a story that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but then lots of noirs don't make much sense (The Big Sleep, Somewhere in the Night, Dark Passage). For noir, the tone, the striking compositions and the moral code are much more important.Whoever pieced this together had a lot of fun with it. There's quite a range of different comedy to enjoy. Some of the funniest bits just involve the new footage (Martin's bleeding knees). Some of them are absurd/revisionist (Rachel Ward can hear Martin's voice-over narration) A whole lot of them involve the absurd plot lines introduced by the old footage, that then have to be integrated. Some running jokes are duds ("adjusting your breasts" Bogart and his ties). Others are awfully funny ("That's never gonna heal!") It also has some hysterical visuals (Martin's balletic dodge of Alan Ladd's bullet). Some of the patches are funny; Martin is constantly correcting people when they get his name wrong (because they're talking to other characters in other films) The two best comic moments involve a unique way to make coffee, and Martin's hopeless, post-rejection assessment of women. All of this is ten floors above the usual Adam Sandler dross.If an academic ever gave this its due as the first instance of meta, or at least an example of intertextuality, it would have more respect. If you've seen it more than once, it's interesting to see why - not just plot points - but visuals have to be introduced, sometimes quite smoothly. i.e. Martin gets drugged and offers to put on his pajama top (over his suit) because it's needed to match the schmo he's doubling in the next vintage clip. Too funny. You don't need to think hard at all to enjoy this, but if you like thoughtful movies, this offers a bonus level to consider.On the minus side, Reni Santoni is irritating and certifiably untalented. He doesn't deliver a single laugh.