Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid [DVD]

What great bit of editing with old films, for the time well done.

This is a brilliantly funny film - and SO clever. The editing with old films to make it seem like the (now, sadly long-gone) actors from the golden age of Hollywood are conversing with the protagonist is like fantastic. How on earth they did it and who thought of the dialogue (probably a good deal of input from the wonderfully talented Steve Martin there) are beyond me. All I can say is that it's a golden not-so-oldie that bears watching time and again.

DMDWP is a black and white film noir comedy that uses footage from real film noir from the 40s and 50s and intercuts them with the plot to make it appear that Steve Martin is really talking to/acting with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, James Cagney etc. The effect is not quite 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 cheesemaker. 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 sequel.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 Region 1 DVD is sadly in non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen with Dolby 2.0 surround (the UK DVD is in fullscreen). 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. Though I think the b&w photography would look brilliant in 1080p. But I have a feeling you'll be waiting forever on a Blu Ray.

A lot of ‘highly rated’ comedies let you down, however, I found this one genuinely funny and it tickled me pink! Great on the eye, due to all the old cameos from the stars & films of the past, (great to see Bert & Humphrey, among others), it is also shot in a very clear B&W.The main draw of the film for me was the brilliant rapport between Steve Martin (Rigby), and Rachel Ward (Juliet) – who is an English rose from Oxfordshire. I found them quite a compelling duo - their comedy acting just mesmerizingly brilliant! Come on … we all wanted them to be an item in the end!Lots of classic gags, a zany story line, and as I say, just wonderful comedy on the eye and inter-play between the two main protagonists. The opening sequences are so funny and it just rolls on from there. Any thing less than 5 stars would be an insult!

Brilliant to watch ! Humour was a cross between 'Airplane' and 'Austin Powers'. Avoided watching for years, but glad we finally got around to watching it ! haven't always liked Steve Martin in certain films as his acting humorous feels a little forced, but in this type of spoof of that genre of detective movies he was brilliant and the perfect fit.

Came yesterday, and was on within 2 hours. A great film for those who love the golden age of Hollywood and film noir in general. Here you get the insane jokes from other Steve Martin films thrown in.

This is Rob Reiner's comical tribute to the great Hollywood Film Noir classics. Steve Martin plays Rigby Reardon, a hard-bitten L.A. private eye. All the jokes depend on placing Rearden's character into scenes from black and white movies of the forties and fifties, making him appear with Bogart as Sam Spade, in drag as Jimmy Cagney's mother and much else besides. The story is absurdly stitched together and is hardly seamless, but works best if you try to name the film clip as you go along. It can also be enjoyed for its own sake, especially with the running gags. But I can't give the game away. This is a film for film buffs and for anyone just looking for a good laugh. It was a very clever concept, and works pretty well.

I've been waiting for years to finally see this on bluray and I haven't been disappointed, lovely to look at although it does make the transition from new and old footage a bit more obvious but overall a well worth upgrade from my worn out Dvd copy. It's a shame that the only extra is the theatrical trailer as I was looking forward to commentaries,gag reel, making of etc....oh well, I suppose you can have too much of a good thing.