judithh-1 No one has noted that Steve Martin is parodying the character of Rigby in "The Bribe." A number of scenes are taken directly from the earlier film such as Reardon being slipped a mickey. The final scenes are actual footage from the bribe with Martin instead of Robert Taylor. Martin, however, is a poor substitute for Taylor.Some of the old film footage is also from "The Bribe," scenes including Ava Gardner and Charles Laughton. Martin is also standing in for Taylor in the scenes from "Johnny Eager." Rachel Ward's hair also seems to me to be an eighties take on Ava Gardner in "The Bribe." The strangling scene derives from another Taylor movie, "High Wall."The film isn't to my taste but it is well done. The editing in of stars of the past is seamless. Just give Robert Taylor a thought when you're watching it.

secondtake Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)I'm a film noir buff. Fanatic. Devotee. So I really loved how this movie was made--not what happens in it, but the main trick of inserting real film noir clips with new footage starring Steve Martin. When it first happens (with Alan Ladd) it's like, what? Is this for real? And then it keeps happening, usually with easy cuts where the original noir shows someone on the phone and it can cut to Martin talking on the phone, or with two people on each side of a room or a door, the camera changing positions and allowing the cuts from one world to the other. In a few special cases they get fancier, like the Cary Grant insert--you'll have to see about that. (I just corrected the wikipedia page on this note.)I also think the director (and co-writer) Rob Reiner makes the new footage (which is 90 percent of the movie) take on an authentic black and white feel--heavy shadows, moving camera, and so on. Martin of course is a somewhat comic version of a film noir hero or anti-hero (this movie is a spoof overall) but he's got more presence than you might expect. It's smart and respectful and well done.What it lacks is a genuine plot. The many various clips require such somersaulting to work them into the script, any hope of an overarching drama is dashed. I found myself watching just to watch, and to wonder who would get included next. Martin's sidekick played by Rachel Ward is a bit drab, too, if pretty (she was a model) and is for some reason very English, a big monkeywrench in the film noir universe. Steve Martin deserves some admiration for pulling this off. There is not only a filming continuity needed but one of acting and delivery, which he masters. Now if only he and Reiner had a plot to carry the thing through as a movie, and not just a big, sophisticated, beautiful gag.

timniles-463-924771 In the autumn of 1983 I was visiting Minnesota, and rented this tape. My mother and I watched it (I was 33 then) together. She had obviously seen many of the films used as comic counterpoint to the Martin/Ward side and seen them in THEATRES! Anyway, there was laughter throughout the playback. The scenes that stand out are like the one where Ward's character reads the back of a newspaper that Rigby is reading... and faints. THEN Rigby muses a bit before 'massaging' her breasts... which wakes Ward up "What are you doing?" "Uhhh, when you fell, your breasts were knocked out of whack. I'm trying to re-align them." Or words to that effect. Then at some point Rigby has to think up a name for a saint... and he hesitates for a few beats and then says "Saint Betty." OK, I admit, my mother's name was Betty, so it had more comic impact.The other comments about razor edged inter-cutting of scenes (for comic effect) are very accurate. This was a very good movie to watch straight through, without interruptions.About the "Zelig" film. While that film didn't make as deft use of stock footage, Woody and his technical people were VERY good at inserting the Zelig character into the stock footage itself. So while there are similarities to the two films, to my recollection, there were no Martin scenes inside the film noir excerpts. I think that there was a later Allen film that pretty much sucked where he tried to do large scale image alterations, but Zelig - with the first class narrative done BY a documentary/news personality - made it's points, both as comedy and social commentary.I'll probably check out Zelig and this one on the near future.

Neil Welch To explain, should it be necessary, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a black and white crime thriller set in the 40s, starring Steve Martin and a host of the top noir actors and actresses of the 40s, created by taking assorted scenes from those classic movies of the past and hanging them on a framework of a newly written story centred on Martin's character.The idea is smart. The screenplay is smart in the way that it cleverly integrates the old and the new. The film is technically smart in the way it seamlessly joins footage shot in the 1980s with footage from various films shot 40 years earlier. And the performances are particularly smart in the way that they play to the knowing humour underlying the whole project which remaining true to the spirit of the originals.Oh, did I mention that it's very funny?