Cheap Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (DVD) (Steve Martin, Rachel Ward) (Carl Reiner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

A Great Idea!
For the past several years, Steve Martin's comedies have been basically fun, mainstream outings ('Father of the Bride,' 'Parenthood,' etc.). A lot of people may not remember that early in his film career, Martin participated in a lot of experimentation and risk-taking. 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' was one of those early risks in which a story was constructed (sort of) around several classic film clips. Carl Reiner and Martin shot scenes designed to fit into those they borrowed from the classics so that their story of private eye Martin looked credible. The result is a very good idea that works for about half of the film. Martin spouts off some great one-liners and some pretty good sight gags, but the strength of the film is in it's tribute to the Golden Era of filmmaking, made even more memorable by the Rozza score and the Edith Head costumes (her last film).

The plot is really ridiculous and beside the point, but the movie is a lot of fun. I appreciated at the time and still appreciate the risks that Martin took with this and all his early films. I think that maybe 10 or 20 years from now, Martin films like this one, 'The Jerk,' 'The Man With Two Brains' and others will be seen as innovative and ground-breaking.

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Top Of The World Ma!
Long before Hollywood dazzled us with CGI effects,there was "Detecto-Vision"™! Steve Martin was at the top of his game when he made this clever collage! ( with the help of Carl Reiner.). Using a montage of 1940's gangster film noirs,and cleverly grafting them into his own detective story,a clever comedy is born. Steve Martin is Rigby Reardon a down on his luck detective,who gets his big break when a famous scientist and cheese maker,meets a mysterious death! Rachel Ward,Carl Reiner,and Renni Santori ( Seinfelds'"Poppi" ),are all a part of the mystery and intrigue that follow. ( As well as nearly every hollywood star from the 40's.). See!Kirk Douglas have Rigby Reardon beaten! See! Fred MacMurray put the moves on Rigby Reardon! See! A disguise so clever it fools James Cagney! See! Rigby Reardon get turned down by Bette Davis,Veronica Lake,Ingrid Bergman,and a bevvy of Hollywood beauties! If you love the old gangster films,you'll love this tribute to a by-gone era. So exacting is this film,they hired Edith Head to do the costumes, ( she costumed most of the original source films.),and even went so far as to duplicate,perfectly,all of the old sets. You won't be disappointed with this one!

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My favorite Steve Martin movie of them all...
Steve Martin and Rachel Ward are almost too funny for words in this one. With this film, Carl Reiner did to 40's film noir what Mel Brooks did to Star Wars with his Spaceballs -- though I'd say that Reiner's Dead Men Don't far excels Spaceballs. This, as while Mel Brooks uses some great one-liners and sight gags in his send-up of space flicks, Reiner's brilliant pastiche of old clips from classic films (complete with Bogart, Cagney, Milland, etc.) cut together with Steve Martin acting against these scenes is simply astounding in its technical acheievement while being some of the funniest moments ever put to film. This is Steve Martin at his best and Rachel Ward is stunningly beautiful -- with her beauty punctuating her delivery of key scenes in a way that only compounds the comedy, as you'd never expect to see something like this in real life. When she removes the bullets from a wounded Steve Martin, you just have to break out damned near belly laughing. The whole effect works brilliantly and the writing, filming, costumes and acting all work together in a seamless work that is one of the most under-rated films of all time. Thanks for putting it on DVD, I'd about worn my VHS copy out over the years of playing.