Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) VHS Movie Review

Listen to Analog Jones explain this one-joke film in our Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) VHS Movie Review.

Quick Facts
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid was released May 21, 1982, on a budget of $9 million and had a box office return of $18,196,170 million.

Top 5 Films in May 1982
1. $124 million, Rocky III
2. $57 million, Annie
3. $39.5 million, Conan the Barbarian
4. $23.6 million, The Road Warrior
5. $18.2 million, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Director: Carl Reiner
Producers: William E. McEuen, Richard McWhorter, David V. Picker
Writers: Carl Reiner, George Gipe, Steve Martin
Production Company: Aspen Film Society
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Cast
Steve Martin as Rigby Reardon
Rachel Ward as Juliet Forrest
George Gaynes as Dr. John Hay Forrest
Reni Santoni as Carlos Rodriguez
Adrian Ricard as Mildred
Carl Reiner as Field Marshal Wilfried von Kluck
Francis X. McCarthy as Waiter
Gene LeBell as Hood

Archive Footage
Alan Ladd as The Exterminator (from This Gun for Hire)
Barbara Stanwyck as Leona Hastings-Forrest (from Sorry, Wrong Number)
Ray Milland as Sam Hastings (from The Lost Weekend)
Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins (from The Killers & The Bribe)
Burt Lancaster as Swede Anderson (from The Killers)
Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe (from The Big Sleep, In a Lonely Place, and Dark Passage)
Cary Grant as the Handsome Guy (from Suspicion)
Ingrid Bergman as F.X. Huberman (from Notorious)
Veronica Lake as Monica Stillpond (from The Glass Key)
Bette Davis as Doris Devermont (from Deception)
Lana Turner as Jimmi Sue Altfeld (from Johnny Eager & The Postman Always Rings Twice)
Edward Arnold as Jimmi Sue's father (from Johnny Eager)
Kirk Douglas as Lead Thug (from I Walk Alone)
Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff (from Double Indemnity)
James Cagney as Captain Cody Jarrett (from White Heat)
Joan Crawford as Margaret (from Humoresque)
Charles Laughton as The Fat One Who Sweats A Lot (from The Bride)
Vincent Price as Rice (from The Bride)

VHS Box Summary
As the private eye of private eyes, Steve Martin is Rigby Reardon. He's tough, rough and ready to take on anything when Juliet Forrest (Rachael Ward) appears on the scene with a case: her father, a noted scientist, philanthropist and cheesemaker has died mysteriously. Reardon immediately smells a rat and follows a complex maze of clues that lead to the "Carlotta Lists." With a little help from his "friends," Alan Ladd, Barbara Stanwyck, Ray Milland, Burt Lancaster, Humphrey Bogart, Charles Laughton, etc., Reardon gets his man. An exciting, action-fun packed film the way 40's films used to be!

Trailers
None

Critical Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 78% based on reviews from 23 critics.

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