Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982)

Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Directed by Carl Reiner
Written by Carl Reiner, George Gipe and Steve Martin
1982/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube rental

Rigby Reardon: Carlotta was the kind of town where they spell trouble T-R-U-B-I-L, and if you try to correct them, they kill you.

This should have been better than it is.

The film is a spoof of classic film noir.  Steve Martin plays private eye Rigby Reardon.  He has been hired by Juliet Forrest (Rachel Ward) find her father’s killer. The story is interspersed with scenes from films noir in which Steve Martin is inserted.  So he meets up with Humphrey Bogart, Veronica Lake, Alan Ladd, etc. etc.  The humor is broad and often dirty.  With Carl Reiner as a butler.

This movie didn’t work for me.  It’s like Reiner got so caught up in his gimmick that he didn’t bother to make the underlying story interesting.  I also didn’t find it particularly funny but that’s always such a subjective thing.  The movie got two “no” votes from Gene and Roger.