Classic Spoofs: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Well, Christmas is upon us and I thought something lighthearted would be fun to post considering the time of year. I recently rediscovered Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), Carl Reiner’s spoof of classic film noirs and detective fiction of the 40s and 50s, and I’ve embedded one of the funniest scenes below. There have been many spoofs of film noir, but this one really is unique as Reiner merges contemporary footage of Steve Martin playing private detective Rigby Reardon with footage of actors such as Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Alan Ladd from classic film noir’s such as White Heat (1949), The Big Sleep (1946) and This Gun for Hire (1942). In one of my favourite scenes below, Rigby visits Swede Anderson, played by Burt Lancaster in one of the famous scenes in The Killers (1946), but as Rigby is in the kitchen making Swede one of his famous ‘javas’ two gunmen burst into the room. The film is so gloriously silly that it needs to be watched and not explained. Enjoy:
The Venetian Vase 
I agree – great spoof and food movie. 😀
grrr, bad typing – I meant good movie – although the eggs in the pan of coffee might qualify as food? movie
Thanks Jullie,
I think it’s a great movie, although after rewatching it recently for the first time in years it wasn’t quite as funny as I remember it.