Tags
American cinema, Carl Reiner, cinema, comedy, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, film noir, Kuleshov Effect, private eye, Steve Martin
The most delightful exploitation of the Kuleshov Effect, and most underrated, has to be Carl Reiner’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. This glorious homage to not only film noir but also the detective genre works so well because the comedy stands on its own, apart from playing with conventions from classic American cinema. Consider the following soliloquy from the pre-sell-out (e.g., Bringing Down the House, The Pink Panther, Cheaper By the Dozen, etc.) Steve Martin: “All dames are alike. They reach down your throat so they can grab your heart. They pull it out, they throw it on the floor and they step on it with their high heels. They spit on it, shove it in the oven and they cook the shit out of it. Then they slice it into little pieces, slam it onto a hunk of toast and they serve it to you. And they expect you to say, ‘Thanks, honey, it’s delicious.’ Well, it’s not delicious, Juliet Forrest. It’s rotten.”
"It's my business to know, Miss Forrest."
"It smelled like the number on the door."
“Swede wasn’t living in luxury. As a matter of fact — for a moment — I thought he wasn’t living at all.”