Runtime: 88 minutes
Directed by: Carl Reiner
(RIP)
Starring: Steve Martin,
Rachel Ward, Reiner, plus many screen stars of old in archival
footage that was edited into this movie
From: Universal
For a long while now I have been thinking of revisiting this movie;
the only time before last night had to be almost 15 years ago, so it was
long overdue. Unfortunately, it took Carl Reiner passing away at the
age of 98 for me to finally see it then log it on Letterboxd. In 2020
this is better appreciated by me after all the noir that has been viewed
between then and now. It is a great love letter to film noir that was
directed and co-written by Reiner along with a small yet important role
for him as an actor.
It has a great gimmick of a convoluted plot involving detective Steve Martin being asked by femme fatale Rachel Ward to investigate the death of her father... and archival footage from many different genre examples is seamlessly edited together to make it appear as if Martin is interacting w/ everyone from Cary Grant, Cagney & Lana Turner to Bogie, Bette Davis and Vincent Price. Of course there was plenty of manipulation and hoop-jumping to try and make it all fit into a tale that is satirically silly yet isn't illogical and still feels like a genre example set in the 1940's.
Plaid is a pretty amusing movie which has plenty of chuckles and thankfully only a few moments haven't aged so well. CLEANING WOMAN and its context is great. Martin and Ward's performances help sell this idea but I do also have to give plenty of credit to those in the production that not only successfully re-created this era, the old footage matches what was filmed new. The score, set design, costuming (from Edith Head; this was her last movie), editing, etc. was all done pretty well so all credit to Reiner and everyone else. Carl is a comedy legend so I was happy to pay tribute to him but the entire crew gets kudos from me for connecting together something that does feel like a period piece and uses disparate footage from 19 random movies dating from 1941 to 1950.
Those that love film noir and/or some to many of the stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood that appear here, this will probably be a treat for you.
It has a great gimmick of a convoluted plot involving detective Steve Martin being asked by femme fatale Rachel Ward to investigate the death of her father... and archival footage from many different genre examples is seamlessly edited together to make it appear as if Martin is interacting w/ everyone from Cary Grant, Cagney & Lana Turner to Bogie, Bette Davis and Vincent Price. Of course there was plenty of manipulation and hoop-jumping to try and make it all fit into a tale that is satirically silly yet isn't illogical and still feels like a genre example set in the 1940's.
Plaid is a pretty amusing movie which has plenty of chuckles and thankfully only a few moments haven't aged so well. CLEANING WOMAN and its context is great. Martin and Ward's performances help sell this idea but I do also have to give plenty of credit to those in the production that not only successfully re-created this era, the old footage matches what was filmed new. The score, set design, costuming (from Edith Head; this was her last movie), editing, etc. was all done pretty well so all credit to Reiner and everyone else. Carl is a comedy legend so I was happy to pay tribute to him but the entire crew gets kudos from me for connecting together something that does feel like a period piece and uses disparate footage from 19 random movies dating from 1941 to 1950.
Those that love film noir and/or some to many of the stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood that appear here, this will probably be a treat for you.
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