MOVIE · 1982

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

ComedyCrimeMysteryThriller89 min

In a black-and-white world of hardboiled detectives and dangerous strangers, private eye Rigby Reardon is hired by Juliet Forrest to investigate her father’s death. What starts as a routine case turns into a maze of missing clues, double-crosses, and shadowy figures who keep pulling Reardon deeper into trouble. As he chases leads through smoky bars, back rooms, and dead ends, the mystery keeps tangling with the rules and rhythms of old Hollywood crime stories. Steve Martin’s detective stays perfectly straight-faced while the film twists classic noir setups into absurd detours, building a murder case that is both a puzzle and a send-up of the genre.