Dead Reckoning
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.73 You Save: $6.22 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $7.42 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Dead Reckoning
Movie Review: Bogart, A Wisp Of Jasmine And An Acceptable Noir
Summary: 4 Stars
Captain Warren 'Rip' Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) and his friend Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince) are on their way to Washington right after the war for reasons they haven't been told. But on the train, they learn that Drake is going to receive the Medal of Honor. Drake realizes the publicity he'll get, and the next moment he's jumped off the train and disappeared. Murdock can't figure it out. He remembers the small enameled medallion Drake always carried with the name John Joseph Preston engraved on it. He knows something is wrong, and he's determined to track his friend down. Murdock winds up in Gulf City a few days later, staring at a corpse burned beyond recognition lying in the morgue. And he learns the only thing found on the body was a small lump of melted metal with enamel on it.
The movie is grade B noir, made watchable by a strong Bogart performance and a story line that almost compensates for noticeable weaknesses.
When Murdock investigates what drove Johnny to leave Gulf City and join the army, then come rushing back, he discovers a beautiful widow, Dusty Chandler (Lizabeth Scott), an unscrupulous gambler, Mr. Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky) and Martinelli's goon (Marvin Miller), who likes to administer brutal beatings to soft music. Murdock has to keep his guard up; he can't quite figure Dusty out. It turns out Drake, who's real name was John Preston, voluntarily took the fall for her when her wealthy husband was shot and then ran out before the trial. Did Dusty really love Johnny or was she just using him? Murdock meets her at Martinelli's supper club, buys her a drink and invites her to dance while he tells her of Johnny's death. "I wanted her in my arms," Murdock says in flashback, "while I told her. My right hand on her spine would feel the shock if there was any. She'd tested pure so far, but so did another girl I knew once, right up to the dollar."
"Tell me where you saw him...please," Dusty begs. "On a slab in the morgue, burned to a crisp," Murdock tells her.
"Her whole body," Murdock tells us, "had gone soft as custard when I slugged her with it, but I kept thinking -- she has to know something." It turns out that she does. This leads to more murder, beatings and betrayal. The worms of doubt and distrust dine well.
The drawbacks to the movie are due in part to Scott's performance. She was, in my view, a limited actress. We don't know which way she's going in the movie, good girl or bad, until the end, but she just doesn't create the kind of anticipatory tension that some other actresses could create with Bogart. She has a great husky voice, an nice overbite and a cultured accent halfway between Bryn Mawr and a lisp.
Bogart was at his best, I think, when he had strong, vivid actors to play off of. They accentuated his own unique style. Not only does Scott seem a little pallid, the other actors don't strike many sparks with Bogart, either. Carnovsky makes a smooth villain but not a vivid one. Marvin Miller simply doesn't carry much menace as an enforcer. The others, with the exception of Wallace Ford as a semi-reformed safe cracker, are all interchangeable with dozens of other Hollywood character actors.
On balance, if you like Forties noir and Bogart you will probably enjoy the movie. Just be prepared for some flaws. I like it well enough to have bought it. There are no extras to speak of. The DVD picture looks just fine.
Movie Review: Post-War Bogart in a Derivative Yet Gripping Film Noir
Summary: 4 Stars
If Humphrey Bogart had ever decided to film one of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer thrillers, it would have turned out something like 1947's DEAD RECKONING. Although it's not actually based on a book, John Cromwell's tautly-directed film noir owes more than a little of its plotting and characterization to earlier classic crime novels-turned-classic Bogart movies. Indeed, when my husband entered the room while the film was on, he began watching it with me and soon asked, "Is this THE BIG SLEEP, or THE MALTESE FALCON?" However, DEAD RECKONING is steeped in the kind of bitter post-war viciousness that distinguished Mickey Spillane's writing -- not that there's anything wrong with that! :-) Bogart commands the screen as Captain Rip Murdock, a former Army paratrooper (lots of colorful references to parachutes and jumping here) and one of the most misogynistic good guys he ever played (not that you can blame Rip, after the wringer he's put through in this film). Captain Rip starts out trying to find out why his Sergeant and pal Johnny Drake (William Prince) has a Yale pin with the name "John Joseph Preston" on it, and more importantly, why Johnny bolts rather than accept his Congressional Medal of Honor for his wartime heroism. Rip's investigation leads him to Gulf City, Tropical Paradise of the South (don't take my word for it, check out the neon sign in the upper right-hand corner of the screen in the opening establishing shot :-), where he's quickly sucked into a whirlpool of secrets, double-crossing, murder, and such inventive mayhem as tossing Molotov cocktails at sinister smoothie Morris Carnovsky and his psycho henchman Marvin (THE MILLIONAIRE) Miller to make them talk. Standing in for quintessential Bogart leading lady Lauren Bacall is Lizabeth Scott as mysterious chanteuse Coral Chandler, the kind of dame guys go gaga for against their better judgment (she's got so many pet names from her various beaux that the first time I saw the film, I wasn't quite sure if her name was "Coral," "Dusty," or, of all things, "Mike"!). While Scott's no Bacall (sorry, Scott fans, but to my ears, her husky voice always sounds more phlegmy than sultry. Every time Scott speaks, I half-expect someone to offer her a cough drop!), she's certainly chock full of luminous blonde beauty, plus Scott has an air of wounded vulnerability that makes me empathize with her in spite of myself. Sometimes the film is gloriously, deliriously nutzoid -- for instance, Bogart's speech to Scott early on about how men should be able to reduce women to pocket-size when necessary, and Scott's interpretation of this theory, must be heard to be believed -- but when DEAD RECKONING works, it's dynamite (literally, when Bogart and Scott join forces with safecracker/explosives expert Wallace Ford)! Even when things get ugly, this movie is always gorgeous to look at, thanks to the stunning use of shadows and light in Leo Tover's black-and-white photography. If you love Bogart and you like your film noir grim yet glamorous and over-the-top at times, DEAD RECKONING is well worth a rental or checking out the bargain bins.
Movie Review: A Sultry Femme Fatale, Entertaining Plot, but No Depth.
Summary: 4 Stars
"Dead Reckoning" is a story told half in flashback by Captain Rip Murdock (Humphrey Bogart), a paratrooper just returned from combat in World War II. In the Southern town of Gulf City, Murdock is beaten up and on the run. Eluding his pursuers, he enters a church and tells his story to a priest so that, whatever may come, someone will know: A few days before, Murdock and a paratrooper under his command, Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince), were whisked home from Paris and put on a train to Washington, D.C., where Sgt. Drake was to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. But Drake took off while the train was stopped, and Murdock set out to find him. He followed Drake to Gulf City, where he discovered that Drake was a fugitive before he enlisted, having confessed to the murder of his girlfriend's husband. Murdock finds the girlfriend, Coral Chandler (Lizabeth Scott), in a nightclub owned by a man named Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky), who has a mysterious hold over Coral.
"Dead Reckoning" is entertaining but not thematically sophisticated. The dialogue is fine, but not clever or sharp. The character writing is superficial. This isn't top-tier film noir, but it does have Humphrey Bogart's charisma and Lizabeth Scott's sultry voice and great looks. Coral Chandler is one of the most manipulative femme fatales in film noir. In fact, she is the center of the film's only discernible theme: You can't trust women. I've rarely seen a film with such an overt anti-female premise. Normally I find femme fatales to be a refreshingly unsentimental image of women. But Murdock is relentless in proclaiming women to be deceitful and castigating Coral. -And he falls under her spell anyway. So it's all very amusing. "Dead Reckoning" isn't a great film, but it's solid entertainment with high-power stars.
The DVD (Columbia/Tristar 2002): The print of the film is good, but not restored. There are some small white specks, but not enough to be distracting. Bonus features include "The Bogart Collection" (4 minutes), which is scrolling text about Bogart's career followed by some posters of his films. "Vintage Advertising" is 3 posters for the film. Subtitles for the film are available in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Korean.
Movie Review: Bogart is the best thing about this noir
Summary: 4 Stars
Humphrey Bogart's performance in this film is what makes it rise above 2.5 or 3 stars out of 5. Columbia is obviously trying to replicate the elements of the types of films that Bogart did so well in the 1940's over at Warner Brothers. The oddest thing about this film is Bogart's dialogue, especially during his voice-overs. At times it comes on so strong as to approach a parody of Bogart as Bogart. If any other actor were speaking this dialogue it might evoke laughter if not confusion, yet Humphrey Bogart makes it work.
Here Bogart is paratrooper Rip Murdock, just recently home from the war with Sergeant Johnny Drake, who is to receive the Congressional medal of honor. However, when Drake disappears right before the ceremony, Murdock gets permission from his superiors to find out what happened to his usually reliable friend and fellow soldier. Murdock follows his buddy's trail to Gulf City, a bar and gambling joint there that is run by a mobster, the girl that stole Johnny's heart - young and beautiful - and wealthy - widow Dusty Chandler (Lizabeth Scott), and a trail of clues fraught with mystery and murder. It's rather obvious that Lizabeth Scott is Columbia's answer to Lauren Bacall in this one, and that gangster Martinelli and henchman Krauss are attempting to duplicate the types of roles played by Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre in Bogart's successful Warner pictures. Although these three can't begin to match their Warner counterparts, and at times Scott painfully overacts, they do lend enough credible support to give Bogey a framework in which to play an interesting character in a rather intriguing mystery that has plenty of atmosphere.
The video is darker than I expected. The film is better than public domain quality, but it lacks the clarity and contrast I would expect from a studio release of a classic film.
Movie Review: Sure we love Bacall, but she gets a run for her money with Scott-
Summary: 4 Stars
Not a few Lizabeth Scott-bashers lurk here in Review Land, and that had a definite effect on my expectations before I watched this movie...I wanted to see Bogart's performance, but overall I truly expected a dusty, mediocre film with a really awful performance by this dame who has been repeatedly (and repeatedly, and repeatedly) put down as a Bacall wannabe. Honest, I was all set not to like it, and then move on. Well, guys,gotta tell you: it kept my interest all the way through, even with some unevenness in the plot--some things seemed to fall into place a little too easily for our hero--but then they only had 100 minutes to tell a story. You still want to see what happens, and that's exactly what a movie is supposed to do. Bogie here is still Bogie---any similarities to his other noir roles is a plus, rather than a minus. He fills the bill. And Miss Scott: sounds to this reviewer that most of the naysayers were just peeved that she WASN'T Lauren Bacall. I like Mrs. Bogart as much as the next guy, but give Scott a break ---she does a very credible job here, (in spite of looking unnaturally beautiful after a serious car crash...but that's not her fault)and she possesses all the necessary femme fatale qualities: attitude, mystery,slinkiness,throaty voice,and great hair framing her dangerous angel face. Here, early in her career, she is no less effective in her role than Lauren Bacall was, at the start of her career a few years before. Yes, she is a convincing dark lady, and this is an entertaining story. It has all the classic elements and deserves at least one viewing by anyone who likes noir. Not all films can be at the top of the heap, but a lot of good ones are solidly in the middle and it'd be a shame to miss them. I'm going to see this again, and very possibly will buy it-----