Shades of "The Big Sleep", another and better known Bogart film, "Dead Reckoning" may not be as convoluted as it's precursor, but it will leave you asking just as many questions. Can you really come away from the film knowing who killed Stuart Chandler? By the time it's over we have three confessions over 'who done it', and each is patently logical, so take your pick and have some fun with this one.
As a cab driver and Army Captain, Warren 'Rip' Murdock (Bogey) makes a great detective. As in "The Maltese Falcon", when a guy's pal is killed, a guy ought to do something about it. The pal in question is introduced as Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince), a fellow paratrooper whisked out of Germany along with Murdock to receive a 'Congressional' upon his Captain's recommendation. Trouble is, that might reveal his true identity, that of John Joseph Preston, Yale 40 as established by a university pin that Murdock sees by accident.
When Preston/Drake winds up burned to a crisp in an auto wreck, the sordid trail leads Murdock to a sultry blonde, a gangster style club owner and a police lieutenant who seems to be everywhere. All the characters seem to be stand ins for more familiar Bogart supporting players; Lizabeth Scott for Lauren Bacall, Morris Carnovsky for Sidney Greenstreet, and Charles Cane for Barton MacLane or Ward Bond. Sanctuary Club owner Martinelli (Carnovsky) even employs an over-sized Peter Lorre type named Krause (Marvin Miller), who's main talent seems to be inflicting bodily harm.
Most of the film employs a single flashback told in largely narrative style by Bogart's character, and to a priest no less while he's on the lam from mobsters and the law. It's generally done effectively, but I would have preferred more of the trademark 'Falcon' repartee from Bogey's character, though there is plenty of that too. The film hits stride when it catches up to real time right outside the Southern Hotel as the German lug Krause belts Captain Kincaid allowing Murdock to beat a hasty retreat; it's at that point where the movie started.
You'll be hard pressed to come across a more chauvinistic description of women than the one Murdock shares with Coral 'Dusty' Chandler (Scott). In an odd way, she seemed to buy it, the analogy to a four inch pocket pal notwithstanding. The writers seemed to like it too, the comparison was used at least a couple more times in the story. That, and the old 'Geronimo' line, a not so subtle reference to Murdock's paratroop days.
Though the movie's comparisons to "The Big Sleep" and "The Maltese Falcon" are transparent to Bogart fans, how about the short scene in the convertible with Dusty driving and Murdock a passenger? That one looked like it was ripped from the Paris auto scene in "Casablanca", though I don't recall Ingrid Bergman tossing her hair around so much. Later, Murdock finds a way to throw in a casual literal analogy - "My bet's on you, kid".
For film noir fans, "Dead Reckoning" is a story full of the old cross and double cross, splendidly told in a way that leaves more questions than answers. By the time it's over, you're invested enough in the characters to be put off balance by the way it ends. Murdock turns out to be every bit as effective as a Sam Spade or a Phillip Marlowe, even if he does have to rely on a bag with a persuader and a couple of coaxes.
As a cab driver and Army Captain, Warren 'Rip' Murdock (Bogey) makes a great detective. As in "The Maltese Falcon", when a guy's pal is killed, a guy ought to do something about it. The pal in question is introduced as Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince), a fellow paratrooper whisked out of Germany along with Murdock to receive a 'Congressional' upon his Captain's recommendation. Trouble is, that might reveal his true identity, that of John Joseph Preston, Yale 40 as established by a university pin that Murdock sees by accident.
When Preston/Drake winds up burned to a crisp in an auto wreck, the sordid trail leads Murdock to a sultry blonde, a gangster style club owner and a police lieutenant who seems to be everywhere. All the characters seem to be stand ins for more familiar Bogart supporting players; Lizabeth Scott for Lauren Bacall, Morris Carnovsky for Sidney Greenstreet, and Charles Cane for Barton MacLane or Ward Bond. Sanctuary Club owner Martinelli (Carnovsky) even employs an over-sized Peter Lorre type named Krause (Marvin Miller), who's main talent seems to be inflicting bodily harm.
Most of the film employs a single flashback told in largely narrative style by Bogart's character, and to a priest no less while he's on the lam from mobsters and the law. It's generally done effectively, but I would have preferred more of the trademark 'Falcon' repartee from Bogey's character, though there is plenty of that too. The film hits stride when it catches up to real time right outside the Southern Hotel as the German lug Krause belts Captain Kincaid allowing Murdock to beat a hasty retreat; it's at that point where the movie started.
You'll be hard pressed to come across a more chauvinistic description of women than the one Murdock shares with Coral 'Dusty' Chandler (Scott). In an odd way, she seemed to buy it, the analogy to a four inch pocket pal notwithstanding. The writers seemed to like it too, the comparison was used at least a couple more times in the story. That, and the old 'Geronimo' line, a not so subtle reference to Murdock's paratroop days.
Though the movie's comparisons to "The Big Sleep" and "The Maltese Falcon" are transparent to Bogart fans, how about the short scene in the convertible with Dusty driving and Murdock a passenger? That one looked like it was ripped from the Paris auto scene in "Casablanca", though I don't recall Ingrid Bergman tossing her hair around so much. Later, Murdock finds a way to throw in a casual literal analogy - "My bet's on you, kid".
For film noir fans, "Dead Reckoning" is a story full of the old cross and double cross, splendidly told in a way that leaves more questions than answers. By the time it's over, you're invested enough in the characters to be put off balance by the way it ends. Murdock turns out to be every bit as effective as a Sam Spade or a Phillip Marlowe, even if he does have to rely on a bag with a persuader and a couple of coaxes.