An utterly ingenious homage to film noir that meticulously stitches together classics of the genre with a brilliantly absurdist original story, DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID (1982) features a parade of “appearances” from cinema’s greatest screen legends – including several of those named by the American Film Institute among the 100 greatest screen stars of all time, such as Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Cary Grant, Ava Gardner and Burt Lancaster, as well as AFI Life Achievement Award honorees Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas and Barbara Stanwyck. Directed by the legendary Carl Reiner, the film was cowritten – and stars! – a more contemporary recipient of AFI’s highest honor for a career in film, the inimitable Steve Martin.
Learn more about DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID in the AFI Catalog.
