Dead Reckoning

Film Noir and Humphry Bogart, a match
The DVD transfer is fair to good. There are noticeable scratches but not bad enough to disturb the viewer. There is a little too much grain in the grey areas but, once again, the film will be good enough to watch. How do you make a fairly standardized noir better, you cast Humphrey Bogart in the lead. Adding 50's femme fatale, Lizabeth Scott doesn't hurt either. Capt. "Rip Murdock" (Bogie) is taking one of his men, Johnny Drake (William Prince) to receive the Medal of Honor when the man jumps the train and runs off. Rip vows to find the answers to his soldier's disappearance. After discovering that the Drake was involved in a sordid murder just before he enlisted, Rip heads into the dark underworld to get some answers. There he meats the local underlord, Martinelli (Morris Carvnosky) a couple of thugs and signer Dusty Chandler (Liz Scott) who was the wife of the original murder victim. After Rip finds Drake's charred body in the morgue, Rip know voes to get all the answers. From there he is caught in a quicksand of gangsters, molls, murders and betrayal. Ordinarily, the film would get 3 stars since many of the plot motivations or scenes are things we've seen elsewhere. But the presence of Humphrey Bogart raises this one to 4 starts. I would say this is a keeper. Recommended for: film noir fans, Humphrey Bogart fans, Lizabeth Scott fans and mystery fans. Not for young children

Good Start & Finish But Uninvolving Overall
The bulk of this film, the middle of it, was just too slow for me, hence the so-so and somewhat-generous 3-stars rating. The beginning and endings were very good, especially several scenes in the final half hour. There were several twists concerning Lizabeth Scott's character that kept you guessing. There were other things going for this film, such as Humphrey Bogart's narration. He had a lot of good lines in here, either narrating or talking to others. He and Scott were the stars but some of the supporting players also were great, such as Morris Carnovsky as the tough-guy aide, "Martinelli. " Also, they may not be big names but Charles Cane, William Prince, Marin Miller, Wallace Ford and James Bell all added nice performance here. Yet, with all this going for it, I didn't find the film as involving as it should have been. It too flat in the middle of the film. Perhaps another look someone will change my mind.

Bogart at his best !
I have close to 30 Bogart movies on DVD/VHS and "Dead Reckoning" may be my favorite, behind "The Big Sleep" only ! The noir style along with the best dialogue I have ever heard and it doesn't get much better than Lizabeth Scott. Always wondered what this movie would have been like with Lauren Bacall. A Bogart masterpiece !

Great movie!
I'm a big Bogart fan, but this is one I'd never seen before. Lizabeth Scott's hair, makeup, basically entire look was reminiscent of Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not." Bogart was perfect -- great flick!

Echoes of Bogart's earlier films
Dead Reckoning will be enjoyed by any Bogart fan, though it's not one of his best films. Very nice to see his friendly enthusiasm with another character toward the beginning of the film, and that moment where he (almost)lets himself fall in love with the femme fatale near the end. I was fascinated by several instances where the writers directly lift dialog or scenes from Bogart's earlier films with Bacall and also from the closing scene of the Maltese Falcon. The film is not a parody, but it's borrowing so directly from others gives it a very interesting sense of deja vu, and makes the viewer wonder exactly what they were up to in doing this. I hadn't heard of the film before, so was very pleased to discover another film by Bogart many years after first watching his films on my little black and white set on Five All Night, Boston's first all-night station way back when!