carl reiner 1982 pastiche on 1940 film noir have never receive it due a a genuinely clever and often hilarious salute to a genre that be ripe for satirical treatment . film in a rich black and white by michael chapman and the film unique intercuts footage from actual film of the period to make it seem like the then current actor be interact with the star of those movie . consequently and steve martin look convincingly like he talk to the like of humphrey bogart in the big sleep and james cagney in white heat and ingrid bergman in notorious and alan ladd in this gun for hire and burt lancaster in the killer and kirk douglas in i walk alone and fred macmurray in double indemnity and and several others . the result mean there be some contrived plot turn and certainly variation in the graininess of the film stock ( since 1982 be still well before the enhanced computer graphic we see today ) and but the film be still quite a kick after a quarter century . the basic plot be straightforward . rigby reardon be a classic and world weary gumshoe in the philip marlowe mold and who be hire by the beautiful and mysterious juliet forrest to find out who kill her father and a renowned cheese scientist . the story get complicate because a number of random character be introduce through the creative editing of the classic film clip . reardon meet up with some familiar face and and just to watch their non reaction to reardon antic be worthwhile in itself . credit need to go to the smart screenplay co write by reiner and martin and george gipe . most of the scene and originally intend a straight melodrama in their original context and have be turn into uproarious slapstick comedy routine ( include martin in drag a barbara stanwyck blonde femme fatale from double indemnity ) and wicked double entendres and shrewdly off kilter dialogue scene . the film climax lift a long dramatic sequence from 1949 the bribe in which ava gardner and charles laughton and vincent price actually appear to be play more substantial role in this movie . in what be probably my favorite of his early screen performance and martin have a good time a bogie wannabe reardon and gratefully harness the manic energy he display in his previous collaboration with reiner and the jerk . just before she break out big in the thorn bird and the stunning rachel ward lend a hint of welcome sarcasm to the sexy and bacall like languor she provide a juliet and tap into a genuine comedy talent rarely use since . reni santoni have the only other role of significance a the grinning captain rodriguez and who get entirely too preoccupy with reardon pajama . legendary costume designer edith head do her final work on this film and which be fit since she do many of the costume on the early film . the 1999 dvd unfortunately have no extra .