After finishing the huge hit, The Big Sleep (1946), Humphrey Bogart went to work on an undistinguished pictured called Dead Reckoning (1947). Like many Hollywood Golden Age stars, this would be a common theme of Bogie’s career. Making one outstanding picture, but then following it up with one or two that had stories and directors below his talent level.
With actors not being able to choose which movies they could appear in, the studios controlled an actor’s career. This is one of the main reasons why the studio system was abolished. Today, modern stars have the ability to choose which movies they want to appear in. If they decide to act in a movie that is below their talents, then that is a decision they can make. People like Bogart never had that option.
At this point in his career, Bogie had script approval. He also had a deal where he could movies with other companies outside of Warner Brothers. Now, if Warners gave Bogie a script and he rejected it, he could be suspended without pay. He would be out of a job until Warners came up with a new story for him, or if he decided to make the original movie he was offered. Also Warners had the ability to override any other studios commitment to Bogie. If they wanted him to play a role in their own movie, he couldn’t go to
In Dead Reckoning, Bogie plays Captain Rip Murdock, who is about to be rewarded with the Distinguished Service Cross. He is on a train with Sergeant Johnny Drake, William Prince, who is supposed to receive the Medal of Honor. On their trip to
Being the smart military man that he is, Bogie tracks Drake to
So Bogie teams up with Coral to find out who was behind the Drake murder. A little hint for you all, film noir has an archetypical bad person. We all have The Maltese Falcon (1941) to thank for introducing this archetype into the culture.
This is a standard film noir. It has an interesting twist with the murdered person being a Medal of Honor recipient, but I would think the rise and fall of Drake would make for a better story than having Bogie run around
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