Dead Reckoning

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Murdock: I'm not the type that tears do anything to. I'm the brass-knucks-in-the-teeth-to-dance-time type.

A 1947 Film Noir, directed by John Cromwell and starring Humphrey Bogart as Captain Warren "Rip" Murdock and Lisabeth Scott as Coral "dusty" Chandler.

Captain Murdock and Sgt. Johnny Drake return from Europe after being wounded in WW 2 and are being ordered to travel to Washington D.C. When Drake learns that he will be awarded with the Medal of Honor, he runs of to Gulf City. Murdock follows him to learn why Drake disappeared, only to find that Drake died in a car accident. Not believing in an accident, Murdock investigates Drakes past...

Tropes used in Dead Reckoning include:
  • Femme Fatale: Comes with the Genre, here in the pleasant form of Coral "Dusty" Chandler
  • Frame-Up: Twice, with the same body.
  • Private Eye Monologue: Provided by Murdock, though technically, he isn't a P.I. Justified, since Bogart is telling the Story to somebody else