Dead Reckoning

Humphrey Bogart is at his best as a hardboiled sleuth in this film noir classic. He plays Rip Murdock, an ex-G.I. trying to find out who framed his pal Johnny for murder, and then rubbed him out! Tracing his war buddy’s shadowy past leads Rip to Coral Chandler (Lizabeth Scott), who was once Johnny’s sweetheart. Now she’s a chanteuse in a nightclub run by a brutal gangster, Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky). Rip gets a taste of the beautiful blonde’s seductive charms and soon finds himself ensnared in a twisted web of deceit and danger. Is Coral an innocent thrush or a predatory siren leading Bogie to the dead reckoning?

“Bogart absorbs one’s interest from the start as a tough, quick-thinking ex-skyjumper. Lizabeth Scott stumbles occasionally as a nitery singer, but on the whole gives a persuasive sirenish performance.” ~Variety