This is definitely one of the lesser films from the latter half of Humphrey Bogart's career, so I was a bit surprised that its current IMDb rating is a respectable 7.2. That's because although the movie has many good moments, the film itself is rather confusing as well AND blatant ripoff of one of Bogart's most successful films, THE MALTESE FALCON. Again and again throughout the film, the plot is taken from the other film but it becomes much worse at the end, as Bogey's conversation with the bad femme fatale, Lizbeth Scott, sounds almost identical to the one he'd had with Mary Astor at the end of THE MALTESE FALCON. Once I realized this parallel early on, it was very easy to predict what would happen and I was absolutely sure that both Lizbeth would tip her hand and prove to be pure evil AND Bogie would ultimately do what's right. Considering it's a vastly inferior re-tread, this film deserves to remain in obscurity. Despite a typically good Bogart performance, this one is at best mediocre.

By the way, a few reviews of this film went so far as to say it was one of Bogart's best films. With such hyperbole, I truly wonder if some of the reviewers have even seen Bogart's best films! They have a lot of nerve or short-sightedness to say this ranks up there with HIGH SIERRA, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, CASABLANCA, THE MALTESE FALCON, THE BIG SLEEP, THE CAINE MUTINY, SAHARA, THE ROARING TWENTIES, TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, KEY LARGO, African QUEEN, DESPERATE HOURS, THE HARDER THEY FALL!

DEAD RECKONING is a typical film noir flick from the era, one which goes through the motions with something approaching finesse. There's certainly no messing around, even if the events that play out smack of familiarity. This one has it all: a dogged Humphrey Bogart on the trail of a missing friend; the voice-over narration explaining the intricacies of the story to the viewer; the glamorous femme fatale, played by Lizabeth Scott in scene-stealing mode. It's not one of the best I've seen, but it holds the attention well enough throughout and has a quality and feel look to it.

One can't help wondering, while watching this movie, whether one has seen it before. Not for the first time is Bogart out to avenge a friend's death. He's gone after polished, Continental Mr. Big types before, too; and Lizabeth Scott looks an awful lot like Lauren Bacall. Some of the dialogue seems to have been lifted in toto from earlier Bogart films. Yet for all this, Dead Reckoning is still entertaining. Its cliches are at least agreeably packaged, and the setting, the Gulf Coast South, is unusual. Bogart brings sublime integrity to his world-weary and life-battered persona, and however artificial and predictable the story might be, the star's authenticity is absolute. One believes what's going on because one believes Bogart.

This kind of thriller, which now falls under the general rubric of film noir, was losing a little steam by this time. For one thing, Morris Carnovksy's character of Martinelli had been done to death in the previous five years by everyone from Sydney Greenstreet to Otto Kruger. Marvin Miller's hulking, seemingly emotionally disturbed thug had become a commonplace fixture in such films; and while Miller is unique in his heavy-set, Orson Wellesian appearance, there's little that's new here, either. One can imagine script conferences of the day, with young screenwriters falling over one another trying to come up with a new psychological "complex" for the bad guy to be suffering from. Fortunately for the viewer, cliched though this movie is, it was made with extreme professionalism. Leo Tover's cinematography is understated, and nicely suggests the equatorial. John Cromwell was an old stage and movie pro by this time, though his usual magical touch with actors failed him with Miss Scott, he handles the tough guy stuff with suave authority.