Dead Reckoning

An establishing shot of Gulf City, “the tropical paradise of the south,” shows the city after dark, with lights shining from large signs, illuminated office buildings, and lamps. People walk along the streets as Rip Murdock (Humphrey Bogart), with a bloody cut on his forehead, tries to hide from public view, changing direction and running through the streets. He ducks inside a church for safety, sitting in one of the pews. Father Logan (James Bell), dressed in a military uniform, is welcomed back to the parish by another priest. Alone, Rip corners Father Logan in the back of the church. Rip says he needs to reveal some news just in case something happens to him. Rip tells the priest, “Right now the cops are after me, not that I did anything wrong, Father, but there are a couple of pretty tough customers in back of this, and they’d like to get their mitts on me, probably catch me as soon as I step back on the streets. If I can’t work this out, I want somebody to know what’s happened. To save a friend of mine, to clear his name.” Rip tells Father Logan his friend’s name is Johnny, also a paratrooper.

Rip recounts the entire story that has already happened. A few days ago, they flew Johnny (William Prince) and Rip home from France in a stripped-down bomber. “Neither one of us had any idea why the army suddenly pulled us out of a Paris hospital. We’ve been under fancy treatment, me for my shoulder and Johnny for his punctured lung.” Rip continues to say they didn’t know why all this was happening, but a military welcoming committee met them when their plane landed. The team was upset that the plane arrived two hours late, but an escort took them to Penn Station, where a train was waiting. Rip and Johnny sit in a train compartment, talk about the past, express how good it feels to be home, and mention that Rip will probably keep driving a cab while Johnny takes a college teaching job. But mostly, they talk about girls. The Sergeant tells Rip that General Steel has approved his request for the Congressional Medal of Honor for Johnny, and the Distinguished Service Cross will be awarded to Rip. Johnny isn’t too happy about photographers and publicity and says he doesn’t want the medal. When the duo is asked to pose for a few photos on the train station platform, Rip agrees happily, but Johnny isn’t there—he’s seen running down the tracks to catch another train. Rip immediately suspects something and decides to call Yale University using Johnny’s university pin to find his address. Rip refuses help from the military, saying the search will work better with just one man.

Yale shares Johnny’s last address as being in a city he had never heard of, Gulf City. Rip checks into a hotel there, but the main suite is already registered in his name. Rip sensing Johnny is behind all this, waiting impatiently for his buddy to get in touch with him. Forty-eight hours have passed since he called himself “Geronimo,” and still, no word. Rip decides to check the local newspapers for any word about his missing friend before the date he enlisted. The headline reads: “Rich Realtor Slain; Murder, Say Police,” as he goes on to read that the murder victim’s wife’s tutor confesses to the crime and then flees. Articles also say the English teacher and the husband also argued over the victim’s wife. Rip thinks even though the newspapers gave him some answers, there were three things he needed to find out: how could Johnny possibly be a murderer, why did he return to Gulf City when “he was hotter than the weather,” and why not another word from him since that first call? Rip tries to get some sleep, but he leaves the police radio on. Before he falls asleep, he hears a patrol car report in to say they found a car crashed in a ravine with a badly burned body. It’s been there for at least two days, when Johnny was supposed to phone Rip originally.

Rip decides to go to the local morgue, where he can be certain whose body was found. But Rip is intercepted by Lt. Kincaid (Charles Cane), who asks him who he’s looking for. Kincaid shows Rip all the recent corpses, saving the newest for last. Rip sees the burnt-to-a-crisp auto victim, claiming it’s Johnny’s size, but he can’t be sure whether it’s him or not. The policeman finds his melted senior society pin. “So Johnny’s taken his last jump,” Rip narrates.

Now I was thinking I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Johnny … I’d like to say I remember Johnny laughing, tough, and lonesome. Let’s say that.” Rip recalls some of his memories with Johnny. “But I knew all at once I’d had a job; they don’t give out the Congressional Medal to dead guys wanted for murder, but he was going to get it, even if he got it on his grave. And I was going after whoever tried to gyp him out of it. Why should anybody kill Johnny? Could he know too much? Because he hadn’t shot Chandler and knew who did.” Rip remembers a photo in the newspaper of a waiter at the Sanctuary Club, Louis (Gene Chandler), a reluctant witness in the Chandler Inquest. But here would be a place to begin his examination of Johnny’s murder.

Taking a taxi to the Sanctuary Club, Rip enters to the sounds of orchestral music, couples dancing, and people eating and drinking at the tables. Rip is greeted by a waiter, Krause (Marvin Miller), who eyes him cautiously. Rip sits at the bar and orders a glass of water. The bartender serving him, Louis, admits to being a former waiter. When Rip asks if he was the man who once spoke at the Inquisition against Johnny, Louis confirms he was. “It looked like a mine had gone off under his feet. I haven’t seen a guy that scared since jump training,” Louis says that Johnny was holed up at his place until two days ago. The only person he saw was the Chandler girl. Louis mentions that when Johnny left his place two days ago, he gave him a letter to give to Rip. Rip says, "What are you waiting for ... give it to me!" Louis notices Krause hovering and says he’ll give it to him tomorrow morning at his hotel room.

Suddenly, Mrs. Chandler (Lizabeth Scott) appears; our first view of her is her shapely legs. Then Rip enters the scene, offering her a light for her cigarette. When he introduces himself as Rip Murdoch, she already seems to know of him, asking if he knows where Johnny is. Krause interrupts, asking Chandler if she’ll sing the song that became a hit when she first performed it. She shouts that she couldn’t possibly. Krause reminds her that it’s a favor for the boss. After a long stare from the waiter, she accepts, but she’ll only do the one song. She admits to seeing Johnny since he returned from the War, but she appears desperate to locate the former missing soldier. Interrupting the conversation, Mrs. Chandler is introduced to perform her hit song. After the performance, Chandler inquires where she saw Johnny, but Rip asks her to dance. Rip tells her he last saw him, “On a slab in the morgue, burned to a crisp,” as Coral buries her face in his shoulder, saying she wants to sit down. At their table, she begs Rip to tell her everything, when they are interrupted by Mr. Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky), the club’s owner. He asks why they stopped dancing. Is everything all right? Martinelli suggests she try the roulette table, as the house has been having a run of bad luck tonight. But it’s definitely meant as an order, not a suggestion. Rip narrates, “She lost fast and heavy. Maybe it was her way of easing the pain of Johnny. But I suspected there was more to it. I decided to find out.”

Rip says he’ll try his luck at the dice table because Mrs. Chandler is down $16,000. Rip does well there, but the house wants to swap dice, which Rip suspects are loaded, so he walks away. However, Martinelli tells Krause to use the previous dice again, and he immediately wins double the money that Mrs. Chandler lost before cashing out. Martinelli invites Rip and Coral to his office for a drink, where he pays them off. Rip tells Martinelli that he owned a fleet of taxis before Pearl Harbor and lived in St. Louis, where Martinelli knows the chief gambler, Al. Rip mentions that all of Al’s friends from Detroit, where Martinelli is from, were mobsters. When drinks and sandwiches arrive, they are served by Louis, not Mike, who secretly tips Rip not to drink the glass.

Rip hesitates, suspecting Martinelli will realize Louis is behind it, but if he drinks, he worries about what drug might be in his drink. Louis was Johnny’s friend, and Rip needs him alive, so he drinks. As the drug takes effect amid casual talk of mobsters and gambling, Rip collapses unconscious to the floor. When he wakes up fully clothed in bed, he feels horrible. Coral calls to ask what happened, and Rip mutters, “Remind me to put him to sleep sometime.” Rip tells her he’ll call back when he finds Louis dead in the next bed. “His neck was broken … Little by little, my brain began to unscramble Johnny’s letter … and Martinelli was tied to Johnny’s death. He discovered Johnny’s letter, which could expose him, so he decided to silence Louis as well. Louis’ body would eliminate me from the game with a murder charge. I had to get rid of Louis fast before the cops figured out Martinelli’s next move—an anonymous tip to visit me.” Rip buries Louis’ body in dirty laundry near the chute. Lt. Kincaid and his team approach Rip’s apartment. They knock as Rip is changing into night clothes. Kincaid asks about the burned corpse, and Rip says he knows little, about as much as he does. Not finding anybody there, the cops leave.

Coral sits nervously in the hotel lobby while Kincaid watches her, hiding behind a newspaper spread open. Rip observes him watching her and makes a phone call, during which the hotel staff asks for Lt. Kincaid. They tell him headquarters wants him on the phone. Then, while Kincaid’s away on the phone, Rip gathers up Coral and hustles her downstairs, soon driving from the hotel garage. Coral admits that Johnny had deeper feelings for her than she had for him. She agreed to go away with him because “He was the nicest man I had ever met. Because I’m lonely.” Rip says he understands why Johnny loved her. And couldn’t reach you.”

Rip takes Coral to a seaside restaurant and tells the waiter to park himself elsewhere. “When you used to work for Martinelli, did he use to take a lot of stuff home with him at night … briefcase, papers, stuff like that, or did he leave them locked up in his office safe?” Rip inquires. He shares that Louis had a letter written by Johnny for him, but he never got it. Martinelli did. When Coral called Rip at 4 a.m., Louis was lying dead in the other bed with a broken neck. “I’m a guy who likes to get his mail!” Johnny would have written it in our company’s code, and Martinelli’s still trying to figure it out.

Rip is planning to confront him at Martinelli’s club. Rip swears to Coral, “I don’t think Johnny killed your husband … I knew him like my own birthmark.” Coral admits, “There’s something I didn’t tell the coroner because Johnny wouldn’t let me. I was right there when it happened.” Johnny feared they would link her to the murder as an ex-nightclub singer involved with a young college professor in love. So, they seemed to have a motive to kill her husband. “But that wasn’t the way it was,” Coral explains to Rip. Rip asks her how it really happened. “That night, he was drunk too. When we got back home, he started hitting me and jabbing a gun into my side. He was mad enough to kill me, and I was terrified. Then, suddenly, Johnny came into the room. He followed us home from the club, took the gun away from him, and I don’t know what happened, but the gun seemed to go off in my ear. I passed out. When I woke up, Johnny was kissing me. That was the last time I saw him until he came back two days ago. I remember he said goodbye … I think he was crying … you don’t believe me, do you?” Rip, with a stoic face, says, “Yeah, sure, I believe you. But I still want that letter!”

When they are leaving the restaurant, Coral asks Rip what’s wrong, noting that yesterday he called her Dusty (Johnny’s affectionate nickname for her), but today he didn’t. “What would you like to call me?” Coral asks. Rip replies, “I’ll have to think about that.” Meanwhile, the duo visits McGee (Wallace Ford), an old friend of Rip’s. McGee’s living room is filled with stuff brought back from Japan by his son. McGee shows a scrapbook of safes, and Rip checks with Coral to see if they spotted a particular one at Martinelli’s club. McGee comments, “That one, it’s a pike. What’s the layout? Ric responds, Martinelli’s private office in the Sanctuary Club. McGee, looking sad, says, “I was ready to turn a trick for one last time because you’re a friend of Al’s. I cut it right up to here (pointing to the top of his arm) for Al, but I won’t do a safe at Martinelli’s. I built a legit business here, forget it, Murdock.” Rip offers a roll of bills to sweeten the deal, but McGee won’t budge. Coral suggests the job is a pike, so why can’t you teach Rip how to open the safe? McGee loves the idea. “I’ll show you how in five minutes flat,” McGee says.

Getting into the car after leaving McGee’s place, Rip suggests driving around to see the sights and ending up at Martinelli’s after dark. Rip casually mentions that Louis’ body is in her trunk. Panicking, she speeds up, attracting the attention of a motorcycle cop. Sirens blaring, the officer pulls her over. He asks for her license, but Coral can't find it. Rip then asks the officer to first take them to the mayor’s office, claiming they’re about to get married, and the sympathetic cop agrees and lets them go. Just after dark, they arrive at Martinelli’s beach house. Rip opens the garage door and places Louis’ body inside. As the garage door is shut, the scene shifts to a payphone. Coral calls the police to report suspicious activity at Martinelli’s beach house, urging an investigation. Meanwhile, Rip plans to open the safe at Martinelli’s real home, which he left in a rush to get to the beach house, leaving Rip alone in the house.

Finding the safe wide open, Rip rushes through its contents. The letter isn’t in the safe, but Rip suspects it must be nearby. Rip finds a piece of paper where Martinelli’s rough attempt to decode the letter was made. Then, inside a small notebook, the letter falls out. Rip recognizes Johnny’s handwriting. To his shock, Rip then hears a voice yelling “Martinelli” from outside the locked door, as he is hit on the head inside, knocking him unconscious.

Later, Rip awakens to see the figures of Martinelli and Martinelli hovering above him. Martinelli gives a little speech about abhorring violence but still wanting to know what the letter says. Rip refuses to cooperate, Krause will provide violent persuasion, and Martinelli leaves to avoid seeing the violence. Krause turns on the radio and places a handkerchief around his punching hand, beginning to hit Rip in the face. Martinelli soon returns to see Rip sprawled on the floor with a coatless Krause standing above him. “Maybe he’ll talk to you now, I think,” Krause smiles. Martinelli tells him to prop Rip up, facing the wall. “I told you I can’t bear the sight of your handiwork,” Martinelli declares. Martinelli tells Rip how disappointed he is that he’s such a stubborn man. Then Rip asks the time and predicts Sanderson will call shortly. He has a letter Rip wrote, and if Rip isn’t back at the hotel at 11:15, he is to call the police department. Rip says the letter says that Krause and Martinelli knocked Johnny off at the Toppings Spring Road.

Martinelli asks Krause to walk Rip to the hotel, to his room, and then call the manager to bring the letter to his room. Rip will be standing at the open bathroom door and tell Sanderson to give the letter to Krause, and you will retrieve it here. Then, as the sight of cars driving on rain-slicked streets, Rip’s narration conveys that no letter exists in Sanderson’s possession, that Rip was “Just praying for a break. Which didn’t look like anything was coming up.” But when the duo walks up to the hotel, Lt. Kincaid’s car pulls up with two officers. He introduces Krause to Kincaid and says he’s holding a gun on me, as Krause panics and flees by car.

Then we are back at the church, with Rip talking to Father Logan, who says she hasn’t been captured yet. Remembering that Martinelli was the villain, he recalls the jasmine scent just before he was hit on the head—maybe it was her, Coral. Rip then becomes convinced she was guilty, and the Father soon leaves to get a bottle of brandy. But as he thinks of a question to ask, he finds Rip has already left.

We find Rip ringing Coral's doorbell, and she answers, very surprised to see him alive. She notices the wound on his forehead and looks concerned. Rip tells her to come closer so she can take a look. After giving him a drink, she asks him to tell her everything. Rip passionately declares, “I heard of a girl who once kissed a guy and stabbed him in the back at the same time. And I heard of another girl who kissed a guy and blackjacked him, the smell of jasmine in her hair …” “Jasmine grows through this part of the country,” Coral responds. Rip, casting an accusing stare, tells Coral that she thinks fast. Coral says that she should hate him for thinking such a thing. “But I can’t, you can say anything, do anything,” Coral utters, soon breaking down into tears.

Rip accuses Coral of killing Johnny, but she insists it was exactly as she told him before. Rip claims the gun was in her hands, not Johnny’s. She went to Martinelli because he gave her a job and was always kind to her. He contacts the police by phone to confess to her husband's murder, but Rip quickly takes the receiver from her hand. Rip listens silently to the call, ensuring she has contacted the police. Coral is in tears as Rip hangs up, then he grabs her and says, “I had to make you prove it the hard way … a few minutes ago I didn’t dare do this … now I can. I’m doing it so you know I can,” Rip says these words as they kiss.

“I never thought it could happen. I’ve been waiting so long for things to be like this. Rip, I live by the train tracks. Car hopping in Texas, a cigarette girl with guys getting fresh, and then I sang. And when Stuart Chandler came along, I thought that money wasn’t the answer either. The answer is … Whenever I had the chance to find out what it is, somebody pushed me, pulled the whole thing out from under me. I’m tired of it. Tired of being tired. I want to go away … with you. I’m not sure if this makes sense. I love you! Does that make sense? Rip, listening intently, says, “I said a while ago that … you’re perfect. My bet’s on you, kid.” Rip goes to the clearest coach and falls asleep. And Coral delicately washes his wound.

Coral tells her maid that she is worried Rip has been sleeping for 36 hours straight, but the maid says he just ate the biggest breakfast a man has ever eaten. Rip appears to Coral and says, “I might be a sucker for saying this, but from here on it’s a deal. Anything you want, anywhere you want to go, the two of us.” Then Rip plants a soft, long kiss on her. Rip says he must leave abruptly to see an old friend, and Coral seems uneasy.

The doorbell rings, and an unexpected friend of Murdock’s appears—McGee—disrupting Coral and the maid. The visitor declares, "Here is where I get off," and drops a bag with Coral. Rip comes back, ready for the big trip with Coral. She says the man scared her a lot. Coral begs to drive to New Orleans and catch a plane there, but Rick wants to visit Martinelli first. Suspicious, Rip asks Coral if there's any reason he shouldn’t see Martinelli again. Coral denies any reason, and Rip asks her to open the back door in Martinelli’s office. The door rings again, and Rip, uneasy, pulls out his gun as he hides by the door. It’s Lt. Kincaid, and Rip gets the jump on him. Rip ties Kincaid up with a cord and locks him in a closet. Rip tells the maid to let him out at 12:30 and return his gun.

In pouring rain, Coral pulls her car up to the club and is escorted by Krause to see Martinelli. Martinelli is grumpy and doesn’t want to see anyone, but she tells the boss that Rip is down at the bar and that she’ll sneak out to avoid seeing Rip. There, she lets Rip into the door. Rip tells Coral to go immediately to the car, keep the motor running, and leave the headlights on. Rip aims his gun at Martinelli. “You got the gun that killed Chandler. I want it and quick.” Krause enters, and Rip pistol-whips him. Martinelli reveals that Coral blackjacked him and stole Johnny’s letter. “Maybe I ought to tell you she’s my wife. She was my wife when she married Chandler; there was never a divorce. She came from the slums of Detroit. She was my girl in Detroit.”

Martinelli admits to killing Chandler (he was supposed to die from a weak heart in six months, which never happened). Martinelli also admits to killing Johnny. Rip throws a lit cigar, which ignites and threatens to explode the old World War II Japanese weapons he acquired from McGee. Rip demands the gun. As flames and fumes fill the air, Krause jumps out the window, screaming. Martinelli shows him the drawer where the weapon is located, and he grabs it with a handkerchief and forces Martinelli to leave, taking him to police headquarters. As the gentleman hoodlum opens the front door, he is riddled with several bullets. Rip sees Coral run to her car, and he approaches before she drives off.

During a heavy rainstorm, Rip questions why Coral shot him in cold blood. Coral claims she was only protecting him, and Rip notes that Martinelli’s potential death won’t matter much once they prove he killed Johnny. Rip tells Coral they’re heading straight to headquarters to expose the crimes. Coral appears increasingly uneasy. Then Rip makes a serious accusation: “You tried to kill me just now. You expected me to be the first out of that room, and you knew when I came out, I’d learned a lot more than when I first went in. You know you’re right about that. You’re going to fry.” The characters banter about her getting angry the first time he leaves the toothpaste cap off and about taking action when a guy’s buddy is killed. Coral asks if he loves her, but Rip insists he loves him more. Coral points a gun at Rip and demands it as Rip speeds up his car. Coral shoots Rip as the vehicle swerves left and right, finally crashing into a tree with a loud boom.

Rip remains mostly uninjured, shot in the arm, while Father Logan is saying prayers over Coral as doctors look on. But after accepting a call from Sgt. Steel, he says, the case has been solved, but the Medal of Honor will have to be awarded posthumously. Coral realizes this is the bitter end for her, and she asks if she could hang on to him. “I’m so scared … I wish you could put me in your pocket!” Coral states. “Rip, everything’s slipping!” She claims to be falling, and Rip encourages her to let go, “Geronimo!” The hospital scene shifts to a parachute slowly drifting to Earth, “The End” appearing on screen.

By this point, we all have seen the major Humphrey Bogart movies: The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Casablanca, High Sierra, All Through the Night, To Have and Have Not, In a Lonely Place, and The Treasure of Sierra Madre, among many others. However, for some reason, perhaps because it was produced by Columbia, Dead Reckoning is often overlooked as a forgotten classic by Bogart. It is the one remembered oft-handedly, as if it doesn’t qualify as one of the greats.

And it does qualify as a superior Bogart movie, even with one major flaw. That flaw is stealing the ending from The Maltese Falcon, only six years later. In that 1941 film, Sam Spade falls in love with Mary Astor, who murders Spade’s partner, Miles Archer. Discovering the truth, Spade says a person is supposed to do something about a murdered partner, and Astor might vindictively strike out at Spade in the future. In other words, he cannot trust her. For morality’s sake, she must be punished. In 1947’s Dead Reckoning, Bogart says he loves Johnny more when asked if he loves Coral. He says when a friend is killed, he is expected to do something. And what is tragic is that both films have little in common besides the toxic relationship between Bogart and Mary Astor/Lizabeth Scott. It’s just too obvious a steal, taking the viewer outside of the movie experience.

However, aside from this obvious flaw, Dead Reckoning features a complex script with witty Bogart narration. It’s a movie that keeps its audience guessing, using the familiar post-World War II trope of soldiers returning from war and facing new life challenges. And as we see, a good friend in war is a lifelong friend. The film stars a top-notch cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott (portraying the ultimate femme fatale, deadly as she is beautiful), Morris Carnovsky (playing a cultured crime boss, offended by violence, who relies on a partner to do all the dirty work), Marvin Miller (a sneaky hoodlum who enjoys hurting others), and Wallace Ford (as the trustworthy friend whose son recently brought a small arsenal back from Japan). Even though Rip Murdock isn’t a private detective or Nazi hunter in this one, he’s an average military hero thrown into a world of crime and deception.

It is a standout performance by Humphrey Bogart, playing a new type of hero, yet hitting all the high notes of the old. Almost as though he were playing Sam Spade in a military hero’s body. Perhaps Columbia was copying the mold that never failed to work, but they used the formula most excellently. With the 1950s right around the corner, Bogart would again experiment with new types of roles. While most are considered inferior to his 1940s fare (with the exception of The African Queen, In a Lonely Place, The Caine Mutiny and perhaps a few others), Dead Reckoning, with The Two Mrs. Carrolls, Dark Passage, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Key Largo, remain the best of the late 1940s fare, ending his golden age.

Dead Reckoning is a great film, but it's mainly noted by Bogart fans who think they've seen all the classics, even though there's one they probably haven’t seen and would enjoy. Overall, it's a Bogart film worth discovering and appreciating in the classic film noir style.

RIP MURDOCK (HUMPHREY BOGART), MARTINELLI (MORRIS CARNOVSKY), AND KRAUSE (MARVIN MILLER)

LIZABETH SCOTT AS THE FEMME FATALE CORAL CHANDLER