Dead Reckoning

Dead Reckoning (1946)

He Doesn't Trust Anyone... Especially Women!

War heroes Rip Murdock and Johnny Drake are sent to Washington, D.C, to receive top honors for their service. Johnny, seemingly terrified by the publicity that awaits him, jumps off the train and later turns up dead. Suspecting foul play, Rip begins digging into his pal's past. He encounters cover-ups, threats to his own life and deadly femme fatale Coral Chandler.

Date of release
1946-12-31
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (165)
Runtime
1h 40m
Genres
Crime, Mystery
Director
John Cromwell

Casting

Interesting facts

Dead Reckoning is a 1947 American film noir starring Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott. Directed by John Cromwell, it was written by Steve Fisher and Oliver H. P. Garrett, based on a story by Gerald Drayson Adams and Sidney Biddell, adapted by Allen Rivkin. It follows a war hero, Warren Murdock (Bogart), who begins investigating the death of his best friend and fellow soldier, Johnny Drake. The investigation leads Murdock to his friend's lover, a mysterious woman. Drake was accused of murdering her husband.

Production

Dead Reckoning was originally intended by Columbia Pictures' production chief Harry Cohn as a vehicle for Rita Hayworth, a follow-up to the extremely popular Gilda. Cohn thought that the pairing of Hayworth and Bogart would be a guaranteed money maker.

Bogart was a loan-out from Warner Bros. as well, and was reportedly unhappy with being sent to Columbia at the height of his career, if only because Warner kept any extra money paid by Columbia over and above Bogart's usual salary. Bogart had right of refusal over the director for the film, and picked John Cromwell. Bogart and Cromwell had worked together in 1922 on Broadway in Drifting, a short-lived play by John Colton and D. H.

Principal photography began on June 10, 1946, and was completed on September 4, 1946, with shoots occurring on the Columbia Pictures soundstages in Los Angeles. Many of Dead Reckoning's exterior shots were filmed on location in St. Petersburg, Florida. Other background and location shooting took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; LaGuardia Airport in New York City; and Biloxi, Mississippi.

Bogart improvised Murdock's extended speech to Scott about men carrying women around in their pockets, taking them out when they were needed to have dinner with or make love to. This idea was one that Bogart was known to espouse when he had been drinking.

The film's original score was composed by Marlin Skiles. The song "Either It's Love or It Isn't", sung by Lizabeth Scott (dubbed by Trudy Stevens) in the film, had words and music by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher.

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