Dead Reckoning (1947 film)

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Dead Reckoning
Dead Reckoning
Directed by	John Crommwell
Produced by	Sidney Biddell
Written by	Gerald Drayson Adams (story) Sidney Biddell (story) Steve Fisher (screenplay) Oliver H.P. Garrett (screenplay)
Starring	Humphrey Bogart Lizabeth Scott
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	January 2 1947 (U.S. release)
Running time	100 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Dead Reckoning is a 1947 Columbia motion picture starring Humphrey Bogart and Lizabeth Scott, directed by John Cromwell. This film noir drama/mystery was filmed in black-and-white.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Returning home from World War II, ex-paratroopers Captain Murdock and Sergeant Johnny Drake are to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Medal of Honor respectively. While on their way to Washington, Drake disappears. Murdock follows the clues and tracks his friend to Gulf City, where he learns Drake is dead–burned to death in a car accident.

While in town, Murdock finds out that Drake joined the Army under an assumed name to avoid a murder charge. He was accused of killing a rich old man named Chandler, because he was in love with his wife, Coral.

During the investigation of his friend's mysterious past, a dead body is planted in Murdock’s hotel room. Now the police are after him. He teams up with the man’s widow, Coral, to help straighten out the many twists and turns in the story.

[edit] Main cast

Humphrey Bogart as Capt. Warren "Rip" Murdock
Lizabeth Scott as Coral "Dusty" Chandler
Morris Carnovsky as Martinelli
Charles Cane as Lt. Kincaid
William Prince as Sgt. Johnny Drake/John Joseph Preston
Marvin Miller as Krause
Wallace Ford as McGee

The role of Coral Chandler was originally intended for Rita Hayworth, but she had already been cast by her husband, Orson Welles, for The Lady from Shanghai released the same year.