Dead Reckoning (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.

[edit] Plot summary

Returning home from World War II, ex-paratroopers Captain Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) and Sergeant Johnny Drake (William Prince) 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.

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 (Lizabeth Scott). Murdock goes to a nightclub to question Louis Ord (George Chandler), a witness in the murder trial. Ord reveals that Drake had given him a letter for Murdock. Murdock also meets Coral and Martinelli (Morris Carnovsky), the club owner, there. Murdock's drink is drugged. When he wakes up the next morning, he finds Ord's dead body planted in his hotel room. He manages to dispose of the corpse before police Lieutenant Kincaid (Charles Cane), responding to an anonymous tip, shows up to question him.

Murdock teams up with Coral. Suspecting that Martinelli had Ord killed in order to get the letter, Murdock breaks into his office, only to find the safe already open. Just before he is knocked unconscious by an unseen assailant, he smells jasmine, the same aroma as Coral's perfume. When Murdock awakens, Martinelli has him roughed up by his thug, Krause (Marvin Miller), to try to find out what is in the coded letter. However, Murdock manages to trick his captors and escape.

Now suspicious of Coral, Murdock goes to her apartment to confront her. She claims to be innocent, but finally admits that she shot her husband in self defense. She gave the murder weapon to Martinelli to dispose of, but he has been blackmailing her ever since. In love with her himself, Murdock agrees to leave town with her, but decides to retrieve the incriminating weapon first, despite Coral's fears. He threatens Martinelli with a gun, eliciting some startling revelations. The club owner claims that Coral is married to him. He killed Chandler and framed Drake so that Coral could inherit the estate before the bigamy could be discovered. Murdock gets what he came for and leaves, with Martinelli preceding him. However, when they exit the building, shots ring out, killing Martinelli.

Murdock jumps into the waiting car and drives off with Coral. As they are speeding away, he accuses her of having tried to kill him, not Martinelli. When she trains a gun on him, Murdock crashes the car. He survives, but she suffers fatal injuries. Murdock comforts her in her final moments.