Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. 1982 Universal Pictures.
Starring: Steve Martin, Rachel Ward, Carl Reiner
Director: Carl Reiner
Also featuring: Edward Arnold, Ingrid Bergman, Humphrey Bogart, Wally Brown, James Cagney, William Conrad, Jeff Corey, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Brian Donlevy, Kirk Douglas, Ava Gardner, Cary Grant, Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Burt Lancaster, Charles Laughton, Charles McGraw, Fred MacMurray, John Miljan, Ray Milland, Edmund O'Brien, Vincent Price, Barbara Stanwyck, Lana Turner, Norma Varden (all via clips of classic films edited into the movie!)
Available at Amazon, as are all of the movies featured in this one.

Carl Reiner directed, and had a starring role in a parody-slash-homage to film noir and the pulp detective movies from the 1940s and '50s, which went a step further and incorporated actual scenes from an impressive list of films into the finished film, which allowed Steve Martin and company to interact with the older stars, usually with some pretty funny results.

Martin is the detective Rigby Reardon, who only charges ten bucks a day, and business has been really slow lately. Things change when Juliet Forrest (Ward) arrives in his office, and faints at the sight of a newspaper report of her father's death in a car accident. Juliet is convinced her dad was murdered, and she offers Rigby $200 to investigate. Reardon searches Mr. Forrest's office and discovers a list of names underneath the heading "The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta".

Was it murder?

Highly recommended film. This is also an interesting concept that I think should have been utilized more by today's directors.