Dead Reckoning (1946) on Netflix
Paratroopers Rip Murdock and Johnny Drake are ordered from Paris to Washington for a decoration. When Johnny bolts from the train, Rip follows him to Gulf City and finds his friend dead.
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Trailer
Plot summary
Just after the war, paratroopers Rip Murdock and Johnny Drake are ordered from Paris to Washington, D.C., where Johnny is to receive the Medal of Honor. Johnny, unwilling to face the publicity, leaves the train, and Rip goes absent without leave to find him. The trail leads to Gulf City, where Rip learns that his friend enlisted under an assumed name to escape a murder charge: Johnny was accused of killing a wealthy older man named Chandler, whose young wife, Coral, he loved. At a nightclub Rip questions Louis Ord, a witness at the trial, and meets Coral and the owner, Martinelli. Before his enemies can reach him, Rip tells the story to Father Logan.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Dead Reckoning (1946)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Columbia Pictures' production chief Harry Cohn planned Dead Reckoning as a Rita Hayworth vehicle pairing her with Humphrey Bogart, as a follow-up to the hit Gilda. Hayworth refused amid a contract dispute and was replaced by Lizabeth Scott, borrowed from Paramount producer Hal Wallis.
- Humphrey Bogart improvised Murdock's long speech to Lizabeth Scott about men carrying women around in their pockets until they are needed for dinner or love, an idea the actor was known to voice when he had been drinking.
- Humphrey Bogart had right of refusal over the director and chose John Cromwell, who had cast him in his first bit part in the 1922 Broadway play Drifting, when Bogart was a very young actor.
- Lizabeth Scott's singing of the song "Either It's Love or It Isn't" in the film was dubbed by Trudy Stevens.
