While watching Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), I began to wonder to what genre it belongs.  The obvious one would be drama.  I cannot poopoo such a classification for being generic since I use it here on The Legionnaire.  At the same time, the specific content within complicates this designation, and elevates it.  It is something more when you consider the protagonist, “Easy” Rawlins (Denzel Washington), and the historical setting.  As an African American, he navigates the tricky racial dynamics of late 1940s Los Angeles.  This interests me as a historian, particularly because he is not one to be cowed.  Thus, it is an interesting period piece, with some crime action thrown into the mix.  The criminal element makes it trickier.  It has all the markings of film noir, though without much of the “noir.”  I say this only because it is a well-lit movie, and this sub-category is renowned for its low lighting.  Interestingly, if you were to Google “film noir,” Devil in a Blue Dress is one of the first examples it displays.  I suspect that this is because most are not aware of film noir’s long background in Hollywood.  At any rate, perhaps this review will untangle some of the mystery, literally and figuratively.

Since Easy narrates throughout, I can say that we meet him before he is asked to find Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), the Devil in a Blue Dress.  He tells us right away that this is an errand to which he should have never agreed.  The only reason he does so is because he had been fired from his job, and too proud to apologize for his angry outburst when they could not get his name right.  Thus, he is in Joppy’s (Mel Winkler) bar looking through the wanted ads in the newspaper when in walks DeWitt Albright (Tom Sizemore).  DeWitt is in search of somebody to work for him, and Joppy has suggested Easy.  This is when the alarms bells first go off in Easy’s head.  He ignores them because without employment he is in danger of losing the home he purchased, of which he is even more proud.  When he finally agrees to meet DeWitt, Easy is asked to look for Daphne.  Easy is given $100, and told that she is a white woman that likes to hang out in African American bars.  All he has to do is locate her and report back to DeWitt.  He is told to first ask around the Pan Am club.  After some fruitless questioning, he sits down with his friends Coretta James (Lisa Nicole Carson) and Dupree Brouchard (Jernard Brooks).  Easy mentions Daphne’s name to them.  Their eyes go wide for a moment before denying knowing anything.  This is Easy’s first lead, and he helps a drunk Dupree back to the home the overserved man shares with Coretta.  While Dupree snoozes in a stupor, Coretta continues making sexual advances on Easy begun at the club.  Instinct tells Easy to say no, but the promise of extra money if he could coax her into revealing her location causes him to give in to her whim.  She eventually gives him a location, though it turns out to be a lie.  The following morning, he returns home only to be greeted by the police, who take him into custody for Coretta’s murder.  His shock at the news helps to prove that he is not the killer, but he remains a person of interest.  On his way out of the precinct, he is approached by Matthew Terell (Maury Chaykin).  He is running for mayor, and is also interested in Daphne’s whereabouts.  Indeed, he is the one who had hired DeWitt.  Matthew is much less menacing, claiming to be a friend of the African American, and Easy is thus let out of the car unharmed.  Not long thereafter, Easy receives a phone call from Daphne.  She is at a downtown hotel, and he goes to meet her.  At first, he accuses her of being involved with Coretta’s murder, though she denies it.  Eventually, he agrees to take her back to her boyfriend, Todd Carter (Terry Kinney), the incumbent mayoral candidate who had dropped out of the race.  On the way, they stop at the home of Richard McGee (Scott Lincoln), but they find him dead.  Daphne takes Richard’s car, horrified by what she has seen.  This leaves Easy to drive back to his place alone. Instead of an empty house, he is greeted by DeWitt, who threatens Easy to divulge where Daphne is hiding.  Easy does not know, but he is convinced to continue the hunt.  After calling back to Houston for some assistance from his old friend, Mouse Alexander (Don Cheadle), Easy next goes to Todd’s estate to try to get some answers.  Todd, too, is curious about Daphne, and offers even more money for information.  Easy does have one lead, and that is Junior Fornay (David Wolos-Fenteno), the bouncer of the Pan Am club.  With Mouse in tow providing the menace in the form of firearms, Easy learns that it had been Junior who had offed Coretta.  They are also told of a letter given to Coretta to deliver to Daphne.  This takes them back to Dupree’s abode, where Easy uncovers the letter with a set of pictures of Matthew in compromising positions with boys.  Easy goes home alone and is greeted by Daphne.  It is at this point that she reveals that she is part African American, which had been the reason Todd had abandoned his mayoral campaign.  However, she had found the pictures and hoped to use them to blackmail Matthew and get back into Todd’s good graces.  Before anything further could be done, DeWitt bursts in and takes Daphne hostage.  Once more, Easy turns to Matthew, and they get from Joppy where DeWitt has taken Daphne.  Easy and Mouse surprise DeWitt and Easy takes Daphne home.  He had received all his payments, and is going to give her half, but she flees town before he gets the chance.  We end with Easy on his front porch contemplating becoming a private detective.

There are a few twists and turns in Devil in a Blue Dress’s plot that made it somewhat challenging for me to describe. Because of this, I am not sure I met the promise I made at the end of the introduction to untangle it.  What is plain is that everyone in the movie has a transactional relationship with one another.  This is in keeping with the film noir style, but it makes for a tough movie to analyze from a Catholic perspective.  Indeed, the only ones who do not interact with each other solely on the basis of what the other can provide are Easy and Mouse.  Still, it is equally evident that Easy does not entirely trust the trigger-happy Mouse, whose tendency towards solving everything with violence nearly derails Easy’s progress on more than one occasion.  Because of this, I will describe to you what God wants out of how we relate to the people in our lives.  A God-centered approach to human interactions means that you seek the good of the people you meet.  By doing so, especially when you are following God, you are not only helping someone out, but storing up treasure for yourself in Heaven.  Because eternity is, obviously, a lot longer than our short lives on this planet, the more good you can bring into the world, the better.  I could go give you any number of Biblical references for this fact, but the one I will use came from a recent Gospel passage at Mass.  In the twelfth chapter of Mark, Jesus is asked by a scribe to give the greatest commandment.  Immediately proceeding the imperative that we love God above all is the notion that we should love others as ourselves.  Such notions are far from Easy’s mind, and especially Mouse’s.  This is a case of me using the bad to point the way to the good.

In addition to being a morally ambiguous movie, Devil in a Blue Dress is a convoluted one.  It has potential, but it seems to lack a focused direction, like those described in the introduction.  As such, I would skip this one, despite Washington’s worthy performance.