Get Your Reps In: Noir Money, Noir Problems for “Devil in a Blue Dress”

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

No license, no gun, no frosted-glass window with the initials “P.I.” behind his name. In Devil in a Blue Dress, Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins falls into detective work because he’s behind on his mortgage and knows his Watts neighborhood well. Denzel Washington’s wildly underrated turn as a 1950s Los Angeles sleuth finds the two-time Oscar winner operating at peak charisma and weaving through a morass of noirisms—gangsters, political conspiracies, femmes fatales.

Only, all those noirisms are reimagined by novelist Walter Mosley and writer-director Carl Franklin from the perspective of a Black Army veteran trying to establish himself in a city that is both teeming with new communities and threatening recent arrivals like Easy with violence, prejudice, and limited prospects. These forces make the stakes of Easy holding on to his home an uncommonly moving anchor to a detective yarn. Of course, every conversation is also a reason for Denzel to light up and enjoy a bourbon beneath his perfect pencil mustache.

Against all logic, Devil in a Blue Dress remains the only cinematic adaptation of Mosley’s nearly 20 novels. See it in restored fashion on Feb. 1 at the Hollywood Theatre. Portland hip-hop legend Vursatyl hosts the screening.

Also Playing:

5th Avenue: We Grown Now (2023), Jan. 30–Feb. 1. Academy: Mad Max (1979), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), All the Colors of the Dark (1972), Jan. 28 and 29. Mulholland Drive (2001), Mean Streets (1973), and When Harry Met Sally (1989), Jan. 30–Feb. 5. Cinema 21: I Confess (1953), Jan. 31. Cinemagic: Star Wars (1977), Jan. 28. The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Jan. 28. Return of the Jedi (1983), Jan. 29. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2015), Jan. 29. Andrei Rublev (1966), Feb. 1. Clinton: The Green Music Box (1955), Jan. 28. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), Jan. 30. Mississippi Masala (1991), Jan. 31. The Rock Horror Picture Show (1975), Jan. 31. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), Feb. 3. Empirical: Grave of the Fireflies (1988) and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Jan. 30. Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) and Castle in the Sky (1986), Jan. 31. My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Feb. 1. Hollywood: Design for Living (1933), Jan. 28. The Truman Show (1998), Jan. 29. The Cassandra Cat (1963), Feb. 1. China Heat (1992), Feb. 3. Tomorrow: Ghost in the Shell (1995), Jan. 31.