Don Cheadle Is the Best Part of This Denzel Washington-Led Neo-Nor Thriller

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The noir genre has been popular since the earliest days of cinema and has remained just as popular for good reason. While historical context and technical advancements may force viewers to reflect on older projects from a different perspective, a clever and compelling mystery has the power to stand the test of time. It’s often a genre that inspires the audience to work with the characters as they examine clues at the same time, making the conclusion of a given case much more enthralling. While the genre is often associated with the work of classic sleuths like Humphrey Bogart’s Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon, director Carl Franklin managed to take a fun new spin on the genre with his 1995 neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress. Although it is remembered for the iconic performance by Denzel Washington at its center, Devil in a Blue Dress gave Don Cheadle his scene-stealing breakout role.

What Is ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ About?

Don Cheadle and Denzel Washington as Mouse and Easy in Devil In A Blue Dress

Based on the acclaimed crime novel of the same name by author Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress follows the unemployed man Easy Rawlins (Washington) as he seeks a new job after being let go by Champion Aircraft. Rawlins is a man worthy of respect, as he served his nation in World War II but now finds himself turning to an illicit life of crime-solving to sustain himself. While he remains reclusive and gives little hints about his past as a private investigator, Easy clearly has a set of skills that prepare him for solving crimes. While its post-World War II setting pays homage to early noir films from the 1940s, Devil in a Blue Dress revamps the mystery genre from a Black perspective. Franklin uses Easy’s struggles to be taken seriously and the political fallout of his cases as a means of analyzing this fraught period in America’s civil history.

Eventually, Easy is approached by the private investigator DeWitt Albright (the late great Tom Sizemore), who is looking for someone to assist him in the search for Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), a woman suspected of being involved with one of Los Angeles’ jazz clubs. Although he is cagey about joining the investigation because of Albright's political connections, Easy reluctantly accepts the assignment and is quickly caught in over his head when he's captured and questioned by the Los Angeles Police Department. Cheadle plays co-star Mouse, an old friend of Easy's who he calls on for assistance when he has no other option. While Easy is content not to divulge any information from his past, he’s forced to call on a somewhat morally dubious figure like Mouse to save his skin.

While it's entertaining to see Washington do his best Bogart impression, Cheadle brings a completely different sensibility to the film that helps distinguish Devil in a Blue Dress among throwback noirs. The two men have completely different expectations about what their investigation will yield; Easy is looking to simply get by without attracting much attention, yet Mouse’s rambunctious behavior consistently attracts more attention towards them. Considering that Cheadle was appearing alongside Washington in one of his most famous performances, it’s even more impressive that he managed to hold his own.

Don Cheadle Is a Perfect Foil for Denzel Washington in ‘Devil in a Blue Dress'

Denzel Washington and Don Cheadle in 'Devil in a Blue Dress'

As with most noirs, the mystery itself in Devil in a Blue Dress is less interesting than how the investigation forces the characters to use creative problem-solving skills. It’s particularly effective in Devil in a Blue Dress because Cheadle and Washington are playing completely different types of characters. If Easy is a slick, charismatic sleuth keen to have his efforts undetected, Mouse is unafraid to (literally) blow up a situation if the hairs on his back stand up. The differences between Easy and Mouses’ approach to interrogating witnesses and confronting rivals spark a lot of comedic chemistry. While Washington only rarely does comedic roles, Cheadle brings out the austere actor’s sense of humor.

Although he serves an important purpose in adding comic relief to the story, Cheadle takes Mouse’s bond with Easy seriously, leading to some of the film’s most heartfelt moments. As with many of the greatest mystery films of all time, characters are constantly betraying each other, leading to a perpetual state of anxiety in which the viewer is unsure of who they can trust. Although Mouse may claim that he’s only helping in the investigation to line his pockets with a generous financial reward, he’s unflinchingly loyal to Easy and puts his life on the line to protect him. In a film where characters are constantly masking their motivations, Cheadle’s depiction of a straightforward and honest character is quite refreshing.

‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ Kicked off a Don Cheadle Renaissance

Devil in a Blue Dress felt like a great throwback film, and its old-fashioned vibes were particularly refreshing in the 1990s when there were so many stylized crime thrillers attempting to replicate the success of Pulp Fiction or The Usual Suspects. Although Mosley wrote several mystery novels featuring Easy and Mouse, Devil in a Blue Dress unfortunately did not receive any sequels. This was disappointing, as there was a lot more that Washington and Cheadle could have done together had they been given the chance to reprise their roles in another adventure.

Although he had appeared in the underrated Vietnam War film Hamburger Hill just a few years prior, Cheadle’s star power was raised exponentially as a result of his performance in Devil in a Blue Dress. Earning a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Cheadle began working with such acclaimed filmmakers as Steven Soderbergh, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Terry George. He’s now known as one of the industry’s most insightful and singular stars, but Devil in a Blue Dress was the film that kicked off Cheadle’s renaissance as an actor.

Why Did ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ Never Get a Sequel?

Despite being praised routinely by critics, Devil in a Blue Dress did not perform well enough to inspire a sequel, even though the novel it was inspired by was part of a larger series. The lack of attention that Devil in a Blue Dress received at the time was relatively inspiring, as Washington has managed to be a consistent box office draw throughout the 1990s. He certainly appeared in a few blockbuster films that were expected to do well, such as Crimson Tide and Virtuosity, and Devil in a Blue Dress was certainly geared towards a slightly older audience who could appreciate the allusions to noir cinema. That being said, Washington still managed to inspire significant returns for the legal thriller The Pelican Brief and the Academy Award-winning drama Philadelphia, so it is surprising to hear that Devil in a Blue Dress did not receive more mainstream success.

What is most surprising about the underperformance of Devil in a Blue Dress is that the 1990s saw the resurgence of the noir genre, with many films referencing the “hard-boiled detective” stories that had first gained prominence in the 1940s. The beginning of the decade saw the release of The Two Jakes, a direct sequel to the classic noir thriller Chinatown, which Jack Nicholson both directed and returned to play the snarky investigator Jake Gittes. In 1997, L.A. Confidential served as a direct recreation of the classic “cops and robbers” era and inspired greater interest in the real history that had inspired it. Devil in a Blue Dress was similar in many ways, as it managed to have a lot of nostalgia for the past while also acknowledging that some aspects of the genre were in need of an update. Perhaps the marketing campaign was to blame, as the film was certainly a commercially viable film with an inherent appeal to crowds.

Although it certainly would have been exciting if Rawlins was able to track down another suspect in a sequel with a different mystery at its center, Washington is one of the few active movie stars that rarely does sequels. Washington did not appear in a sequel to one of his own films until The Equalizer 2, in which he reunited with the first film’s director, Antoine Fuqua. The sequel was successful enough that he appeared in a third installment and has hinted at wanting to do even more. Washington also made an exception to his typical “no sequels” policy when he popped up as the villain Macrinus in Gladiator II; while he had not appeared in the first film alongside Russell Crowe, he had worked with Ridley Scott in the past on the 2007 biopic crime drama American Gangster. Washington’s Gladiator II performance has received unanimous praise, even from critics and audiences that were more mixed on the film itself. Given that it is now the highest-grossing film of Washington’s career, it would not be a surprise to see him signing up for more franchises.