- Decoy is an unintentionally amusing film noir that features a few of the most ridiculous plot devices I've ever encountered. The story revolves around the attempt of a British femme fatale named Margot (Jean Gillie) to help her former lover Frank Olins (Robert Armstrong) beat...the gas chamber! To the eventual surprise of every man she coerces into helping her, Margot is neither trustworthy nor romantic and is instead solely after Olins' stolen money. But when the treasure map leads Margot to a big, buried "screw-you" note, it is Olins who has the last laugh.
- On second thought, I should say that Olins would have had the last laugh since he is killed long before the note is found. Come to think of it, Margot is nearly dead by the end, too. As are all characters except for the cheesy detective (Sheldon Leonard, who resembles John Belushi doing an impression of a cheesy detective). You know, I'm starting to question the merits of this whole "decoy" plan! And come to think of it, another plan that didn't work very well was knifing the hearse driver and leaving an empty coffin after stealing Olins' body. That really cheesed the cops. I suppose my point here is that schemes like these may seem clever at first, but they really aren't convincing enough to hold together a movie. In other words, I guess I'd prefer the real duck to a decoy.
- And if you think that duck quip wasn't quite clever enough to work, then at least I've succeeded in conveying the sensation of watching this film.
- This was Jean Gillie's first and second-to-last American film before she died.
- The already hilarious "car scene" was originally longer and featured Margot running over Vincent multiple times.
