What a great hook: a man walks into a homicide detective's office to report his own murder. How'd he get there?
I suspect that the strength of that hook accounts for D.O.A.'s lasting fame, as the film itself plays out as a rather pedestrian detective thriller. Edmond O'Brien, our unfortunate protagonist, lurches from clue to clue, urged on by desperation, but his clues only lead us from one moderately interesting suspect to the next.
Don't get me wrong. I liked D.O.A. just fine. I'm unclear, however, on why it achieved classic status. Beyond its great hook, there isn't much there.
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