Title: THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Date: 6/15/1995; Publication: Magill's Survey of Cinema;

Magill's Survey of Cinema

06-15-1995

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Abstract:
This sexually explicit version of James M. Cain's notorious novel once again tells the treacherous and ill-fated love story of Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) and Cora Papadakis (Jessica Lange). Bored with her life while married to Greek, roadside-cafe owner Nick (John Colicos), Cora seduces Frank into a plot against her husband's life. The lovers get away with the murder, only to find unhappiness and eventual tragedy when Cora is accidentally killed.


Summary:
James M. Cain's famous (or notorious) novel THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE has attracted filmmakers ever since it was published in 1934. The most obvious ingredients of its story of passion between a drifter and the young wife of the owner of a roadside cafe are sex and murder, but in the novel the causes and consequences of these actions are also explored and given cynical and ironic twists. The novel was first filmed in France in 1939 as LE DERNIER TOURNANT, then in Italy in 1942 as OSSESSIONE. The latter version was the first film by Luchino Visconti, who was to become one of Italy's top directors. Hollywood filmmakers were ambivalent about the novel; its sensational elements would attract an audience, but gaining approval from the censors of the 1930's and 1940's would be difficult if not impossible. In 1946, however, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filmed the novel, with Tay Garnett as the director and Lana Turner and John Garfield as the stars. The film was both popular and memorable, and the notion of remaking it without the constraints of censorship surfaced periodically. Finally, in 1981, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE once more appeared on the screen.

Jack Nicholson had conceived the idea of filming the novel again in the early 1970's but it was nearly a decade before the project was realized. The talent finally gathered for the film included director Bob Rafelson, who had worked with Nicholson on three previous films, most notably FIVE EASY PIECES (1970); screenwriter David Mamet, the prizewinning playwright whose works include SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO (1974) and AMERICAN BUFFALO (1977); and cinematographer Sven Nykvist, famous for the many films he photographed for the great Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

The 1981 film should not, however, be considered a remake of the 1946 version, because the filmmakers -- although they knew the earlier film well -- went back to Cain's novel as their source. They included parts of the novel that were left out of the earlier version, and they also left out parts of the novel that were included in the M-G-M film.

The film begins with Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) hitchhiking to Los Angeles. He stops at a small roadside cafe and gas station owned by Nick Papadakis (John Colicos), where he gets a free meal by pretending that his wallet was stolen. After seeing Nick's young wife, Cora (Jessica Lange), he accepts Nick's offer of a job at the gas station, setting up the essential situation of the novel and of the film: the young, discontented wife, the older husband, and the outsider. In the novel and the 1946 film, however, Frank is much younger than Nick, but in this version he looks almost as old and is at least as rough and uncouth as Nick. The passion that Cora develops for Frank is thus not as understandable as it is in the earlier film.

In this film the "romance" between Cora and Frank happens almost instantaneously. The first time that Nick is gone from the place, Frank locks the door, puts up the "Closed" sign, and forces himself on Cora. She resists at first, but then she sweeps the bread and dough off the kitchen table and they have sex there. The next time Nick is gone, Frank and Cora pack up and leave for Chicago, but Cora decides that it would never work because Nick would follow them and find them. Finally, they decide to kill him, which is conveyed in the determinedly elliptical style of the film. Cora tells Frank that it will have to be just the two of them, and then she says, "I'm tired of what's right and wrong." When Frank replies, "They hang people for that, Cora," the audience understands that the decision has been made.

The filmmakers made a strange choice at this point in the script. We do not see or hear Frank and Cora plan the murder of Nick; we simply see them attempt to carry out the plan. The 1946 film, although it has its defects, does build up a good deal of tension and suspense as it depicts both the planning of the murder and the attempt to carry it out. In this way the audience anticipates what is going to happen and is aware each time something goes wrong. In the 1981 version the audience never does learn exactly how the murder was supposed to be committed, but does see that something goes wrong, and finally learns that a cat touched a fuse box and put out the lights just as Cora was about to kill Nick. In the ensuing confusion Frank rushes to Nick, causing Nick to think that Frank saved his life. Nick also has no idea that Cora was involved.

Cora resolves to accept the status quo, even though she feels trapped, until Nick tells her that he wants them to have a child. Once again she and Frank plan to kill Nick and once again the audience is not told how. This time their plan works; they murder Nick and try to make it appear that he was killed in an automobile accident. The authorities, however, do not believe their story and the two are tried for murder. The legal outcome is quite complicated. Frank signs a complaint against Cora; she then reveals the whole scheme in front of a man she thinks is a court reporter, Kennedy (John P. Ryan). The man, however, is an employee of Katz (Michael Lerner), their lawyer, who then cleverly contrives a way for both of them to go free by making a deal with the two insurance companies involved. The final result is that both insurance companies save money (because a proven murder would activate the "double indemnity" clause in Nick's policy) and Katz gets the ten-thousand dollar insurance payment as his fee. (Incidentally, in the novel and the 1946 film, the lawyer took no fee; he merely had the pleasure of winning a bet with the prosecutor that he could win the case.)

Nick and Cora leave the courthouse free but unhappy. The main benefit they receive is that their notoriety brings a great deal of business to the cafe. After several misadventures, including Frank having an affair with a lion-tamer named Madge (Anjelica Huston) and Cora finding out about it, the two finally seem to have accommodated to each other and found happiness. They get married and all their troubles and doubts seem to be over. As they drive back to their home, Cora begins kissing Frank, but it is their last moment of happiness. Frank forgets about his driving and causes an accident that kills Cora. The last image of the film shows his hand with the new wedding ring on it holding her hand. He removes his hand and leaves only her cold, bloody hand on the screen.

This is indeed an ironic ending, but the novel and the 1946 film contained a double irony. After the accident Frank is convicted of the murder of Cora. Therefore, he escapes conviction for a murder he did commit only to be executed for one he did not.

Critical reception of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE was lukewarm. Reviewers, even those who did not admire the 1946 film, thought that the 1981 version left out or changed too many essential parts of the novel. The critics also were less than enthusiastic about the casting and the acting, and some pointed out that, despite the early publicity, the film is curiously lacking in eroticism.

Jack Nicholson has said that Jessica Lange, as Cora, made him look sexy, but unfortunately this is seldom true in the important scenes in the film. Indeed, the kindest statement about Nicholson's acting from a major publication was THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER'S remark that he did not "scratch any new acting surfaces," and Pauline Kael in THE NEW YORKER wrote, "His performance could have been given by a Nicholson impersonator." Lange does a better job with the material she is given, and the performance of Michael Lerner as the lawyer is possibly the most interesting in the film.

The film is by no means without merit; it simply is not the first-rate film one expected from the talented people who made it.


Release Date: 1981

Production Line:
Charles Mulvehill and Bob Rafelson for Lorimar-Paramount, in association with M-G-M

Director: Bob Rafelson

Cinematographer: Sven Nykvist

File Editor: Graeme Clifford

Additional Credits:
Art direction - George Jenkins
Music - Michael Small

MPAA Rating: R

Run Time: 122 minutes

Cast:
Frank Chambers - Jack Nicholson
Cora Papadakis - Jessica Lange
Nick Papadakis - John Colicos
Katz - Michael Lerner
Madge - Angelica Huston
Kennedy - John P. Ryan
Salesman - Christopher Lloyd
Sackett - William Traylor
Barlow - Tom Hill
Mortenson - Brian Farrell
Goebel - Don Calfa
Doctor - Eugene Peterson
Ringmaster - Louis Turenne
Matron - Elsa Raven

Review Sources:
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. March 13, 1981, p. 3
LOS ANGELES TIMES. March 20, 1981, VI, p. 1
THE NEW REPUBLIC. CLXXXIV, April 11, 1981, pp. 26-27
THE NEW YORK TIMES. March 20, 1981, III, p. 12
THE NEW YORKER. LVII, April 6, 1981, p. 160+
NEWSWEEK. XCVII, March 23, 1981, p. 81
TIME. CXVII, March 23, 1981, pp. 84-85
VARIETY. March 13, 1981, p. 3

Named persons in Production Credits:
Charles Mulvehill
Bob Rafelson

Studios named in Production Credits:
Lorimar-Paramount
M-G-M

Screenplay (Author):
David Mamet
James M. Cain

Color



Video Available.
Genre:
Crime, Drama


Notes:
Previous film versions of Cain's novel include: LE DERNIER TOURNANT (France, 1939), OSSESSIONE (Italy, 1942), and M-G-M's THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946).

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