''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' is a 1981 American

neo-noir Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...

erotic thriller film directed by

Bob Rafelson Robert Jay Rafelson (February 21, 1933 – July 23, 2022) was an American film director, writer, and producer. He is regarded as one of the key figures in the founding of the New Hollywood movement of the 1970s. Among his best-known films as a ...

and written by

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, filmmaker, and author. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and '' Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first gained cri ...

(in his screenwriting debut). Starring

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

and

Jessica Lange Jessica Phyllis Lange (; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. She is the 13th actress to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting, having won two Academy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award, along with a Screen Actors ...

, it is the fourth adaptation of the 1934 novel by James M. Cain. The film was shot in Santa Barbara, California.

Plot

Frank Chambers (

) a

drifter A drifter is a vagrant who moves from place to place without a fixed home or employment. Drifter(s) or The Drifter(s) may also refer to: Films and television Films * ''The Drifter'' (1917 film), an American film directed by Fred Kelsey * ''Th ...

, stops at a Depression-era rural California diner in the hills outside Los Angeles for a meal and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora Smith (

), and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis ( John Colicos), a hardworking but unimaginative immigrant from Greece. Frank and Cora start to have an affair soon after they meet. Cora is tired of her situation, married to an older man she does not love, and working at a diner that she wishes to own and improve. She and Frank scheme to murder Nick to start a new life together without her losing the diner. Their first attempt at the murder is a failure, but they succeed with their second attempt. The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred but does not have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on one another, he tries only Cora for the crime. Although they turn against each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer, Katz ( Michael Lerner), prevents Cora's full confession from coming into the hands of the prosecutor. With the tactic having failed to generate any new evidence for the prosecution, Cora benefits from a deal in which she pleads guilty to manslaughter and is sentenced to probation. Months later, Frank has an affair with Madge Gorland ( Anjelica Huston) while Cora is out of town. When Cora returns, she tells Frank she is pregnant. That night, Katz's assistant, Kennedy ( John P. Ryan), appears at their door and threatens to expose them unless they give him $10,000. Enraged, Frank beats Kennedy up and strong-arms him into giving up the evidence against them. When Frank returns, he finds that Madge has been to see Cora, who threatens to turn him in. They eventually patch together their tumultuous relationship and now plan for a future together. However, on the way back after having been married, Cora dies in a car accident while Frank is driving. Frank weeps over Cora's body.

Cast

– Frank Chambers *

– Cora Smith/Papadakis * John Colicos – Nick Papadakis * Michael Lerner – Mr. Katz * John P. Ryan – Ezra Liam Kennedy * Anjelica Huston – Madge Gorland * William Traylor – Kyle Sackett * Ron Flagge – Shoeshine Man * William Newman – Man from Home Town * Chuck Liddell – Boy Scout * Albert Henderson – Art Beeman * Christopher Lloyd – Salesman

Soundtrack

On May 14, 2012

Intrada Records Intrada is an American record company based in Oakland, California, owned and managed by Douglass Fake. The company specializes in movie and television soundtracks, notably those by the late Jerry Goldsmith. Intrada was founded in 1985 by owner ...

released

Michael Small Michael Small (May 30, 1939 – November 24, 2003) was an American film score composer known for his scores to the movies '' Klute'', '' The Parallax View'', '' Marathon Man'', and ''The Star Chamber''. Personal life Small was born in New York ...

's complete score for the first time.

Release and reception

The film was screened out of competition at the

1981 Cannes Film Festival The 34th Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 27 May 1981. The Palme d'Or went to the '' Człowiek z żelaza'' by Andrzej Wajda. The festival opened with '' Three Brothers'' (''Tre fratelli'') by Francesco Rosi and closed with '' Honeysuckle ...

. Upon release, the film was poorly received by many critics, who felt that the remake of the 1946 film of the same name was wasted. They also believed the ending was "very weak" compared to the original film. They also criticized that the meaning of the title is not explained in the remake, which led to confusion among viewers. Jack Nicholson later said "If you ran a question through this industry about ''The Postman Always Rings Twice'', most people would surmise that it wasn't successful. That is not true. I know it made money, because I received overages, so it must've grossed about as much as '' Chinatown'' and much more than ''

Carnal Knowledge Carnal knowledge is an archaic or legal euphemism for sexual intercourse. In modern statutes, the term " sexual penetration" is widely used, though with various definitions. Biblical source The term derives from ''carnal'', meaning "of the fles ...

''. But people are anxious to disqualify it." The film has since been received more favorably; it scores a 79% "fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, with 11 positive reviews and three negative. Kerry Segrave and Linda Martin praised the "charged chemistry" between Nicholson and Lange, and stated that Nicholson admitted that he was smitten with his co-star, remarking that she was a "big consensus movie sex bomb". The film was nominated by the American Film Institute in 2002 for the AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions list. The star of the 1946 version,

Lana Turner Lana Turner ( ; born Julia Jean Turner; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over the course of her nearly 50-year career, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized pe ...

, did not watch the remake, but said she had seen advertisements and blurbs on television that made her sick: she resented how the studio "turned it into such pornographic trash".

Notes

Warner Bros. Pictures currently holds the rights to the film.

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

currently holds only the 1946 version (as part of pre-May 20, 1986 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library), not the second adaptation (since Lorimar produced this film), but WB owns both films.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Postman Always Rings Twice, The 1981 films 1981 crime drama films Adultery in films American crime drama films Remakes of American films 1980s English-language films Films about murderers Films based on American novels Films based on mystery novels Films based on works by James M. Cain Films directed by Bob Rafelson Films set in California Films set in 1934 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Paramount Pictures films Films with screenplays by David Mamet Films scored by Michael Small American neo-noir films Films produced by Bob Rafelson 1980s American films