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

neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...

erotic thriller The erotic thriller is a film subgenre defined as a thriller with a thematic basis in illicit romance or sexual fantasy. Though exact definitions of the erotic thriller can vary, it is generally agreed "bodily danger and pleasure must remain i ...

film directed by Bob Rafelson and written by

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

(in his screenwriting debut). Starring

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. Nicholson is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of the 20th century, often playing rebels fighting against the social structure. Over his five-de ...

and

Jessica Lange Jessica Phyllis Lange (; born April 20, 1949) is an American actress. With a career spanning over five decades, she is known for her roles Jessica Lange on screen and stage, on stage and screen. She has received List of awards and nominati ...

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

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

Plot

Frank Chambers, a drifter, stops for a meal at a diner outside Depression-era

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a young, beautiful woman, Cora Smith, and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis, a hardworking but unimaginative immigrant from Greece. Frank and Cora begin 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 do turn on each other, a clever ploy from Cora's lawyer, Katz, prevents her 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 Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

and is sentenced to probation. Months later, Frank has an affair with Madge Gorland while Cora is out of town. When Cora returns, she tells Frank she is pregnant. That night, Katz's assistant, Kennedy, 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 Charles David Liddell (born December 17, 1969) is an American former professional Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1998 to 2018, Liddell is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion (from 2005 to 2007) and i ...

– Boy Scout * Albert Henderson – Art Beeman * Christopher Lloyd – Salesman

Soundtrack

On May 14, 2012, Intrada Records released Michael Small's complete score for the first time..

Release and reception

The film was screened out of competition at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. 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 Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

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

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, 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 The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

in 2002 for the AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions list. The star of the 1946 version,

Lana Turner Julia Jean "Lana" Turner ( ; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. ...

, 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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

currently holds the rights to the film. Turner Entertainment Co. currently holds only the 1946 version (as part of the pre-May 1986

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

library), not the second adaptation (since Lorimar produced this film), but Warner Bros. owns both films.

References

External links

*
''The Postman Always Rings Twice'' at AllMovie
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Postman Always Rings Twice, The 1981 films 1981 crime drama films Films about adultery in the United States American crime drama films Remakes of American films 1980s English-language films Films about murderers Films based on The Postman Always Rings Twice 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 English-language crime drama films Southern noir films