Review by Jack Kost
Hard
times reveal peoples' true natures.
Often
the worst side.
The
Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), was directed by Bob Rafelson, and released in the
United States on March 20, 1981.
His
previous notable directorial credits include: Five Easy Pieces (1970),
and The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), also starring Jack Nicholson.
The
screenplay, by David Mamet, was based on the 1934 hardboiled novel of the same
title, by James M. Cain.
David
Mamet’s writing and directing credits include: House of Games (1987), Homicide
(1991), Hoffa (1992), and Heist (2001).
Set
during the depression era, Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) is a drifter with a
criminal record, an opportunistic petty crook and conman, thumbing rides on his
way to wherever he can make a fast buck.
He
pulls a fast one at a roadside gas station and diner: conning the owner, Nick
(John Colicos) into giving him a free meal.
Nick
also sees an opportunity and hires Frank as cheap labor.
Nick’s
beautiful wife, Cora (Jessica Lange), immediately catches Frank’s attention.
With
no better prospects, Frank takes the job.
Frank
and Cora are bad people.
Selfish
to the point where it can be said they ultimately deserve each other.
Frank
is the kind of man who will smile to your face and then knock you down for the
cash in your pocket.
Cora
makes up the trio of opportunists.
She
married Nick not for love, but as a way out of hardship; only succeeding in
marrying out of one hash house into another.
Cora
is a scheming femme-fatale: a vamp, fully aware of her seductive power.
She
is bored, dissatisfied, and unhappy in her marriage to Nick, an older and
oafish drunk.
He’s
no better; coarse and insensitive, selfish in his own way, taking Cora for
granted.
Cora
feels neglected, used, and trapped.
Nick
tells Cora he has a surprise for her, but it turns out to be a silk robe he
bought for himself.
When
Frank and Cora first make love on the kitchen table, the coupling is as violent
and desperate as it is passionate.
Frank
is ready to leave, suggesting to Cora that they both just take off together and
leave Nick.
Cora
is worried that Nick would come after them and sooner or later he’d catch up
and she’d face his retribution.
Frank
and Cora see in each other a way out, a way to a better future, a life
together, with Nick’s business as their own.
The
dynamic of the situation can only go one way.
It
was never going to end well.
Nick
is in the way.
Nick
may not deserve the brutal end Frank and Cora inflict on him, but it’s still
difficult for us to feel any sympathy for him.
After
a failed attempt to kill Nick, the balance of power shifts between Frank and
Cora and, fearing she will lose Frank, seduces him into murder:
CORA:
I
gotta have you, Frank. If it was just us. If it was just you and me.
FRANK:
What
are you talking about?
CORA:
I’m
tired of what’s right and wrong.
FRANK:
They
hang people for that, Cora.
Beneath
the passion, there is a coldness to this movie, as cold as Frank and Cora are
to Nick and, at times, each other.
It’s
this cold, cruel, selfishness that prevents us from sympathizing for how they
end up.
The
novel has been filmed several times, with plays adapted for radio and stage,
including an opera.
The
1981 movie version is superior in its gritty realism.
The
script and actors were not constrained by the censorship of previous times;
they could tell it like it played out in the author’s imagination.
Although
harshly criticized on its release, the movie has endured and stands as a
high-point in the careers of all involved.
The
supporting cast includes: Michael Lerner, John P. Ryan, William Traylor, Ron
Flagge, William Newman, Albert Henderson, Christopher Lloyd, Jon Van Ness, and
Brion James.
The
color tones in the movie are subdued, mostly varying shades of brown,
reflecting the drabness of the times.
The
music, by Michael Small, evokes an atmosphere of the time, in a neo-noir
setting of drama, seduction, infidelity, deception, and murder.
Frank
and Cora’s doomed relationship swings from love to hate.
How
can a relationship, borne out of infidelity and murder, marred by suspicion,
hope to survive?
Frank
has a lazy streak, and a weakness for gambling.
When
Cora goes out of town to visit her ailing mother, Frank shirks responsibility
when left alone.
He
closes the diner, takes off, encounters a traveling circus, and cheats on Cora
with a wild cat tamer, played by Anjelica Huston.
Cora
discovers Frank’s betrayal and takes it badly.
It
further confirms Frank’s true nature, adding fuel to the fire of their already
unstable relationship: cheaters cheat.
If
they cheat with you, chances are they'll cheat on you.
It
also confirms a double-standard in Cora: it was one thing Cora cheating on Nick
with Frank, but another thing entirely when Frank cheated on her with another
woman.
What
goes around comes around.
If
events had panned out different for Frank and Cora, they might have become
victims to their own nature.
Stuck
in another rut.
Frank
may have found himself meeting a similar end to Nick.
It’s
an old story.
A
cautionary morality tale of stupid, selfish people making stupid, selfish
choices.
Highlighting
a recurring bad choice many people make, generation after generation: the
mirage of the grass seeming greener on the other side of the fence.
It
isn’t.
They
fool themselves into thinking the new lover will be the perfect partner, able
to provide them with the perfect
life.
They quickly learn the new partner comes with
faults and problems of their own.
The trip to the other side of that proverbial
fence is often one-way.
The wrong choice is made, the bridge is then
burned and, like Frank and Cora, they find themselves in a worse situation.
They may cheat the hangman, but life, fate,
justice, karma – whatever you choose to call it – has a way of ringing twice.
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