Review of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) by Van R — 31 Mar 2011

Adulterous lovers, avarice and cold-blooded murder propel the ambitious.

1981 remake pf "The Postman Always Rings Twice" with Jack Nicholson as.

The knockabout drifter and Jessica Lange as the roadside diner dame who.

Conspire to kill her older husband. "Five Easy Pieces" director Bob.

Rafelson and playwright-turned-scenarist David Mamet stoke the sensual.

Fires between Nicholson and Lange in this sexually charged rehash. When.

Nicholson and Lange come together, they grope each other like lusty.

Animals in throes of passionate fury. The scene in the kitchen where.

Jack takes Jessica on table sprinkled with flour dust makes it clear.

That the Rafelson remake wants to treat the material with greater.

Realism. Moreover, this beautifully lensed and produced melodrama never.

Stoops to prurience. Even during the kitchen table scene, our leads.

Never display their private body parts for our greater amusement.

Jessica Lange does not have a wardrobe malfunction. Later, he shows.

Jack indulging in cunnilingus. In another shot, Nicholson is shown.

Sprawled across a bed belly down with his buttocks bared. The ending.

Differs drastically from the 1946 version. Surprisingly, Nicholson's.

Character, who committed murder, gets away with it.

In most instances, the 1981 remake follows the 1946 American original.

This example of neo-noir appears to be set a little earlier in time.

Than the 1946 version. This time around Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson.

Of "Chinatown") hitches a ride with a salesman (Christopher Lloyd) to a.

Roadside gas station/diner owned by Nick Papadakos (John Colicos of.

"Raid on Rommel"), but he pretends that the salesman stole his money.

And left him high and dry. Nick gives Frank a job as a mechanic. Like.

The M-G-M version, this movie shows the hero and heroine as they try to.

Kill Nick when he is bathing. Of course, a poor cat dies when it.

Tampers with a fuse box and gets fried. Nick recovers from this.

Accident, but he isn't so lucky with the other accident. Frank and Cora.

Get him drunk and then take him up into the mountains and topple the.

Car off the mountain side. Initially, neither of them believes that the.

Sedan looks appropriately smashed up enough. Frank climbs into the.

Vehicle and his additional weight sends the automobile crashing down.

The mountain. The district attorney constitutes as the closet thing to.

A villain, but District Attorney Sackett (as played here by William.

Traylor) does not haunt the periphery like Leon Ames did in the M-G-M.

Version. Sackett intimidates Frank and convinces him to sign a.

Confession.

Later, Cora's attorney, Mr. Katz (Michael Lerner of "Outlaw Blues").

Pleads Cora guilty and gets her to spill the beans to one of his own.

Men, Mr. Kennedy (John P. Ryan of "The Missouri Breaks"), who is.

Masquerading as the district attorney's assistant. Cora calms down once.

She understands what Katz has done. The slippery Katz works out a.

Negotiation between the two insurance companies involved in the car.

Accident. He gets Cora off with probation and Frank is clean. Cora's.

Mother dies and she has to leave the diner. Frank shuts the place down.

And hitches a ride with a trucker delivering big cats to a circus.

Frank has a fling with Madge. The scenes with Angela Huston's lion.

Tamer is a major departure. When Cora comes back from her mother's.

Funeral, Frank picks her up and takes her home. She surprises him with.

News that she is carrying his child. Not surprisingly, Kennedy tries to.

Blackmail them and Frank roughs him up. While Frank is getting the copy.

Of the confession that Kennedy stole from Katz, Cora discover Frank's.

Infidelity. She points out to Frank that she cannot be tried from the.

Same crime. However, he can be tried for Nick's murder. Frank catches.

Cora making a phone and fears that she may be ratting him out to.

Sackett. After a passage of time, Frank announces that he wants to.

Marry Cora, but she believes that he only wants to shut her up. In the.

1946 version, Cora's attorney, Mr. Keats, persuaded Frank and Cora to.

Get married so that Sackett could not prosecute them on a moral charges.

Of living together out of wedlock. Frank and Cora tie the knot. Cora.

Feels ill and Frank takes her home. During that trip, Frank swerves to.

Avoid a collision with a truck and Cora falls out of the car into the.

Road. Frank smashes into a road sign. When he gets to Cora, he finds.

Her dead and weeps in tragedy. Rafelson's version is less literal, too.

Rafelson and Mamet emphasize ethnicity in the Greek proprietor Nick,.

Who owns the diner where our heroine slings hash, and the ending does.

Not put Frank on death row. Consequently, nobody ever explains the significance of the title about the mail man ringing twice.

Everything visual about "The Postman Always Rings Twice" looks opulent.

Acclaimed lenser Sven Nykvist, who photographed some of Ingmar.

Bergman's best films, steeps us in the detail of the period and imparts.

A spontaneity to each moment. The production values are solid and.

Atmospheric; production designer George Jenkins makes you believe that.

It is the Depression Era 1930s. The car crash scene looks exemplary.

Despite all of the stellar things going for this remake, "The Postman.

Always Rings Twice" rings hollow. Rafelson paces the film well enough.

So that it does not wear out its welcome or stall along stretches.

Altogether, the Rafelson film does not overshadow the 1946, Tay.

Garnett-directed M-G-M feature with Lana Turner and John Garfield, but it is an above-average opus.