Double Indemnity *****

Every five or six years someone tries to remake Double Indemnity. The remake might not be about an insurance salesman, but it's the same basic idea of woman domineering some dupe leading to a murder (Body Heat comes to mind).

This movie is based on a great James M. Cain novella, which was also based on a true story which took place in California. The insurance salesman guy was so whipped in the script that just about every leading guy in 1940s Hollywood turned it down. Finally a minor star decided to give it a shot and Billy Wilder had to talk HIM into it. The role made him a star.

In these days before the newfangled cable crap with 7,000 station all on 24 hours, there was only one thing on in Boston on a Sunday night after the news - Frank Avruch and The Great Entertainment on Channel 5 (for some reason we get great reception from Boston up here). I can still see the opening of that show in my mind's eye and that show's been off the air for years. Love Frank Avruch. Love Frank's rug. Usually love his movie tastes. But on one Sunday, he said he has a classic for us...starring Fred MacMurray...huh?...ugh!

Great! Flubber. My Three Sons. Before I could get up to change the channel, he also mentioned Edward G. Robinson...okay, I'll give it a shot. Thank God for the lack of a remote control in my dingy little apartment back then. Paradise, my ass.

Now, I guess I reviewed this ages ago when it just came out and I really wasn't too into it. I've got the review here somewhere...one second...here it is. And I quote, "In many ways Double Indemnity is really quite a gratifying and even a good movie, essentially cheap I will grant, but smart and crisp like a whole type of American film which developed softening of the brain after the early thirties. But if at the same time you are watching for all that could have been got out of it, you cannot help being disappointed as well as pleased." That's from the October 14, 1944 issue of "The Nation." I don't know. Back then, I hated giving glowing notices to anything. Makes you look like some ass kisser like all the guys today that you see quoted on every billboard. Of course earlier in the review, I compared it to Madame Bovary, so with that in mind and the fact that I don't remember watching this the first time, we'll just assume I was sauced up during this one.

Right from the opening scene where Walter Neff (MacMurray), bleeding, starts to tell his story into a dictaphone (tape recorder for the 40s), this movie oozes attitude and atmosphere. All you have to do is hear the dialogue for five minutes and you know Raymond Chandler had a hand in it. ("You're not smarter, Walter. Just taller.")

The basic plot is Neff, a slick insurance salesman for Pacific All-Risk, goes to the valley to talk to a client about some renewals. Mr. Dietrichson is not there. But Mrs. Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) is. She is just wearing a towel when Neff first sees her and he wants her. Neff drops a couple of lines to the "cleaning woman" ("The liquor cabnet is locked." "Don't worry. I always bring my own key.") while Phyllis gets dressed. Once "fully covered," Phyllis tries to be helpful since her husband is not there. She flirts with him, asks him about all kinds of other insurance, she's especially interested about accident insurance. You never know when one of those crown blocks might fall on that poor unlucky Mr. Dietrichson. He's in construction, you know. Neff gets the hint, tells her to go to hell and leaves.

But he can't let it drop. Even after a little bowling and a glass of beer, he can't let it drop. He knows the business back and forth and it would be like a roulette coupier rigging the wheel. Phyllis shows up at his house later that night and after sex, he comes up with a full proof plan to not only get the insurance money, but hit it for double indemnity (a clause to double the pay out in the case of an unusual type of death)...but there's one mistake and finally claims manager Barton Keyes (Robinson) pounces.

It's worth it to see this movie for Robinson alone. He has several great scenes. One took place with Neff while they were meeting with the boss. The boss was convinced that Mr. Dietrichson's death was a suicide. Keyes, realizing the man was a minion and far from his intellectual equal, finally exploded, listing off all of the actuarial tables that he knows and the boss doesn't, tells the boss he's a moron, apologizes for not wearing a tuxedo, and takes the bosses water...thank you very much...and storms out of the room. I swear in the middle of that scene they should have stopped the movie and just awarded the the Oscar right there. Of course that would make sense, so why bother.

MacMurray's wise ass, cynical and slick salesman was completely again type as compared to all of the roles that he's known for and here he was great. Completely opened my eyes to Fred. (To digress for a second, I once heard a story about Fred where it was said he was so cheap that even when he was a big star, he would bring a hard boiled egg in a brown paper bag to the set for lunch every day. One guy he worked with said he would bring Easter eggs as well...IN AUGUST!!! I have no clue what that has to do with anything.) I've never been a big Stanwyck fan and I sure as hell don't get her as a sex symbol, but she's perfect here. Everyone else basically sucks, except Porter Hall, but Billy Wilder, the director, does a good job hiding them. Hall played the last person to see Diectrichson alive. This made him a very important witness for Neff. He was only in the movie for one scene, but he stuck out and I now know where Medford, Oregon is. ("I'm a Medford man; Medford, Oregon. If I say it, I mean it and if I mean it I'll swear to it...allexpensespaidright.")

The music is moody and perfect. The dialogue drives the story on top of being witty and filled with innuendo. (This is a big difference between movies today and back then. Writers then has a strict code they had to follow and were forced to slip things in subtlely. It's truly beautiful when done well). The acting by the three leads is great.

Overall I have a personal test I use to judge if a movie is near perfect. How many times do I groan during the course of a picture? For example, the "rain drops keep falling on my head" scene from Butch and Sundance elicited about five groans, an unfortunate slip in an otherwise great movie.

In conclusion, if you haven't seen this movie you're a moron and will continue to be one until you fix this problem.