{"id":5462,"date":"2008-04-14T08:38:28","date_gmt":"2008-04-14T15:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5462"},"modified":"2021-01-20T17:17:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T00:17:16","slug":"postman-always-rings-twice-the-1981","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5462","title":{"rendered":"Postman Always Rings Twice, The (1981)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting tired of what&#8217;s right and wrong.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Postman-1981-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Postman-1981-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-22854\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Postman-1981-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Postman-1981-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/Postman-1981-Poster.jpg 497w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA drifter (Jack Nicholson) begins a steamy affair with the wife (Jessica Lange) of his new boss (John Colicos), and soon the two are plotting to commit murder.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bob Rafelson Films<\/li>\n<li>Courtroom Drama<\/li>\n<li>Infidelity<\/li>\n<li>Jessica Lange Films<\/li>\n<li>Jack Nicholson Films<\/li>\n<li>Plot to Murder<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nRemaking a certified cinematic classic is always tricky business, given that the question &#8220;Why bother?&#8221; lingers naggingly in one&#8217;s head. In this case, director Bob Rafelson and screenwriter David Mamet (whose distinctive voice is nowhere in sight) seem interested in creating a more &#8220;authentic&#8221; version of James M. Cain&#8217;s Depression-era novel, which they achieve primarily by incorporating explicit scenes of steamy sexuality between Cora (Lange) and Frank (Nicholson), and restoring cuckolded husband Nick Papadakis&#8217;s Greek ethnicity (he was simply &#8220;Nick Smith&#8221; in the 1946 version). Unfortunately, however, Rafelson and Mamet are unable to create a more interesting or compelling drama than that told in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5452\">Tay Garnett&#8217;s MGM classic<\/a>: while both Nicholson and Lange are excellent actors, they can&#8217;t compete with the iconic status of their predecessors (Lana Turner and John Garfield), and neither one is particularly well cast. With that said, Rafelson&#8217;s update is at the very least a visual treat: Sven Nykvist&#8217;s glowing cinematography is as seductive as always, and set designer George Jenkins effectively recreates a specific time and place in history. Nonetheless, this re-envisioning of <em>Postman<\/em> ultimately remains optional viewing rather than a must-see gem. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>John Colicos as Nick Papadakis<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-colicos.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-colicos.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5464\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>George Jenkins&#8217; Depression-era set designs<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-period-detail.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-period-detail.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5465\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Sven Nykvist&#8217;s cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/postman-1981-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5463\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, though film fanatics will likely be curious to at least check it out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0082934\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1981\/03\/20\/movies\/a-new-postman-always-rings-twice.html\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/the-postman-always-rings-twice-1981\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/the-postman-always-rings-twice-2\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p><del datetime=\"2008-04-14T15:35:29+00:00\"><\/del><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m getting tired of what&#8217;s right and wrong.&#8221; Synopsis: A drifter (Jack Nicholson) begins a steamy affair with the wife (Jessica Lange) of his new boss (John Colicos), and soon the two are plotting to commit murder. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Bob Rafelson Films Courtroom Drama Infidelity Jessica Lange Films Jack Nicholson Films Plot to Murder Review: Remaking a certified cinematic classic is always tricky business, given that the question &#8220;Why bother?&#8221; lingers naggingly in one&#8217;s head. In this&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5462\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64766,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5462\/revisions\/64766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}