The Postman Always Rings Twice starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange is a remake of a 1946 movie based on a book by James M. Cain. I didn’t see the earlier movie version or read the book, so I don’t know how the 1981 version stacks up to either of those.
Just taken on its own, I thought The Postman Always Rings Twice was a terrible movie. I always approach films with an open mind and am willing to suspend my disbelief in the interest of taking in a good story. But the circumstances of Postman were just to implausible for me to believe.
I have a lot of questions about the movie that were never answered (they might have been addressed in the book, but again, I didn’t read it). For instance, why was the young, sexy Lange married to that much older, abusive lout of a man in the first place? Why was she attracted to a disgusting con man like Nicholson’s character?
Yes, as trivial as it seems, Jessica Lange’s looks ruined the movie for me. I’m not saying she was beautiful in this or anything, but I definitely found it difficult to believe that she would choose to be with either of those men. I think the casting director should have chosen a slightly less attractive actress to play Cora or should have chosen a far more attractive man to play Frank. Sorry, but Jack Nicholson was not good-looking even when he was young. And that’s apparently all the character had to offer Cora, so I’m hung up on it.
Anyway, not a good movie in my opinion. Besides the Lange problem, the plot wasn’t original at all and there weren’t any big twists along the way to shake things up. Frank and Cora were not sympathetic people and didn’t deserve my attention for two hours.
Other reviews right here.