| In the "Scent of a Woman" note, someone mentioned that the title of "The
Postman Always Rings Twice" didn't make any sense. After seeing the 2nd movie,
the one with Jack Nicklson, I was also puzzled about the title.
However after seeing the original version on TV, it became clear. This has to
do with the end of the movie so I'll put it behind a Spoiler warning
SPOILER
Spoiler about the end of the movie
It's been a while, but as I remember, in the 2nd version, the hero (or
anti-hero if you wish) and the wife kill the husband by beating him to death.
Then they inflict injuries on them self, and push the car over the cliff. They
get away with the murder by making everyone believe they were all in the
accident together.
Then while driving down the road, the hero and wife get into a real accident
in which the wife is killed. Credits roll and everyone walks out of the
theater wondering what happened to the hero and what the title had to do with
the movie.
In the old version, the story goes further. The wife dies and the hero
recovers, but he is arrested and charged with the wife's murder. They use
the facts of both accidents to convince the jury that it was his modus
operandi to kill people by staging an accident in which he too was injured.
The jury convicts him and he is sentenced to death. In effect, he was wrongly
convicted of killing his wife but there is a kind of justice in that he had
gotten away with the real murder earlier.
Just before being executed, the hero makes a speech about how having been
through the same thing twice was was did him in. He says "it's just like when
the postman comes to the door. You know it's him without even looking because
the postman always rings twice.
George
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| > In the "Scent of a Woman" note, someone mentioned that the title of "The
>Postman Always Rings Twice" didn't make any sense. After seeing the 2nd movie,
>the one with Jack Nicklson, I was also puzzled about the title.
> However after seeing the original version on TV, it became clear. This has to
>do with the end of the movie so I'll put it behind a Spoiler warning
Little late I know but ....
I've only seen the Nicholson/Lange version but I thought the ending was great
and the title made perfect sense. It was obvious they were going to get him
second time round for the "murder" of the wife.
Although the reverse is true in this case many movies nowadays are ruined
by spelling out the plot. The ending in Blade Runner is much improved in the
Director's cut as they leave out Harrison's voice over at the end explaining
everything.
/Paul.
Btw I still think this is the best movie Jessica Lange has made.
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| RE<<< Note 102.2 by 49391::OREILLY "There's a fish on top of Shandon swears he's Elvis." >>>
Ending stuff
>I've only seen the Nicholson/Lange version but I thought the ending was great
>and the title made perfect sense. It was obvious they were going to get him
>second time round for the "murder" of the wife.
Not really. It was not at all clear how bad his injuries were. He could have
died before the ambulance showed up. Then even if he did survive and get
arrested, the judge could have thrown out any mention of the 1st case for being
"propensity evidence". Remember the testimony of the other 3 women being thrown
out in the William Smith Rape Case? Some states have exceptions for "modus
operandi" but others don't.
And of course there was always the chance that some cop would forget to read
him his rights, extract a confession, and the whole case would have been
bounced out of court.
Anything can happen in a murder trial, it was not at all obvious that they
would nail him.
George
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