cult film freak: JACK NICHOLSON NOIR FOR 'THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE'

Title: THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE Year: 1981 Rating: ***1/2

Passion is better left implied, and the original POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE is far more sensuous, especially as Bob Rafelson's unapologetically R-Rated remake keeps little hidden with Jack Nicholson's otherwise useless drifter making Jessica Lange right there in the steamy kitchen of a diner he winds up employed...

And while Nicholson "is no John Garfield," the Noir-friendly CHINATOWN actor doesn't need to be. Paired with tough and tender Jessica Lange, she's not voluptuous like Lana Turner yet is equally beautiful and more realistically earthy/natural given the rural locale — desperately living the part instead of dramatically playing it...

Ugly husbands and pretty wives from both versions of THE POSTMAN RINGS TWICE

Enter the inevitable third wheel in grimy-looking Greek cafe/gas station owner John Colicos, cursed with the usual banal Noir-husband logic in not only allowing their gorgeous dames to spend ample time with a young and energetic, handsome rogue but insisting their friendship grows... then left stunned to how things inevitably/predictably pan out...

Yet neither Lange or Turner actually seem hitched to such unattractive husbands (especially the latter, paired with a goofball befitting a slapstick comedy): And in either POSTMAN, the poor dolt never sees it coming... herein through a noisy, drunken night on wheels, too darkly lit to pass as a capable Thriller while possessing the only mainstream Action...

Michael Lerner and Jack Nicholson in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Leading to dialogue-laden scenes with manipulative defense attorney Michael Lerner, who, for a great fifteen-minutes of courtroom bickering and backroom meetings, not only steals the picture (feeling like another movie altogether) but completely controls it, steering his client from determined prosecutor William Traylor (while a sneaky John Ryan, usually cast by Rafelson in his features featuring Nicholson, lays in wait)...

The steamy love scenes takes up the most time, but there's a nice break as the pair attempt a clean getaway, providing Jack his usual cocky fast-talker, conning his way through the 1930's Depression; and yet the best moments occur naturally when either Nicholson or Lange are alone — the otherwise avant garde FAST EASY PIECES director paints the bleak canvas more capably in repose than lustfully overblown passion.