The 1960s ended on a promising note for Jack Nicholson. Acting in films and television since his late teens, Nicholson landed a choice role in his friends' film, Easy Rider, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Nicholson more than lived up to that promise in the 1970s. Cinema was changing as a crop of talented new directors rose. In front of the camera, few actors enjoyed as much prominence and success as Nicholson, who starred in a string of decorated dramas including Five Easy Pieces, Chinatown, and 1975 Best Picture winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.The 1980s brought more change to Hollywood, with blockbusters from George Lucas and Steven Spielberg interesting the public more than the kind of adult dramas Nicholson made. Though one of his best-known and most adored films today, Stanley Kubrick's The Shining wasn't highly regarded upon release. Nicholson's next move was to reunite with his Five Easy Pieces and The King of Marvin Gardens director Bob Rafelson on The Postman Always Rings Twice, a dark, steamy Depression era noir romance.James M. Cain's 1934 novel of the same name had already been adapted twice by the French, once by Italy's Luchino Visconti and most famously in a 1946 MGM film starring Lana Turner and John Garfield. This 1981 version was the first screenplay credit of David Mamet, who had gained recognition at a young age for a number of his plays performed on and off Broadway.Nicholson plays Frank Chambers, a drifter, hitchhiker, and con man who orders a big breakfast from Twin Oaks Tavern and invents an excuse that prevents him from paying. Nick Papadakis (John Colicos), the Greek immigrant who owns the tiny California roadside diner, offers Frank a job as a mechanic, which he accepts over the machinist job in Los Angeles he's made up. Nick's sultry Anglo wife Cora (Jessica Lange) catches Frank's eye. When Nick is out buying parts in the city, they have violent, passionate sex in the kitchen.Frank and Cora quickly make plans to run away together, packing their bags for Chicago. This is not to be, though. She reconsiders while he's invested in a backroom game of craps at the bus station. The adulterous couple then decides to tie up a loose end by eliminating Nick from the picture. Again, circumstance intervenes. Nick ends up hospitalized with a newfound love of life and gratitude for his wife and employee.Though the fates seem not to want them together, Frank and Cora give it one more try and find themselves in hot water. Frank's long cross-country criminal record brings them immediate suspicion for a car accident sustained and raises accusations of murder and insurance fraud. Whereas the 1946 film had to adhere to Hollywood's restrictive Production Code, this remake does not. That explains why it's quite racy then and even somewhat now for its depictions of lovemaking. While there's barely any nudity, the content is provocative enough to ensure that this would not have earned a PG-13 had it arrived three years later, when the MPAA introduced that rating.We associate romance movies with female appeal and sentimentality, but this has little of either. It's a slow, unhappy film which most comes to life in the dizzying middle when the threat of legal consequences, and possibly even execution, hangs over our star-crossed lovers.Postman (whose title is never explained here) was not much of a draw in theaters, although its $12.4 million gross in 1981 is the equivalent of a decent $37.2 M today when adjusted for inflation.Poorly reviewed by critics and unrecognized by any significant awards, the film did little to set back the careers of its makers. Lange rebounded the following year, picking up dual Oscar nominations, for Frances (a losing bid for Lead Actress) and Tootsie (a Supporting Actress win). She went on to become one of the more acclaimed actresses of the '80s and has enjoyed a recent revival for her widely-recognized work on FX's "American Horror Story." Nicholson's follow-up, Reds, earned him another Oscar nomination, which he followed with a Supporting Actor win in 1983 Best Picture Terms of Endearment. He, of course, had been going strong into his seventies, though he's recently slowed, making just one film in the past six years. Mamet next adapted The Verdict, which earned him his first of two Screenplay Oscar nominations. He remains highly respected for both his theatre and film work. The only major player for whom things did not pick up is director Rafelson, who took the following six years off and before returning to a loss in relevance. His two subsequent reteamings with Nicholson (Blood and Wine, Man Trouble) represent two of the actor's low points of the '90s. Seemingly retired since 2003, Rafelson's filmography tapers off in a most disheartening way.Though theatrically distributed by Paramount, Postman has been part of the giant Warner Home Video catalog since at least the early '90s. Warner recently brought the film to Blu-ray, just in time for Valentine's Day.To the disappointment of studio logo purists, the film opens with a modern-day Warner Bros. Pictures logo and fanfare here.
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