Brion James Books

Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) is a drifter who manages to scam his way into the lives of married couple Nick (John Colicos) and Cora (Jessica Lange). Nick owns and operates a small diner in the middle of nowhere and his wife Cora is the cook. Nick falls for one of Frank's schemes but nonetheless offers him a job and a place to stay. Frank is immediately attracted to Cora and decides to stay on as a mechanic behind the diner. Cora is initially cold to him and refuses his advances while Nick likes Frank a great deal and invites him into his home to talk and drink all night. Frank waits for the day when Nick leaves town on business to make a move on Cora. He tries to whisk her away to Chicago but she is resistant and the trip ends with her returning home. Frank feels burned by her and isn't interested when she tries to get him to help her kill Nick. " They hang people for that" he tells her. Cora continues that Nick is worth a lot of money that the two could run off with and make a life for themselves. Frank takes some convincing but agrees to act as lookout while Cora kills Nick in their home. The attempted murder doesn't go smoothly since Nick is not really dead and he emerges a changed man who wants to keep Frank and Cora even closer than before. The two decide to try again and make a life for themselves but they have now drawn the attention of cops and lawyers who have them pegged for murderers who are hoping to collect on the hefty life insurance policy. The film is actually a little long and boring in spots. Nicholson is pretty good but this is not one of his best performances and Lange is quite sexy. Colicos is the most sympathetic character and actor Michael Lerner plays a lawyer who represents Frank as the story progresses. Anjelica Huston, Nicholson's lover at the time, has a very brief role as a lion tamer in a traveling circus that Frank has an affair with. The script has none of the usual Mamet dialogue and in fact was changed drastically in spots by director Bob Rafelson. The biggest example of this is the first time Frank and Cora have sex. The scene is very brutal and plays like a rape that Cora doesn't entirely consent to at first. This scene also sets the standard for the rest of the sex scenes. There is practically no nudity only brief flashes but regardless the scenes are quite explicit. The film is okay but a little long and pointless all leading up to a dumb ending. Still fans of Nicholson or Mamet might want to check it out as a curiosity.

Very, very much the classic "Nicholson". Jessica Lang is supremely sexy, beautiful, and the combination of the two of them just explodes on the screen, Both are truly wonderful actors and, although a remake of the original, it is better by far.

There are only a few movies that I would put in the same category along with it: Casablanca, The African Queen, and The Great Escape. In short, I loved it and probably have seen the movie about 50 times. It is indeed a classic!

I saw the 1981 "Postman" when it first came out. The period recreation and photography are excellent. Moreover, the performances are convincing and the sexual heat can be felt. Lange, who hit major stardom the following year with "Tootsie" and "Frances," has been a top notch actress ever since her arrival in Hollywood. Here, she gets her first high profile dramatic role. In her prime, Lange was an incredibly sexy woman. Hot with a capital "H." In this version, Rafelson and company are true to the ethnicities of Cain's characters. Nick is Greek not English and the lawyer is Jewish not Irish. Another reviewer, Dennis Littrell, suggested that 1946 Hollywood was afraid of being offensive. Littrell is mistakenly applying modern PC concerns to the past. Unflattering and even offensive potrayals of different races and ethnic groups were commonplace at the time. Even though Jews of European descent largely ran Hollywood, they were convinced that many audience members didn't want to watch anyone that might be a little different from them. Of course, John Garfield was Jewish but he wasn't playing a Jewish character. Although certain forties films like "Gentleman's Agreement" addressed the issue of bigotry, it wasn't until the fifties that people of different races and ethnicities were up on the screen more often. Nonetheless, the 1946 version with sultry Lana Turner and ruggedly handsome Garfield really captures the era and the tragedy of these doomed characters.

I admit to being a film noir fan of long standing. Maybe it was the fact of growing up in the time of black and white television and watching all those late night movies which were freely available at the time. Maybe it was that tight, if improbable, dialogue, the relatively simple plots and the dramatic effect of the shadows of black and white photography on mood. In any case, the Postman Always Rings Twice fits nicely into that mix. The plot line is fairly simple- unhappy California house wife, an older overbearing, uncaring lout of a husband and a younger man at the door who turns out to be handy with a wretch- all the ingredients for a murder. Of course, as always the guilty parties will have to face justice. You know this is a modern morality play, after all. This remake, in color, starring the always watchable Jack Nicholson and forbiddingly sexual Jessica Lange is probably truer to Cain's wicked designs but to my mind the old noir classic black and white starring John Garfield and Lana Turner is the definitive Postman. In any case one should read the book by James M. Cain to get a better feel for the language, the steamy sexual tension and better insight into the motivations driving the characters to their fates.

Director Bob Rafelson reunited with his "Five Easy Pieces" star Jack Nicholson on this film, which also stars Jessica Lange, Anjelica Huston, and briefly Christopher Lloyd (also reunited with Nicholson from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"). When Rafelson set out to make this film (which had already been adapted from the novel into a 1946 film starring Lana Turner), he wanted to take a detour from the original. In 1946, you weren't really allowed to show sex so the film had destroyed the whole vision of the novel. So, Rafelson has been adamant about not calling this a remake. I've never seen the original or read the book, so this is my first exposure to the material. Having said that, there's something about this film that's kind of funny...There is no postman. When we meet drifter Frank Chambers (Nicholson), he just scammed a restuarant owner named Nick (John Colicos) out of a free meal. About to leave, Nick offers him a job and Frank accepts. Problem is, Frank can't contain his feelings for Nick's wife Cora (the beautiful Jessica Lange). After Nick and Cora begin having an affair, Cora tells Nick that the only way they continue is if Nick is killed. After a failed attempt, they cool off for awhile...But eventually realize that it's something that must be done. The first hour of the film is spectacular, it sags a little in the second hour (causing me to almost give it 4 stars). But the performances are so good and the ending is so beautifully done (some complain it's abrupt, but it works to suit Nicholson's character). I don't know how this film is compared to the book and movie that inspired it, but it's a great movie. For people just looking for nudity, this isn't your movie. The sex scenes are pretty graphic, but the only nudity is Anjelica Huston side-boob.

GRADE: A-

This movie is pretty typical in many ways but Bruce Willis delivers an outstanding performance in just about every single movie he is in and this is another in a long line.

Former big city cop banished to being just a river rat there is more at stake than finding his fathers killer when women from his past keep winding up dead in the river for him to find.

Sarah Jessica Parker also delivers an excellent performance that was very surprising.

This is a must own for Bruce Willis fans and fans of the 80's/90's thriller/action movies.

This is one of Bruces high octane action movies that is always at the bottom of the barrel. This is still when Bruce Willis was looking like old school, original Die hard Bruce Willis. With that cutthroat wit that always made him worth watching.

Yes, sometimes the plot goes into extreme Monday Night Movie of The Week territory, with the serial killer, disguised as a plot twist, but I still dig it.

And some may say that there was zero chemistry in the romance between him and Sarah Jessica Parker, but come on now! Plus, what do I care, she is smokin' in that police boat uniform. Yes. Sarah Jessica Parker is always hot though. Even when she was in her akward "square pegs" era. She's a fox.

Dennis Farina, top notch job, as usual. I would have liked it better if Bruce had thrown a glass of punch at him... oh wait, he does!

Anyway. C'mon now! If you like Bruce Willis, or action movies, or serial killer movies, this is worth at least a rental. Even if just for the scene when Bruce tricks all the bad guys by wearing that one bad guys hat. Genius!

This is his forte. I surely wouldn't be watching a Bruce Willis movie for the romance! Lots of action, and drama. Not a family movie.

Cops running a muck in Pittsburg? Bruce attempts to clean the city up with the help of Sarah Jessica Parker.

I saw this movie years ago and found it in a bargain bin recently, I thought it was time to give it another viewing. This is no "Die Hard",but it is a pretty neat action thriller that will hold your interest. The DVD transfer is very good.

Bruce Willis at the peak of his action hero form playing a cynical hard-boiled cop trying to fight the system. A pre-Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker at the peak of her cuteness. Great character actors like Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, Tom Mahoney, and Andre Braugher. Superb on location cinematography shot by Mac Ahlberg in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a cool genre score by Brad Fiedel (love that saxaphone love theme) and on the mark (and wonderfully over the top) direction by Rowdy Herington of Road House fame. Striking Distance is a nice little hard boiled action gem that seems to be slowly gaining a nice little cult following. For fans of 80's and 90's action films, this is a movie worth seeking out.

This movie is pretty typical in many ways but Bruce Willis delivers an outstanding performance in just about every single movie he is in and this is another in a long line.

Former big city cop banished to being just a river rat there is more at stake than finding his fathers killer when women from his past keep winding up dead in the river for him to find.

Sarah Jessica Parker also delivers an excellent performance that was very surprising.

This is a must own for Bruce Willis fans and fans of the 80's/90's thriller/action movies.

This is one of Bruces high octane action movies that is always at the bottom of the barrel. This is still when Bruce Willis was looking like old school, original Die hard Bruce Willis. With that cutthroat wit that always made him worth watching.

Yes, sometimes the plot goes into extreme Monday Night Movie of The Week territory, with the serial killer, disguised as a plot twist, but I still dig it.

And some may say that there was zero chemistry in the romance between him and Sarah Jessica Parker, but come on now! Plus, what do I care, she is smokin' in that police boat uniform. Yes. Sarah Jessica Parker is always hot though. Even when she was in her akward "square pegs" era. She's a fox.

Dennis Farina, top notch job, as usual. I would have liked it better if Bruce had thrown a glass of punch at him... oh wait, he does!

Anyway. C'mon now! If you like Bruce Willis, or action movies, or serial killer movies, this is worth at least a rental. Even if just for the scene when Bruce tricks all the bad guys by wearing that one bad guys hat. Genius!

This is his forte. I surely wouldn't be watching a Bruce Willis movie for the romance! Lots of action, and drama. Not a family movie.

Cops running a muck in Pittsburg? Bruce attempts to clean the city up with the help of Sarah Jessica Parker.

I saw this movie years ago and found it in a bargain bin recently, I thought it was time to give it another viewing. This is no "Die Hard",but it is a pretty neat action thriller that will hold your interest. The DVD transfer is very good.

Bruce Willis at the peak of his action hero form playing a cynical hard-boiled cop trying to fight the system. A pre-Sex and the City Sarah Jessica Parker at the peak of her cuteness. Great character actors like Dennis Farina, Tom Sizemore, Brion James, Tom Mahoney, and Andre Braugher. Superb on location cinematography shot by Mac Ahlberg in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a cool genre score by Brad Fiedel (love that saxaphone love theme) and on the mark (and wonderfully over the top) direction by Rowdy Herington of Road House fame. Striking Distance is a nice little hard boiled action gem that seems to be slowly gaining a nice little cult following. For fans of 80's and 90's action films, this is a movie worth seeking out.