Day 09: A Movie That You Know Practically the Whole Script Of

This mouthful of a prompt is a tough one for me because the films I know practically the whole script of tend to be comedies, from Young Frankenstein to Some Like It Hot. They tend to be films I’ve been watching since I was a teen. For noir, although I know none as well as The Producers, there is one so famous and familiar that it suits the bill for many of us noir fans:

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)

double-indemnity-barbara-stanwyck-16

I can’t say it’s my favorite. I can’t say I can stand that terrible wig on Stanwyck (though I’ve come to be persuaded that it’s purposefully phony looking, matching Phyllis Dietrichson’s personality). I don’t find MacMurray attractive in the slightest (though again, that’s perhaps purposeful).  But there’s no question this film typifies much about noir in tone, plot, and characterization. And it’s cheesy dialogue is so very memorable. Here are a few gems:

Walter: You’ll be here too?

Phyllis: I guess so, I usually am.

Walter: Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?

Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean.

Walter: I wonder if you wonder.

~

Phyllis: We’re both rotten.

Walter: Only you’re a little more rotten.

~

Neff: Yes, I killed him. I killed him for money – and a woman – and I didn’t get the money and I didn’t get the woman. Pretty, isn’t it?

~

Keyes: I picked you for the job, not because I think you’re so darn smart, but because I thought you were a shade less dumb than the rest of the outfit. Guess I was wrong. You’re not smarter, Walter… you’re just a little taller.

~

Neff: Know why you couldn’t figure this one, Keyes? I’ll tell ya. ‘Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya.

Keyes: Closer than that, Walter.

Neff: I love you, too.

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