Jack played another great role
I agree it is about second chances
it's sad about how the movie ends
but I still watch it over and over again
The movie is funny in some parts
really touching
and once again the plot hooked me
I wanted to know what would happen to everyone that was shown in the movie
Frank loved Cora so much that it just drove him wild to be with her. I don't think he meant to flirt with other women I think he just got out of hand with loving and realized his ways. one way of learning. I think the reason the movie is called The Postman Always Rings Twice is because it's an analogy for people that get second chances in life to improve on who they are and how things can get better if you really try to work things out like Frank Chambers and Cora did. I loved it
the scenes were brilliant
the taylors who picked out the clothes were also brilliant
The locations were just simply beautiful
The lighting was perfect
the cam angles were just right in every shot shot
Go rent this movie
I have it on dvd and love it every time I watch it
It's a classic gem for a movie that goes to show you just how far love can drive you literally
*claps for Jack Nicholson on this one and everyone in it*

There we have a well remade from the James Cain's novel . It's good to remind that Visconti made a superb film in 1941 with Ossesione but without this cast and this atmosphere ; Visconti is concerned about other issues and abandons the clues of the film noir.
Nicholson is hired to work in a gas station ; the seductive Jessica Lange (who lives a ficticious live with an alcoholic and inhuman greek husband) establishes the chemical and sexual rapprot with Nicholson and become lovers.
There will be too much to watch in this sordid , nocturnal and bitter tale ; but the dazzling direction of Nichols , the ravishing acting of Lange and the cold blooded mind of Nicholson make a team hard to equal . There are smart twists about Macbeth and his wife in this one (a man without ambition is not a man) . I've always thought the film noir is the last son of the greek tragedy: any happiness is innocent ; and only under this gaze it's possible to understand and to discuss a film like this.

Excellent and fundamental in your golden collection. A cult movie and a classic sample of the purest film noir.
It's remarkable to state that the best trilogy of films noir in the eighties were with this one ; Bad timing and Body heat .

Twice is nice. Hollywood had to try twice to get this story right. Lana Turner was beautiful in the 1946 version, but Jessica Lange was something to kill for opposite Jack Nicholson.

Such raw sensuality would easily persuade a man to lose his very soul. Nicholson's part is certainly unscrupulous to begin with, but in Jessica Lange he finds a confederate with even less scruples. The legal loose ends that dangled in the earlier version are avoided this time with a more plausible chain of events... and the story ends when the story ought to end, instead of being dragged on.

Wonderful character and situation development, intriguing and engaging, even when you know the story. Nice twists of the story from the Lana Turner and Italian ("Ossessione" 1943) versions.

This movie was much closer to the book than the original movie, which for me was a treat. Filled with torrid sex and self centered reckless abandon, the two main characters convey those in the book as they were meant to be. This fleshes out the story quite nicely and keeps it moving through the twists and turns in the plot. Though there were a couple of minor changes in the story, what surprised me, and really let me down was the very ending. Though viewers should pick up on the irony of the situation, it is really driven home in the book!

THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1981) serves as a cautionary lesson to anyone who's considering renting or buying a film on the strength of its starring leads, and then proceeds to plunk down dollars after asking the rhetorical question, "With that cast, how bad can it be?"

Jack Nicholson is drifter Frank Chambers, who washes up in a rural roadhouse run by Nick Papadakis (John Colicos) and his too young (for him) wife, Cora (Jessica Lange). The time is the 1930s, and the place somewhere in the coastal mountains between Los Angeles and San Francisco. After Chambers is employed by Nick as a mechanic in the outpost's garage, Frank and Cora soon ignite a spark of mutual lust that eventually spreads into a conflagration of betrayal, attempted murder, murder, violent sex, insurance company venality, blackmail, and bad driving.

There's a good story here somewhere, so how did it go so badly wrong? Most damaging, there's no likable character for the audience to champion. Nicholson's character is as sleazy and vicious as any role he's ever done. Cora, married to an unsuitable older man for reasons we never learn, initially gains some audience compassion, perhaps. But then, after she demonstrates a cold-bloodedness worthy even of Frank, I ceased sympathizing with the character. Of the lot, only Nick is blameless, but he's such an old fool that it's hard to care.

The supporting cast is no better. The award for Worst Performance In A Negligible Role (Female) has to go to Anjelica Huston as Madge, a lion tamer and manager of a traveling wild cat show, who sports a goofy accent and hairdo worthy of Natasha (of "Boris and Natasha" on the old Bullwinkle TV series). The same award for a male actor is due William Traylor as Sackett, the Los Angeles DA out to nail our heroic couple.

There are only three reasons to view this film. First, if you're a diehard Nicholson fan. I'm not. Second, if you're a diehard Lange fan. I am. But, while she's undeniably gorgeous and indulges in tempestuous sex that would make my Mom blush and fuels my personal fantasies, prurient interest isn't enough to carry the day. Lastly, the scenery surrounding the roadhouse is beautifully pastoral.

I haven't seen the 1946 release of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, nor do I intend to because Jessica isn't in it. This 1981 version is over-acted, over-scripted, under-edited, and implausible. It's just silly in a lurid sort of way.