Re: What movies have you seen recently?
As promised I made my side trip and watched the TV version of Double Indemnity (1973)
Despite the slight running time this was almost a scene for scene remake but it doesn't have the atmosphere nor the impending sense of doom that the original had. Lee J. Cobb and Richard Crenna do their roles fairly well though Crenna's interpretation of the Walter Neff character is far more worldly and skeptical than Fred MacMurray's version. This is what causes some of the problems with this other than the budgetary/constraints of TV reasons which I overlooked. Crenna's Neff would see right through Phyllis Dietrichson (played here by Samantha Eggar) and indeed he does! Yet he goes along with the whole sordid plan of killing her husband for the money and for her. The problem is there is just no chemistry between the two and indeed they come off as being very bland.
Lee J. Cobb fares a bit better filling out the Edward G. Robinson role but Steven Boccho decided to do this in a proto Columbo style so Cobb's around but he doesn't necessarily figure it ALL out but he's always around Neff and by the end of the flick he does figure it out. Cobb does a good job of making the role his own what with his stomach ailments when he's sure there's something wrong with an insurance claim or there's just something amiss. it's pretty hard filling the shoes of Edward G. Robinson but Cobb does it well enough.
So while this isn't bad per se but it's just "there". There isn't enough energy or life to this whole thing and suffers from a comparison to the legendary film. It's an ok time waster if you have absolutely nothing else to do.
1 3/4th stars out of 4
As promised I made my side trip and watched the TV version of Double Indemnity (1973)
Despite the slight running time this was almost a scene for scene remake but it doesn't have the atmosphere nor the impending sense of doom that the original had. Lee J. Cobb and Richard Crenna do their roles fairly well though Crenna's interpretation of the Walter Neff character is far more worldly and skeptical than Fred MacMurray's version. This is what causes some of the problems with this other than the budgetary/constraints of TV reasons which I overlooked. Crenna's Neff would see right through Phyllis Dietrichson (played here by Samantha Eggar) and indeed he does! Yet he goes along with the whole sordid plan of killing her husband for the money and for her. The problem is there is just no chemistry between the two and indeed they come off as being very bland.
Lee J. Cobb fares a bit better filling out the Edward G. Robinson role but Steven Boccho decided to do this in a proto Columbo style so Cobb's around but he doesn't necessarily figure it ALL out but he's always around Neff and by the end of the flick he does figure it out. Cobb does a good job of making the role his own what with his stomach ailments when he's sure there's something wrong with an insurance claim or there's just something amiss. it's pretty hard filling the shoes of Edward G. Robinson but Cobb does it well enough.
So while this isn't bad per se but it's just "there". There isn't enough energy or life to this whole thing and suffers from a comparison to the legendary film. It's an ok time waster if you have absolutely nothing else to do.
1 3/4th stars out of 4
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