Douglas Sirk's 'All That Heaven Allows': plot summary

This is a summary of key scenes from the film 'All That Heaven Allows'.

The main theme of this film is obvious. It’s about defining happiness for yourself and not allowing others to define your happiness. 

Cary Scott (Jane Wyman) is a widow living the life defined for her by her children, her friends, and her community. Her husband was a businessman and leaves her financially secure. Her friends and children are mindful of what others think and constantly remind their mother of staying within the accepted norms from the length and color (red) of the dresses she wears to whom she dates. At the outset of the film, she is being taken out on a date with a man her age, a man her children believes is proper for a woman her age. The soirée itself is full of gossip, particularly on  the red dress Cary wears and other suggestions that she hasn’t given the proper amount of time to grieving her husband. An man of her age there finds her in a secluded spot and tries to force himself on her assuming that she is lonely and desperate. She politely refuses his advances. Later, Harvey takes  her home and proposes to marry her, catching her completely off guard. Cary life is carefully ordered around what’s expected of her but the irony is that those whose opinion she covets do not have much time for her. A trophy her dead husband won sits on the mantle of the fireplace to remind her of her position in her society and what is expected of her. 

Ron Kirby (Rock Hudson) has been maintaining Cary’s property since taking over the business from his father who passed away. Ron follows his own heart and has gotten off of life’s merry-go-round, now finding joy in gardening, particularly, growing trees. The autumn leaves are turning and this will be his last year as Cary’s gardener as he plans to grow trees full time. He asks her over to his place. Kirby, here, represents the life Cary wants but is afraid of because of what others may think. Her life consists of evening parties, social clubs, the right crowds, sending her kids to college, etc. By contrast, Ron’s life is like the trees he loves, patient and simple. 

He lives in a greenhouse with a clear view of the night sky. There’s an old mill next to this greenhouse. Inside of it is dusty and full of cobwebs. There’s a broken teapot on the floor, a Wedgwood. This old mill is Ron and the broken teapot is his heart that she will eventually fix, break, and fix again later in the film. The mill is simple, like Ron. He is content without all of the material things that define her life. She falls in love with him but this invites conflict into her life and she has to make difficult choices as Ron is from a lower social class than she belongs to. 

Cary has a guest over named Sara when Ron drops by unexpectedly to ask Cary out with some friends of his. It is an uncomfortable moment for Cary as she introduces him to Sara. Cary dating her gardener is the furthest thing from Sara’s mind at this point but when Cary passes on Sara’s invite to a party that evening, Sara gets the hint. The cinematography by Russell Metty in this film is exceptional. When Cary opens the door, the camera uses the doorway to separate her world from Ron’s world. Behind Ron, you see trees and shrubs and other greenery; behind Cary, you see all the material man-made things that define her existence, nice furniture, etc. Also, note the direction by Douglas Sirk. Ron is smiling and Cary, with all of the material things behind her, looks unhappy. This scene represents the clashing of their worlds. Her world will not accept him.

But, by contrast, his world accepts her easily and graciously. His friends Mick (Charles Drake) and Alida (Virginia Grey), invite them to a clambake. Like Ron’s Mill, Mick and Alida’s place is simple but warm and comfortable. The men go to get wine out of the cellar and leave the women who strike up a short conversation on  a poem out of Mick’s “Bible,” a book of memoirs called Walden by Henry David Thoreau (which I have not read):

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer,

Let him step to the music which he hears, 

however measured, or far away.”

Mick and Alida used to be on life’s merry-go-round until Mick met Ron, who taught him the most important lesson of all: “To thine own self, be true.” 

Meeting Mick and Alida and seeing how happy they are makes a profound impression on Cary as she begins to question her own carefully planned life. But on the other side of this revelation are insecurities about their age differences when Mary Ann enters the picture. Alida and Mary Ann are cousins and Mary Ann, who is much younger than Cary, invites Ron to go sailing with Cary within earshot. Cary is obviously upset and her jealousy adds to the tension of the story. 

She breaks the news of her relationship with Ron to her best friend Sara. Sara suggests for Cary to invite Ron to one of their soiree’s to get their society to accept them. Ron doesn’t like the idea but goes along with it to please Cary. The evening is a disaster. Cary introduces him to her children and Ron tells them of his plan to marry her. They reject him and remind their mother of her image and what other people will think of her marrying a gardener who worked for them while their father was living. 

Ron shows Cary the work he has done to the mill, fixing it up so that she could move in with him when they married. But Cary now has 2nd thoughts and wants to put off marriage to give everyone time to adjust to them being together. She leaves. 

But now that she is no longer dating Ron, her children and friends have no time for her and go about their lives. Kay shows Cary the engagement ring Freddie gave her. Kay (Gloria Talbott) has on a red dress in this scene and remember the red dress Cary wore in the beginning of the movie. This suggests that red represents love, life, and youth. Cary has on a black dress in this scene, representing mourning or death after her breakup with Ron. Ned (William Reynolds) gives Cary a new television for Christmas. He is taking a scholarship oversees and will be leaving soon. She has become an afterthought and she realizes that she has thrown away her own happiness with Ron to please others. 

She goes to see her doctor (Hayden Rorke) because she is not feeling well and he tells her to Marry Ron. Ron isn’t his old self either and Mick tells him to go back to Cary. Cary drives over to the Mill to make up to Ron who sees her car and falls off a cliff into a snowbank. Alida and Mick finds him and a doctor treats him for many days. When Ron finally wakes up, Cary is there with him and he smiles and says to her, “Cary, you’ve come home.”

Scene Analysis of Elia Kazan's 'On The Waterfront'

This is a plot analysis of the film 'On The Waterfront'.

On The Waterfront by Elia Kazan

Title 1 (0:00:00-10:46) (10:46)

The opening titles of 'On The Waterfront' are on a background of woven cloth which embodies the entire theme of the film, which is that we are all threads in the common fabric of society and that what affects 1 fiber affects the entire cloth. The movie opens on the pier of a dock in Hoboken, New Jersey. Union boss Johnny Friendly (Lee J. Cobb) and his thugs come out of a small office shack with former prize-fighter turned snitch, Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) who Johnny sends to set up an outspoken dockworker named Joey Doyle. Joey Doyle is supposed to testify to the Crime Commission about corruption by local 374, which Johnny controls. 

Terry Malloy goes to Joey’s tenement and calls out Joey’s name. He asks Joey to meet him on the roof where Joey raises pigeons and Joey agrees and minutes later comes falling off the roof to the ground, dead instantly. Terry sees the whole thing but is upset because only thought Johnny would talk some sense into Joey, not kill the man. Charley, Terry’s older brother, blames Joey’s death on his big mouth. At the scene, people gather around Joey’s dead body including Joey’s father, Pops, his sister, Edie (Eva Marie Saint) and others. Joey is the 2nd man who died after vowing to testify against Johnny Friendly. The police ask questions but get nothing. Everyone in the neighborhood follows the D & D code, which is Deaf and Dumb! A local clergyman named Father Barry (Karl Malden) kneels over Doyle’s body and tells Edie to come see him at the church to which she replies that she never heard of a saint hiding in the church. 

Back at the union office at the docks, Johnny Friendly gives Terry Malloy some money for his part in killing Joey Doyle. But Terry is visibly upset at not being told that they were setting Joey up to get killed. Johnny tells Big Mac, the dock foreman, to set Terry up with a cushy job in a loft to make him feel better and sends Terry on his way. 

My viewpoint

All of the main characters of the film and their conflicts are introduced in this scene and also the central theme of the film is summed up in a question put by Joey Doyle’s sister: “Who killed my brother?” Lets begin with Terry Malloy. He is an ex-prize fighter with very little education. He is a snitch for Johnny Friendly but this does not sit well with him, especially helping to set up Joey Doyle. Charley, Terry’s older brother ( in real life, Rod Steiger who plays Charley, is a year younger than Brando who plays the younger brother), is Johnny’s accountant and right-hand man. He is college educated and is loyal to Johnny (Johnny represents money in this film), even at the expense of his brother by allowing Johnny to use Terry to set up Joey. But you can see that there is something wrong between Terry and Charley’s relationship. There is a connection between Johnny Friendly killing Joey Doyle and others to keep them from testifying to the Crime Commission and Charley “The Gent” unwilling to face up to his role in ruining Terry’s boxing career. More on this later. As for Terry, the fact that he used to be a fighter means that he is now emasculated as a man and unable to resist the influence of Johnny Friendly. Taking the dive for the “short money” means that he sold out his pride and integrity and in a sense, allowed himself to be pimped by his brother and Johnny Friendly for short term gratification. He allowed himself to be used by his brother out of love, because, as he points out in the famous cab scene, he trusted his brother. More on this later. The main point of this scene is that it establishes that everyone is looking out for him or herself starting with Johnny Friendly who orders the hit on Joey Doyle; to those in the community and their code of silence; to Charley “the Gent,” Johnny’s right hand man; to Father Barry who addresses society’s ills from the safety of the church, and finally, the main character Terry Malloy who snitches on his fellow dockworkers for special privileges. 

Title 4 (12:17—13:15) (00:58)

Workers show up at the loading docks hoping to be recruited for work. Pops, Joey’s father, gives Joeys windbreaker to a fellow dockworker named Kayo Dugan. Kayo takes off his old jacket and gives it to a fellow worker and puts on Joey’s jacket. 

My viewpoint

The jacket is symbolic. Joey Doyle had the guts to testify against Johnny Friendly and now that torch, representing the windbreaker, is being handed down to Kayo Dugan and it’s no coincidence that he has a fighter’s name, Kayo. Pay close attention to this windbreaker because later when Kayo is murdered this jacket will be handed down to Terry who will testify against Johnny; symbolically, this suggests that even if you fail over and over, that you will eventually win if you stay in the fight. Also to note is the attitude of the workers towards snitchers, which is negative despite the fact that Joey was one of their own and was testifying against their corrupt union boss who treated them like animals. Again, the general populace, like the story’s main characters, have the attitude of every man for himself. 


Title 5 (15:15-20:01) (4:46)

Father Barry goes down to the docks to see the longshoremen fight each other like animals over work-tokens the foreman tosses at them like bird seed. Pops is too old and is kicked from the pile of younger workers. Terry teases Edie with one of the work-tokens but gives it to her when one of the workers tells him that she’s Joey Doyle’s sister. Edie gives the token to her father who berates Father Barry for bringing her to the docks to see things “not fit for a lady to see.” Father Barry is angry about what he saw, about how the men are made to fight each other for work when there is plenty to go around. He invites the longshoremen to talk in the basement of the church. 

My viewpoint

When Big Mac hands out the token, pay close attention to how he deliberately passes over Kayo. It’s obvious that Kayo is fingered as a troublemaker and is destined to go against Johnny Friendly at some point. Also, when Big Mac chooses his workers and throws the few remaining tokens at the workers like chickenfeed, the workers fight each other—this illustrates why no one looks out for the other guy and only himself. In order to survive, you have to look out for number 1, yourself. This also illustrates how desperate situations can degrade the individual as Pops embarrassment in being seen by his daughter points out. Father Barry becomes involved but only halfway as he has asks the workers to come to the church, the same thing he asks Edie to do in the 1st scene. Also, when he does get involved Kayo is all in with him because he’s risking his own neck by doing so, something the dockworkers are unaccustomed to. 

Title 7 (20:08—26:06) (5:58) 

Terry Malloy enjoys the privileges of being Johnny Friendly’s stool pigeon, kicked back on a bag of coffee reading a book while everyone else is working. Charley “the Gent” delivers a message from Johnny who heard through the grapevine about the workers meeting at the church. Johnny wants Terry to go there to see what they’re talking about. Terry doesn’t want to be a stool pigeon but he doesn’t want to lose his privileges either. He goes to the church. There, Father Barry asks the workers who killed Joey Doyle but no one’s talking, especially when they notice Terry Malloy behind them alone on one the benches. As the meeting ends, someone throws a brick through one of the windows. As the workers run out of the church they are beaten by Johnny’s men. Father Barry pulls a couple of thugs off of Kayo who’s face is bruised and bloody. Kayo asks Father Barry if he’s all-in and Father Barry promises to stand behind Kayo and the workers no matter what. 

My viewpoint

Father Barry is religion coming out of the church and becoming active in the community and why Black churches during the Civil Rights movement in the 60s (and even now) were targets of hostility. Even now, Father Barry has some respect as Johnny’s thugs did not attack him personally yet because he has not taken a personal stand outside the church. Kayo is the citizen who has had enough and is willing to put his neck out if Father Barry is committed to going all the way.

Title 9 (29:18—33:16) (4:02) 

After Johnny’s goons attack the dockworkers at Father Barry’s church, Terry catches up with Edie who isn’t aware that he is the one who set her brother Joey up for Johnny Friendly. Terry walks her home.  

My viewpoint

This is Terry and Edie’s 1st real scene together. They went to school together as kids. She remembered how the nuns beat him all the time and he laughs at how he defied them, asking Edie how she would have handled him. “I would have used a little more patience and kindness,” she says catching him off guard. He’s been beat up his whole life and is not used to her kindness. This, she says, is “What makes people mean and difficult, people don’t care enough about them.” Her kindness affects Terry the same way that Father Barry’s kindness affects Kayo who is not used to others sacrificing themselves for the sake of others. Again, the theme of this film is that we are all part of the same cloth. 

When Edie gets home, Pops, her father, scolds her for being seen with Terry Malloy, the brother of Charlie “the Gent.” Pops had been looking out the window and saw them together. He gives her a bus ticket back to college. Edie tells Pops essentially what she told Father Barry earlier about him hiding in the church instead of being in the streets where people needed him. Edie believes that she is responsibility for others and she won’t go back to school until she finds out who killed her brother Joey. Again, the theme is that everyone is a part of each other and that we are responsible for each other. So, Edie and Father Barry are the lynchpins that are vital to the philosophical transformations in Terry Malloy and Kayo Dugan. One more thing about this clip to take note of is the crucifix hanging on the wall inside Edie’s apartment. As Edie explains her moral obligation to help others, the crucifix is in plain view. The crucifix is also the symbol for personal sacrifice and this symbol pops up frequently throughout the film as I will point out. 


Title 12 (37:35—41:11) (3:46) 

Terry takes Edie out for her 1st beer and he shares a bit of his past with her, particularly,  that he used to be a prize fighter. He stops short of telling her how his brother helped to ruin his career. He lays out his philosophy on like, which is “Look out for yourself.”

My viewpoint

Joey’s callous outlook comes from being mistreated his entire life and sold out by his older brother Charlie. Terry is a metaphor for a lot of young men today who get in trouble and wind up dead or in jail. Edie and Father Barry in this film are the antithesis to the idea of more punishment for the bad apples of society. It is also important to note that Edie’s compassion is starting to get Terry to open up about his hurt at being betrayed by Charlie. 

Title 16 (51:19-57:21) (6:02) 

Johnny Friendly arranges for Kayo to be killed so he won’t testify to the Crime Commission and Father Barry keeps his promise to Kayo by standing up for the dockworkers and finding out who killed Joey Doyle. As Father Barry is delivering his Calvary speech to the dockworkers, Terry knocks out one of Johnny’s men as the man prepares to throw something at Father Barry. Father Barry completes his sermon in the hold of the ship. 

My viewpoint

Kayo is another casualty in the war for truth. After he is killed, Joey’s windbreaker is taken off his body and returned to Edie by one of the dockworkers. Again, the significance of the crucifix in Edie’s apartment is emphasized in Father Barry’s Calvary speech where he describes Dugan’s murder as a crucifixion. Now Father Barry has officially left the protection and neutrality of the church and is subjected to abuse as Johnny’s men pelt him from the deck above, a beer or soda can opens a cut and blood runs down Father Barry’s face. His words inspire Terry Malloy to betray Johnny Friendly by punching one of the hecklers about to throw something at Father Barry. Symbolically, Father Barry is lifted out of the hold of the ship by crane and into the light representing Kayo’s ascension to Heaven. 

Title 18 (59:05-1:03:36) (4:31)

Terry goes by the church to tell Father Barry that he set up Joey Doyle to be killed. Father Barry persuades Terry to tell Edie. Terry tells Edie everything. She leaves him. 


My viewpoint

Terry clears his conscience by confessing his part in the death of Joey Doyle to Father Barry and to Joey’s sister Edie. Terry is now ready to complete his transformation from looking out for himself to looking out for others by betraying his brother and testifying against Johnny Friendly.  

Edie’s emotional state is represented by loud steam discharges from a ship’s smoke stack and

Title 19 (1:10:15-1:17:58) (7:34) 

Charley and Terry take a taxicab to talk. Earlier, one of Johnny’s men spotted Terry talking to one of the investigators on the Crime Commission and Johnny wants Charley to make sure Terry’s not a rat and to straighten him out, or else! Charley offers Terry a new job on the pier making more money, an easy job where he wouldn’t even have to work. He and Terry get into an argument and the past comes up and the truth about Charley’s betrayal comes out. Later, Terry goes to Edie apartment and after putting up resistance, she gives in and they make love.

My viewpoint

This is in my mind, the greatest acting performance ever filmed. When Charley pulls  his gun on Terry and Terry, without anger and without putting up any resistance, gently moves it away, Charley realizes how far he’s fallen. In this sequence, Terry becomes Edie as she had used tenderness to disarm him, he uses tenderness to disarm and shame his brother to his senses. Now there’s nothing left but the truth, the truth of a betrayed love and a lost dream. Charley faces up to the fact that he is responsible for his brother, which sums up the theme of the movie.  Now, the only way Charley can make up for ruining his brother’s boxing career is to sacrifice his own life, the common thread running through the entire movie from Joey getting killed to Father Barry coming out of the church to Kayo Dugan getting killed to Edie leaving college to find out who killed Joey and to Charley “the Gent” giving his gun to his brother. The theme of sacrifice is further stressed by the crucifix on Edie’s wall in her apartment and this theme is stressed again in the scene showing Charley dead and hanging on a wall to look like the crucifix, dying so that his brother can continue living. 

Title 22 (1:20:05—1:21:27) (1:22) 

Johnny’s men execute Charley for not going through with killing his brother.

My viewpoint

Note the way Charley is hanging on the wall and the crucifix in Edie’s apartment. Again, Charley sacrificed himself for his brother, which sums up what the film is about. 


Title 24 (1:28:15-1:30:25) (2:10) 

Terry betrays Johnny Friendly and testifies against him. Johnny announces that Terry will never find work anywhere on the waterfront. 

My viewpoint

The truth finally comes out about Johnny Friendly murdering Joey Doyle and other illegal activities. Terry has won his dignity back but at the price of being completely isolated as he has violated the village code of D & D, Deaf and Dumb, by snitching to the law. In the following scene, Terry returns to his pigeon coop. The kids that looked up to him had broken the necks of all the birds to show their anger and betrayal for him snitching to the law. Terry, like Joey Doyle, Kayo Dugan, and Charlie “the Gent,” realizes that there are consequences for doing the right thing like there are consequences for doing the wrong thing. But he is no more content to be pacified with privileges, to sit by idly as others are mistreated. Terry is, once again, a fighter. 

Title 26 (1:38:16-1:47:24) (9:08)

Terry goes down to the dock for work but Big Mac passes him over making good on Johnny Friendly’s order to not give Terry any kind of work. Terry confronts Johnny and they fight on the pier with Terry getting the best of Johnny until Johnny calls in his men who beat Terry within  an inch of his life. Terry, with the help of Edie and Father Barry, gets to his feet. The dockworkers refuse to work unless Terry also works. Father Barry whispers in Terry’s ear that Johnny’s got odds on him not getting off the pier and into the warehouse. Terry stumbles to the warehouse followed by all his co workers. 

My viewpoint


The 1st thing to notice in this clip is the jacket Terry’s wearing. This is Joey Doyle’s windbreaker, which was passed down to Kayo Dugan, and now Terry’s wearing it, meaning that he is carrying the torch and fighting for the workers on the docks. initially, he is completely alone as neither side has any love for a snitch. But as Terry fights Johnny and is actually beating Johnny the dockworkers come over to his side and support him. Once again, he’s in the ring and this time he’s not taking a dive. And when he goes down this time he beats the count, bruised and battered, but nevertheless the champion. 

'On The Waterfront': plot summary

This is a plot summary of Elia Kazan's film 'On The Waterfront' starring Marlon Brando.

The main theme throughout this film is that we are all threads in one common fabric and what affects one of us affects all of us.

The central story of this film involves a boxer having his career destroyed by his older brother. Terry Malloy was once an up-and-coming fighter on the fast-track to a title shot until his older brother who is mixed up with the mob gets him to throw a fight. Charley the Gent, Terry’s older brother, and his boss, Johnny Friendly, make a lot of money from the fight. Terry got a 1-way ticket to “palookaville,” meaning Johnny gave him a soft job on the shipping docks working as a snitch. In the beginning of the film, Johnny gets Terry to set up a dockworker named Joey Doyle who is scheduled to testify against Johnny before the Crime Commission. Terry has no idea he’s setting Joey up to be killed and afterwards Joey feels betrayed once again, as he’d been betrayed in taking a dive and throwing away his boxing career. 

Johnny’s goons throw Joey Doyle off the roof of a slum tenement on which Joey raises pigeons. The pigeons refer to snitches throughout the film. Spectators surround the body. Among them is Joey’s sister, Edie, and their father, Pops who warns an outspoken woman to keep her mouth shut when the police begin asking questions. The code in the neighborhood and on the docks is D&D—Deaf and Dumb. A clergyman kneels over Joey’s body crossing himself. Father Barry tries to console Joey’s sister, Edie, and she shames him:

“I’m in the church if you need me,” he says.Edie is furious. “In the church? Did you ever hear of a saint hiding in the church?”

Joey isn’t the 1st dockworker Johnny killed to keep from testifying. Even though Joey was well-liked by everyone in the neighborhood, no one will speak on his behalf. Terry Malloy takes over Joey Doyle’s pigeons and is idolized by the Golden Warriors, a gang of young boys. Terry comments that the pigeons have it made: “Eatin’ sleepin’ flying around like crazy. Raising gobs of squat,” which is exactly what he himself is, a pigeon and a snitch for Johnny Friendly down on the shipping docks. The pigeons in the film are referring to Joey and those like him who keep their mouths shut. And the Golden Warriors, like their older counterparts on the dock, don’t believe in snitching. 

Down on the docks, it’s dog-eat-dog as dozens of workers fight each other to get work tokens, without which you can’t get recruited for a day’s work.  A dockworker named Timothy “Kayo” Dugan makes a nasty remark about Johnny Friendly and is overheard by 2 of Friendly’s thugs who are much bigger than Kayo but Kayo answers their threats with a smirk. The thugs call Kayo a “big mouth” and walk away. Joey Doyle’s father, Pops, gives Kayo Joey’s windbreaker and Kayo pulls off his holey windbreaker and hands it to another dockworker. This gesture of giving Kayo Joey’s old windbreaker is symbolically handing down the torch to Kayo who seems destined to pick up where Joey Doyle left off. By the end of the film, when Terry Malloy confronts Johnny Friendly on the docks, Terry has on Joey Doyle’s coat meaning that he’s picked up the cause from Kayo Dugan. 

But not yet, the catalyst for getting everyone involved is Father Barry who is shamed by Edie into coming out of the church and making a public stand against Johnny Friendly. Father Barry visits the docks to see things for himself. A supervisor selects who will work from a mob of anxious men, anxious as there are so many work tokens to get passed out; everyone left goes home. Finally, the supervisor tosses a handful of tokens up in the air and the dockworkers scramble for them on the ground, screaming, punching and tearing at each other as the supervisor and Johnny Friendly’s men laugh from the sidelines. 

Joey’s father can’t fight with the younger dockworkers and is kicked out of the pile. When the dust finally settles, the only thing Kayo and other dockworkers are holding are sandwiches, or the lunch they would have eaten later if they’d gotten a token. Pops scolds Father Barry for bringing Edie to the docks to see the dockworkers degrade themselves so. Father Barry asks about the dockworker’s union but even the union’s owned by Johnny Friendly. Father Barry agrees to let the dockworkers meet in the basement of the church. 

At this point, Father Barry is halfway in by letting the workers meet secretly in the basement of the church. He isn’t fully-involved yet and is regarded by both sides as neutral. When Johnny’s men break up the dockworkers, shoving them away from the dock, a thug inadvertently shoves Father Barry and respectfully pardons himself. Father Barry hasn’t taken a stand yet but he’s taken the 1st step by letting the workers use the church. 

Johnny Friendly gets word of the church meeting and sends Terry to get information on whether anyone plans on testifying against him to the Crime Commission. Before this scene, there’s a scene showing Terry Malloy in a loft in one of the piers. Everyone else is working but he’s relaxing and reading a book. This scene is a parallel to the scene of the pigeon coop, where Terry makes the remark about the pigeons having it made. In that scene he is describing himself as he is here in a pen that is similar to the pigeon coop. Like the pigeons, Terry is well-fed and comfortable, looking out for number 1. The comparison is obvious. 

Back to the church meeting. Father Barry urges the dockworkers to tell him who killed Joey Doyle, however, everyone is D & D, Deaf and Dumb especially when Terry, Johnny’s ears, walks in, sitting by himself smirking all the way in the back where he can see everything. Terry is like the citizen who gives up and joins the other side. Black people would call him the sellout or the Uncle Tom being that he receives privileges and gets to live close to the master instead of working out on the docks and in the cold weather with the other workers. He’s a snitch but he’s on the right side. Later, once he comes to grips with his own pain and betrayal at the hands of his brother, Terry rebels against those responsible for depriving him of his promising boxing career, testifying against Johnny Friendly. 

As the church meeting comes to an end a brick crashes through a church window. Johnny Friendly’s thugs lure the dockworkers outside and beat them. Father Barry chases them away and promises to stand with Kayo who decides to assume Joey Doyle’s place by testifying against Johnny Doyle.

Afterwards, Terry walks Edie home. Along the way, a tramp begs Edie for a dime. When he recognizes her as Joey Doyle’s kid sister, the tramp’s eyes light up and he showers praise on Joey Doyle who once stood up for him. Terry shoves the tramp away from Edie. Terry tosses some change at the tramp in the same manner that the supervisor tossed the work tokens at the dockworkers. But unlike the dockworkers who scrambled to get the tokens off the ground, the tramp leaves Terry’s change where it is, calling Terry a bum and walking away. Terry laughs but later in the cab scene with his brother Charley the Gent, Terry calls himself a bum in the famous “I coulda been a contender” scene. 

Edie is attending college in a school ran by nuns and her father, Pops, doesn’t want her being around Terry Malloy who’s the brother of Charley the Gent, Johnny Friendly’s right hand man on the shipping docks. Edie’s weakness is taking in crippled strays like the stray cat she took in that is cockeyed with 6 toes. Edie is the film’s humanity or concern for fellow man. Her tenderness begins the melt the rough exterior Terry puts on for the world, which is really just insecurity. As their relationship deepens, her question as to who killed her brother arouses conflict within Terry’s conscience, torn between the neighborhood code of D & D and falling in love with Joey Doyle’s kid sister.  

Iconography related to Christ, particularly the cross, which represents goodness and sacrifice for others is planted here and there throughout the film. In Chapter 11 at the 34:24 mark on the DVD version, there is a cross over Edie’s right shoulder among the porcupine-like antennas sticking up on the tenement rooftops. This may seem insignificant but it’s important to remember that the cinematographer’s job is to capture the themes in the script visually and nothing is shot that does not add to the story’s texture, be it overt or subliminal. This is why films like these never get old; you find something you missed every time you watch them. A couple of minutes later, as Terry and Edie are by the chicken coop, there’s an over-the-shoulder shot at Edie and, again, there’s a crucifix over her right shoulder. Another more obvious reference to the crucifix is Terry’s and Edie’s implied love scene following the legendary taxicab scene. The crucifix is a recurring symbol that foreshadows the personal sacrifice Terry makes in going up against Johnny Friendly and violating the neighborhood’s snitching code. 

Terry begins to soften when he takes Edie to a bar for a beer and the bartender makes an offhand remark about Terry’s once-promising boxing career. Terry begins to share his past with Edie and how he became involved, through his brother, with Johnny Friendly. Then, as if coming out of a trance, Terry stops just short of telling Edie how his brother got him to take a dive in a fight that would have gotten him a shot at the world title. The film is summed up when he asks her the question: 

“Why should you care?” 
And she replies “I mean, isn’t everybody a part of everybody else?” 

‘Isn’t everybody a part of everybody else’ is the idea behind the woven cloth in the film's opening titles. Father Barry later rephrases this same idea in the Calvary speech he delivers following Kayo Dugan’s murder. Terry’s had to fight all his life, from the abuse he took at boarding school, to coming up in a poor neighborhood. He’s always had to keep his guards up. But Edie’s understanding, love, and tenderness are getting him to led down his guards and release some of the pain he has had to suppress throughout his life. 

Kayo Dugan agrees to testify against Johnny Friendly who’s steamed at the fact that Terry 1) didn’t tip him off to Dugan snitching and 2) that Terry is mixed up with Joey Doyle’s sister. Johnny Friendly arranges the murder of Kayo Dugan and punishes Terry by busting him down to the docks with the other workers. Terry is now forced to take a stand or else watch Kayo get killed. Remember, Kayo is wearing Joey’s windbreaker. 

Kayo and other dockworkers are in the hold of a ship unloading boxes of Irish whiskey, stacking them on slings that are raised out of the ship's hold by a crane. Terry tries to warn the Kayo not to stand under the slings but Kayo pushes Terry aside. No one trusts Terry because of his older brother, Charley the Gent, who’s the right hand of Johnny Friendly. A load of whiskey (and not just any whiskey, Irish whiskey as Dugan is Irish) accidentally tips and crashes down on Kayo, killing him instantly. Johnny and his goons on the deck above look down into the hold as Father Barry drags Kayo from underneath the pile of whiskey. Father Barry gives a speech comparing Dugan’s death to a crucifixion. Barry’s words hit home with Terry’s conscience when he says, 

“You want to know what’s wrong with our waterfront? It’s the love of a lousy buck. it’s making the love of a buck, the cushy job more important that the love of man.”

Terry punches one of Johnny's goons to keep him from throwing something at  Father Barry. Terry gets the attention of Johnny's other goons. Again, like previous instances in the film, the crucifix is referenced here. Also referenced is the film’s theme that we are all threads in a common cloth and that what affects one of us affects all of us. Father Barry summarizes this theme when he says: 

“And what they did to Joey, they’re doing to you. And you, and you—all of you!” 

Symbolically, Father Barry is lifted out of the hold of the ship by crane and into the light representing Kayo’s ascension to Heaven. 

Terry visits Father Barry at the church and confesses to setting up Joey. Father Barry persuades Terry to clear his conscience by telling Joey’s sister Edie. Terry realizes that he risks losing Edie by doing so but he goes through with it, in a powerfully designed scene where Terry’s confession is so powerful and devastating that the actual confession itself is drowned out by a nearby ship discharging steam. We never hear exactly what he tells Edie but we see how devastating it is by her facial reactions and the deafening roar of the ship’s smoke stack. After Terry confesses, Edie leaves him and the camera perspective is a wide-shot in such a way that he appears to be standing on a pile of rubble that’s actually in the foreground. Again, great cinematography designed to coincide with the fact that Terry’s confession has destroyed his relationship with Edie and also her idea of who he is. 

One of Johnny’s goons sees Terry talking to one of the crime investigators. Johnny is not happy about this and wants Terry killed to keep him from "eating cheese" and talking to the Crime Commission. Johnny gives Charley and ultimatum to shut Terry’s mouth or kill him. Johnny Friendly’s trial is tied to the facts that come out in the taxicab scene involving Terry and his older brother. In both cases, the truth is suppressed to hide a murder: in Johnny’s case, the murder of Joey Doyle and Kayo Dugan; in Charley’s case, the murder (in a sense) of his brother’s boxing career. But in facing the truth, Charley must atone for murdering his brother’s career as a boxer by sacrificing his own life. This has to happen within the religious context of the film. In other words, a life for a life. 

Next, we have the famous cab scene. Terry got a subpoena to testify against Johnny Friendly and Charley’s trying to talk him out of it before they reach 437 River Street. He draws a gun on Terry but Terry gently pushes the pistol away. Then, the scab over the past is peeled away and all the pain comes to the present as Terry blames Charley for destroying his boxing career. Charley gives his gun to Terry and tells the cab to let him out. Johnny took out insurance in case Charley backed out of killing Terry and the cab drives Charley to  a nearby garage where Charley is murdered. 

I want to look at the acting side of this scene 1st. In the documentary on the DVD edition, Rod Steiger, who plays Charley the Gent, describes the 4 minute scene as a heavyweight boxing match between 2 actors at the top of their craft. There are many things that make this scene work, 1 being that the director allowed the actors to improvise some of their lines. Another thing that makes this scene really click is the way that Brando brings out the “feminine” side of his character according to James Lipton, host of ‘Inside The Actor’s Studio’. When Charley draws his gun on Terry, Terry is neither intimidated or angered but pushes the gun away, almost tenderly. I want to add to James Lipton’s assessment by pointing out that Terry disarms his brother the same way that Edie disarms Terry, and that is by being submissive or, keeping this in a Biblical context, by being meek. This scene wouldn’t have worked if Terry tried to wrestle the gun away from Charley. 

Reportedly, the film’s producer, Bud Siegel, was too cheap to shoot in an actual cab or use rear-projection and got them to shoot the scene in a mock-up taxicab and had blinds installed in the rear window, using lights to look like the cab was moving through traffic. But without the blinds darkening the cab and closing off the outside world, this scene would not have the same intimate feeling. 

When the truth comes out, Charley has to take responsibility for his brother and he pays the ultimate price. In giving his gun to Terry, Charley sacrifices his own life for the life--so to speak--that he took from his brother by destroying his boxing career. Charley realizes that Johnny will kill him and he has given up the only means of defending himself. Immediately after his meeting with his older brother in the taxicab, Terry rushes over to see Edie. She resists him at first but finally gives in and they make love. On the wall and to Edie’s right is a crucifix, which is an omen and a symbol of Terry’s brother who has sacrificed his life so that Terry can live. The Biblical metaphor in this symbolism cannot be denied and is later supported when Charley’s body is discovered hanging on a wall to look like a crucifixion.

And when Terry testifies to the Crime Commission, he loses all respect among his former friends who label him a snitch. Johnny loses the backing of the owner of the dock who distances himself from Johnny’s illegal activities. Johnny announces that Terry won’t find any kind of job anywhere on the docks and when Terry appears at the docks looking for work, Big Mac recruits around him. Terry calls Johnny out of his office, telling him in front of everybody that he is glad that he snitched and would do it again. Terry is also wearing Joey Doyle’s windbreaker in this scene meaning that he is now carrying the torch. His personal transformation is complete as he goes from being self-centered to standing up for all dockworkers. Johnny calls him out and Terry rushes him. Johnny is no match for Terry and calls for his henchmen who beat Terry and leave him lying face down on the pier. The dockworkers rally behind Terry. Father Barry promised to stand behind Kayo if he stood up to Johnny. Now, it is Terry who must stand up against Johnny and when he does stand, Father Barry, Edie and the workers are behind him. Terry stumbles up the pier and into the warehouse leading all of the workers inside and Johnny Friendly, angry, bloody, and raging, outside as the overhead door comes down and the film ends. 

The themes in 'A Clockwork Orange' Part 2

Here is a detailed analysis of 'A Clockwork Orange.'

The 2 things I take from this film are 1) that it is in our nature to take advantage of those who are weaker and 2) that without free will we are vulnerable to those who have free will.

This film is based on the 1962 book of the same title by Anthony Burgess set in a dystopian future somewhere in the United Kingdom. The film is told in 2 parts focused on a delinquent dropout named Alex DeLarge who’s obsessed with Beethoven and terrorizing the weak. The 1st half of the film shows Alex in a position of power as the leader of a gang, terrorizing a homeless man, and later, inadvertently saving a woman from being raped by a rival gang. Following this, Alex and his gang invade the home of a couple pretending to need help. Here, he and his gang brutally beat the man and make him watch them rape his wife. 

Dim, backed up by fellow members Georgie and Pete, attempts a coup but Alex, inspired by Beethoven’s 5th, gets the upper hand on them and makes an example of Dim who is also the weakest member of the group.  Alex remains the leader but Dim and the others are resentful and plot revenge. Later, they break into a health retreat where Alex murders a woman. His friends ambush him and leave him at the scene for the police. Alex is arrested, charged, convicted and thrown in prison that’s completely totalitarian with men much older than him. But prisons have become criminal factories and are quickly running out of space. Alex asks the prison chaplain about the Ludovico technique, an experimental treatment that can make him ‘good’ and get him released from prison. Alex gets the attention of the new Minister of the Interior who selects him as a candidate for the new technique which will, in effect, take away his free will and force him to be good. This raises the Biblical question as to why God gave man a choice to sin when He could have easily prevented him from eating off the tree of disobedience. It also raises the question of what is good and what is evil. Is evil the thought or the deed when the thought is forcibly prevented from being acted out? Reforming bad prisoners to be good also sets the doctrines of reformation and punishment against each other. Here, the justification for the technique is the growing prison population. From the Paramoore prison, Alex is transferred to the Ludovico Medical Facility to undergo treatments. 

Each treatment follows the same routine. They first inject him with a drug. They secure him in a straight-jacket in a theater. They fit a contraption with wires on his head. They clamp ‘lid-locks’ on his eyelids to keep him from shutting them. Finally, they fire up the film projector and show clips of various crimes including stock footage of Nazi atrocities. A doctor beside Alex administers drops on his eyeballs to keep them moist. At first, the violence on the screen feels pleasant but this sensation soon gives way to pain as the drugs take effect. The experiments begin to reprogram Alex’s reaction to evil because normal people are supposed to find evil unpleasant. This is important to remember because later in the film, all of the people Alex victimized earlier take their revenge on him and this philosophical question of pleasure being an “abnormal” reaction to evil will have to also apply to those who victimize Alex. This also makes me think of our culture’s obsession with violence and sex in films, books, sports, television news, etc. If pleasure derived from evil is abnormal then Alex is a commentary on society. And this is what I think Kubrick and Burgess (I haven’t read the book) are saying here: that our fixation with violence in the media is abnormal. But is this what it means human? Is violence inseparable from being human?

After completing the Ludovico treatments, the doctors give a private demonstration to show the results of their experiments with Alex. They place him on a stage with a man who attacks Alex. Alex cannot defend himself and suffers pain in trying to do so. Next, a beautiful naked woman appears on the stage but Alex is unable to bring himself to touch her and suffers pain in trying to do so. Representatives from the prison are disappointed with the demonstration and Alex is released back into society as a eunuch. 

He returns home to find that his parents have sold all of his possessions and rented out his room. Next, he’s assaulted on the streets by the wino he attacked early in the film. Unable to defend himself because of the experiments, he crumples to the ground helplessly but is rescued by the police, one of whom happens to be Dim, his former subordinate now in a position of power and authority. Dim and Georgie, also a cop, take Alex to a wooded area where they beat him and dunk his head in a trough of water. That night, Alex finds his way to the home of Mr. Alexander, the man they beat and whose wife they raped earlier in the film. Mr. Alexander (whose wife died from the assault) now lives with a male partner who brings Alex into the house. Since being assaulted by Alex and his droogs, Mr. Alexander has become an outspoken critic of the Ludovico treatments and instantly recognizes Alex from the newspapers. Alex wore a mask during the home invasion and Mr. Alexander doesn’t recognize him right away. He cares for Alex but he plans to use him against the Minister of the Interior who won the election on the success of the technique. Later Alex takes a bath and he whistles the tune ‘Singing in the Rain,’ the same tune he had whistled when he and his droogs assaulted Mr. Alexander and raped his wife. Mr. Alexander overhears the tune and realizes that it was Alex who had assaulted him and raped his wife. Alexander drugs Alex, locks him in a room and cranks up Beethoven’s 5th as loud as it can go. Alexander jumps out of the 2nd story window to escape the pain the experiments connected with hearing the symphony. Here, there’s a parallel between Alexander hearing ‘Singing in the Rain’ and Alex hearing Beethoven’s 5th. The message here is that music can draw painful or pleasant experiences out of our subconsciousness. Mr. Alexander’s experiences are real but Alex’s reaction to hearing Beethoven’s 5 is manufactured by the experiments he went through. Before the experiments, Beethoven’s 5th was a source of pleasure to him. This seems to suggest that the films he associates with violence are more real than the actual violence he commits first-hand. 

After jumping out the window, Alex winds up in the hospital with numerous broken bones. The Minister of the Interior and the doctors are accused of altering Alex’s nature and causing him to attempt suicide by jumping out of the window. While Alex is unconscious, doctors go inside his head and reprogram him back to the way he was originally before the experiments. The Minister of Interior visits Alex and apologizes for subjecting him to the experiments. They strike a deal to change public opinion and the Minister gives Alex a gift of giant speakers blaring classical music. Alex imagines himself having sex in public and proclaims being cured!

The minister seems to believe that making Alex more violent will sway public sentiment against his political foes who are against tampering with free will. 

The themes in 'A Clockwork Orange' part 1

This is a scene by scene analysis of 'A Clockwork Orange' by Stanley Kubrick

Title 3 (2:24-13:28) (11:04)

This 1st clip involves a delinquent named Alex who is the leader of a small gang of hoodlums that call themselves droogs. After having milk laced with drugs at the Korova Milk Bar, Alex Delarge and his gang go out for a night of ultra-violence. First, they beat up a homeless man underneath a bridge; then they get into a brawl with a rival gang in the process of raping a young woman; and finally, they invade the home of a writer, pin him to the floor, and force him to watch as they gang-rape his wife as the leader, Alex, sings ‘Singing in the Rain’.

My viewpoint

Alex lacks any religious or moral principles and is led by his desires for pleasure and violence. Society is at the mercy of street gangs that prey on the weak, starting with a homeless man, a female rape victim, and a writer and his wife. These violent scenes are done to classical music as a way of showing the paradox that Alex is both civilized and primitive at the same time. He is quite normal if you look at ‘civilized’ society itself as a paradox. On one hand, you have classical music, which is among our highest forms of cultural expression and one of the things that distinguishes us from animals. On the other hand, we live in a society obsessed with sex and violence in the media and in real life. These 2 contradictions are what Alex represents.

This film, like Kubrick’s earlier film ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ also uses satire to address serious issues such as  criminal behavior, the justice system, morality, free will, and juvenile delinquency.

Title 8 (17:48-21:37) (4:11)

Alex is home after another day of random violence and he unwinds by listening to Beethoven. Later, his probation officer pays a visit and warns him to keep his proboscis out of the dirt and to stay out of trouble.

My viewpoint:

Alex lives with his parents in a housing project. Like most young men, his walls are covered with posters depicting sex and violence.

Title 13 (29:44-35:10) (5:34)

Members of Alex’s gang demote him and Georgie is the new leader until Alex catches them off guard and reasserts his dominance.

My viewpoint:

Title 14 (36:38-43:33) (6:55)

Alex and his gang go by a health farm. There, Alex sneaks in through an open window while the others wait outside. Alex confronts the lady of the house and smashes her face in with a statue of a giant penis. The woman had called the police when she heard him knock on her door earlier. Outside, Dim, the weakest member of the group, knocks Alex out with a bottle of milk. Alex is arrested and taken to jail.

My viewpoint:

Again the pictures on the walls of the mansion suggests that Alex’s fixations with sex and pornography are influenced by society.

Title 16 (48:12-53:23) (5:11)

Alex is emasculated as he enters prison and begins the transition from being powerful to being powerless.

My viewpoint:

This prison is a metaphor for totalitarian authority; Alex is completely powerless here. The power he had on the outside is gone.

Title 18 (57:30-101:22) (3:52)

Alex asks about the Ludovico treatment that can make him eligible to get out of prison early.

My viewpoint:

The prison is a counterpoint to the experiment. The prisoner is encouraged to read the Bible in the hopes that he will choose good over evil when he is released. The prison chaplain poses the question of whether or not the experiment makes a man good or not. He also says that “Goodness comes from within.” But this contradicts the fact that prison forces prisoners to do good. The difference between the prison and the experiment is that the prison will eventually release Alex into a free society and he will then have the power to choose good over evil; the experiment, on the other hand, will deprive Alex of free will when he is released from prison. This will reverse the roles that Alex and society play at the 1st half of the film. Then, Alex was powerful because he had choice and the society he preyed on was weak; after his release from prison, Alex will be weak in a society he once victimized, a society that has not changed but a society that has been empowered by the fact that he cannot fight back.

Title 22 (1:14:52-1:17:28) (2:24)

Doctors reprogram Alex to associate sex, violence, and his favorite symphony, Beethoven’s 9th, with pain instead of pleasure. This will give Alex normal aversions to deviant sex and violence.
.
My viewpoint:

Propaganda is used in this scene to make violence unpleasant to Alex. Normally, propaganda is used to condition people to accept certain ideas instead in this case it is used to get Alex to reject the ideas he had about violence in the past.

Title 28 (1:36:05—1:42:28) (5:23)

After completing the Ludovico treatments, Alex is released from prison only to discover that his parents have rented his room to a boarder. Alex is now homeless and exposed to those he once preyed on beginning with the bum he assaulted, then his old partners Dim and Georgie who are both police officers.

My viewpoint:

The treatments Alex got in prison got a lot of publicity and everyone knows that he cannot defend himself. He is an easy target now for those who were once his targets. This shows how society regards those who are weak. This also shows how one may function under a totalitarian system that exerts absolute control over individual freedom. In this case, Alex is the powerless citizen and each of his oppressors is the government or those with power. The message seems to be that a government that takes away the liberties of its citizens is a government that opposes dissidents. This idea is expressed later as Mr. Alexander—who was assaulted and whose wife was raped earlier by Alex’s gang—is arrested for writing “subversive” literature against the government. This explains the films Alex is forced to watch at the Ludovico Treatment Facility, films that act as propaganda by programming him to feel certain ways about sex and violence that promote a political agenda.

Title 30 (1:43:39-1:46:39) (3:00)

After getting beat up by Dim and Georgie, Alex stumbles to the doorstep of Mr. Alexander, writer and outspoken critic of the government and the Ludovico treatments. Although he does recognize Alex from the publicity he got for his treatments, Mr. Alexander doesn’t realize that Alex and his gang were responsible for him being in the wheelchair.

My viewpoint:

Mr. Alexander is a writer now since the assault by Alex and his gang. Since their last meeting, Alex and Mr. Alexander have been emasculated—Mr. Alexander has a male partner and Alex has been deprived of his free will. Mr. Alexander doesn’t recognize Alex at this point because of the masks Alex and his gang wore during the assault. Also significant symbolically is that Mr. Alexander is crippled and depends on a wheelchair, which is how the Ludovico treatments have crippled Alex. This may be the reason why Alex and Alexander are basically the same name because they are basically in the same situation.

Title 30 (1:49:01-1:52:55) (3:54)

Alex takes a bath and sings ‘Singing in the Rain,’ the tune he sang the night he and his gang assaulted Mr. Alexander and his wife. Mr. Alexander overhears the song and remembers Alex. Later, Mr. Alexander drugs Alex.

My viewpoint:

Mr. Alexander’s reaction to hearing ‘Singing in the Rain’ is just like Alex’s reaction to hearing Beethoven’s 9th. The difference is that Mr. Alexander’s reaction is natural and Alex’s is not normal because of the treatments he received. This suggests that Alex’s aversion to violence is actually abnormal. Also, there is the paradox of a happy song like ‘Singing in the Rain’ being associated with a painful experience that is similar to the way that Alex associates Beethoven’s 9th with pain. But Alex’s reaction is abnormal because he has been programmed to feel the way he does and not of his own free will.


Title 31 (1:58:14—2:01:52) (3:38)

Alex is locked in a room. Underneath his room, Frank Alexander blasts Beethoven’s 9th as loud as possible out of giant speakers, getting revenge for the crimes Alex committed on he and his dead wife. Unable to bear the pain any longer, Alex leaps from the bedroom window. He wakes up in the hospital with numerous broken bones.

My viewpoint:

Mr. Alexander and his associates compel Alex to try to commit suicide to turn public sentiment against the government’s use of treatments to rob men of their free will. But Alex is operated on and reprogrammed back to his old self in the hospital. This makes sense if Alex is looked at as society and its obsession with sex and violence through the media. The media uses sex and violence to promote many agendas be they social, political, or economic. This explains the many images and references to sex and violence throughout the film from the posters on Alex’s wall; the pornographic art on the walls of the cat-woman’s home; the pornographic graffiti drawn on the buildings; the Korova Milk Bar; the phallus-shaped popsicles in the record shop; the cod-pieces Alex and his gang wears; Alex’s perverted probation officer, Mr. Deltoid, etc.


Title 33 (2:04:26-2:07:34) (3:08)

Alex passes a psychological test where he’s asked to describe some pictures. He is back to his old self.

My short video analysis on 'Double Indemnity

In this video, I will examine key themes from the film 'Double Indemnity'.

When insurance salesman Walter Neff goes to the home of a client to renew his insurance policy, it is no different than any other visit. That is, until he sees this client's wife. The client's not home. Neff can't take his eyes off the little gold chain around the woman's ankle or the pom poms on her high heel shoes. Her name is Phyllis. She wants to know if she can take out an insurance policy on her husband--without him knowing about it. Neff smells trouble. He wants no part of it and leaves. 

But days later he still can't get her perfume and that little ankle chain out of his mind. One day, she shows up at his place and he gives in to her, body and soul. He writes the policy on her husband with an added bonus: there's a double indemnity clause in the policy that will kick in and pay double if her husband dies of a freak accident. He could fall off a train. There's no chance of getting caught because he knows all the tricks of the trade. No one would ever suspect that her husband was murdered. Not even Keyes, his brilliant partner and Claims Adjuster at the the insurance company. No one has ever pulled a fast one on Keyes, he could smell fraud a mile away. But not even Keyes and "the little man in his stomach" can sniff a scam if the scammer was too close, Neff figures.

Double Indemnity, directed by Billy Wilder who co-wrote the script with Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep), is considered the benchmark of film noir. The film stars Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff, Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, and the great Edward G. Robinson as Barton Keyes. Hard to believe that this film didn't win an Academy Award for anything (it was nominated for 7) as the acting and writing were spot on perfect. This film features the leanest and sharpest dialogue you will ever hear,  especially the flirting exchanges between MacMurray and Stanwyck. This is THE TEMPLATE example of film noir--a good guy, a beautiful dame, deception, murder, and betrayal. This film is based on the novella of the same name by James M. Cain.