Double Indemnity

1944

Los Angeles, California

Billy Wilder

Noir Thriller

What’s it all about: It’s the 1930s, and double indemnity comes with a lot of double entendre. Barbara Stanwyck is the kind of woman that shoots you while deciding whether she loves you or not. Fred MacMurray is so hard-boiled he cracks.

Prostitute Index: nil

Death By: a red hot poker

Relics: soda water bottle, dictaphone, drive-in restaurant

Hoops: car trouble at a key moment (this film may have invented this hoop)

Heartthrob: Barbara Stanwyck

Pass/Fails the Test of Time: one of those California Spanish houses everyone was nuts about 10 or 15 years ago

LoFi Magic: the shadow cast by Fred MacMurray and his fedora 

Words to live by: “I don’t know why they always put what I want on the top shelf.”

Makes me want to: be from California

Candotti Take: n/a

Worth a watch/rewatch: Yes

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