The Postman Always Rings Twice · reception & legacy
1981 · Bob Rafelson
How The Postman Always Rings Twice has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
In 1981 it landed to mixed reviews and middling box office, endlessly unfavorably compared to the 1946 Lana Turner classic; it's since been reappraised as a key early-80s neo-noir, with Jessica Lange's performance in particular now widely regarded as the film's ace.
What's debated
The perennial fight is remake-versus-original — whether Rafelson's grimy, explicit take honors James M. Cain's novel better than the glossier 1946 version, or just coarsens it.
Its footprint
The kitchen-table scene between Nicholson and Lange is one of the most notorious sex scenes of its era — the 'was it real?' rumor (which Nicholson enjoyed never quite denying) followed the film for decades and still dominates any mention of it.
Where it stands
A neo-noir deep cut rather than a canon fixture — it lives in the shadow of both the '46 original and the Rafelson–Nicholson high of Five Easy Pieces, cherished mostly by Lange devotees and Cain completists.