After getting home from cub scouts and putting the boys to bed, Curtis asked what I wanted to do. "How about a movie while we fold some laundry?" See? A romantic person would not have suggested laundry. A romantic person would have thought of something that involved candlelight and massaging oils. Or perhaps chocolate. Laundry is not romantic. I doubt anyone has been turned on by folding socks (if you have, please share). But I had two loads of laundry that needed to be folded, and watching a movie is a good time to do it. You're just sitting there anyway. Might as well do two things at once.
Okay, folding clothes is not romantic, but I could have picked out a movie that was, right? Well, if you were anyone but me you might have. I don't really go for the emotional movies and neither does Curtis. Watching Pride and Prejudice together, or separately, is never going to happen**.
If you don't like romantic movies, what do you watch on Valentine's Day? An action film didn't seem right. On a whim I picked Double Indemnity. I'd seen it once before and remembered that I liked it. It looks romantic. Just look at how they are embracing:
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In the movie, Walter Neff and Phyllis Dietrichson are attracted to each other and plan things so they can be together. That sounds romantic. Never mind that their plan involves taking out an insurance policy on Phyllis' husband and then murdering him. And when things unravel Walter wants out, and both characters try to kill the other instead of running off together into the sunset.
Okay, so it's not really a romance, per se. Or a romance at all. It's probably about as romantic as Hitchcock's Psycho. But I like it, which is why I chose it. You should watch movies you like, right? And for some reason this movie is one of my favorites. I like seeing Fred MacMurray play a bad guy. He usually played goofy good guys, and seeing him play a villain is fun. I like that Barbara Stanwyck's wig makes her character look as phony on the outside as she is on the inside:
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| Whoa. Look at that hair. Here she is when she first meets Walter. She's just wearing a towel. Walter says, "The [car] insurance ran out on the 15th. I'd hate to think of your having a smashed fender or something while you're not, uh, fully covered." |
I also like the light and shadows in the movie:
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| Reminds me of jail bars |
And I even like the often cheesy dialogue. Example:
It was a hot afternoon, and I can still remember the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? Maybe you would have known, Keyes, the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn't. I felt like a million.
--Walter Neff
Yep, a bit cheesy, but it's classified as film noir, so I think it has an excuse.
After the movie was done, Curtis said, "Interesting choice, sweetie."
"Well? Would you rather have watched a gushy movie?" I replied.
"Well, no."
I suppose choosing a movie on Valentine's Day that is about murdering a husband for his life insurance was not the best choice. Perhaps Curtis will pick the movie next year. Maybe he'll get even with me and pick Hitchcock's Dial "M" for Murder, a movie about the attempted murder of a wife for her money. It's also a favorite of mine, so I wouldn't mind.
*The first example being that I requested a truckload of compost for my birthday/anniversary present last year.
**I like the book, but Curtis won't touch it with a ten-foot pole. I got Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as an audio CD from the library and had us listen to some of it during a cross-country drive to visit family. I thought that might interest Curtis in the story. His verdict? Not enough zombies.
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