In Billy Wilder’s 1944 blockbuster hit Double Indemnity, a fast-talking insurance salesman named Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) visits the home of the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) to renew the insurance policy on her husband’s automobiles. A romantic affair shortly ensues, and Walter is soon coerced by Phyllis into plotting a murder. Walter then comes up with an idea to receive double the amount Phyllis had previously intended, and they eventually deceive Mr. Dietrichson (Tom Powers) by making him sign a double indemnity insurance policy which in return states that the widow will receive full compensation on behalf of the bearer’s death. Mr. Dietrichson’s death is then made to look accidental; however, all does not go according to plan when Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson), a diligent insurance investigator conducts an examination of the case file. It is a tale of love and betrayal where Walter and Phyllis inevitably face the repercussions of their actions. The story transitions from the present to the past with the use of flashbacks. The voice of Walter Neff is used as a narrative style in the form of an office memorandum which is integrated throughout the film. The movie opens and ends with Walter as he tells the story of killing a man to Keyes through the Dictaphone. Billy Wilder uses money, a woman and the ability to cheat the system to denote Walter Neff’s motives to commit the perfect crime.
After enduring a mortal wound, Walter drives to the Pacific All-Risk insurance agency and is escorted upstairs by the doorkeeper. Walter staggers to his office, lights up a cigarette and begins to relay a message to Keyes. He professes a murderous conspiracy while clutching the dictaphone: “I kille...
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...son home, and all the components of the plan are present right in front of him. All these components ultimately combine to form his plan to commit the perfect crime.
A plan, that Walter risked it all to execute. Walter envisioned committing the perfect crime: “There's not going to be any slip up…. Nothing sloppy, nothing weak, it's got to be perfect…. Call me tomorrow…. But not from your house…. From a booth…. And watch your step every single minute…. This has got to be perfect, do ya understand….? Straight down the line” (Double Indemnity).Walter stresses the importance of perfectly following his plan with perfect execution to Phyllis. They are both in it to the finish. The perfect crime would ideally produce money, Phyllis and a successful attempt at insurance fraud. These incentives urge Walter to play his role in the murder of Mr. Dietrichson.
In the court room Mr. Hooks makes a point with the evidence he is given and testimonies by witnesses to prosecute Mr. Miyamoto. Mr. Hooks takes some drastic measures by using personal attacks and being prejudice towards the defendant to convince the jurors that Mr. Miyamoto is a killer. During the trail Alvin hooks b...
There are five segments to a dramatistic perspective, are known as the pentad. These pieces include the act, agency, scene, and purpose. The act is Walter committing a giant list of felonies (including murder) all in the name of making money for his family to live after his passing. Gus Fringe (a cartel drug lord who helps Walter distribute his drugs), Jesse Pinkman (Walter’s former pupil), and Saul Goodman (a meandering lawyer who takes care of legal business for Walter) are all a part of the agency, or the tools that help to accomplish the act. During the series, Walter and his passé commute between Mexico, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, these places are the scene, or setting of the act. Making enough money so that his family can live comfortably after his death is the purpose of Walter’s shady relations.
... he saw. The relationship with Phyllis was unstable and vile. After Phyllis is gone, the power over Walter is also gone, and he goes to ask for forgiveness for his love, Barton. Walter makes this argument clear when he confesses to Barton “You know why you couldn’t figure this one Keyes, I’ll tell ya, it’s because the guy you were looking for was too close, right across the desk from you.” and Barton replies by saying “Closer than that Watler” In the final words Walter reveals how he truly feels about Barton “I love you too”. The relationship between Walter and Barton cannot be denied. The light, sound, and camera angle all imply a closeness of the male characters. The final shot has Walter trying to light a cigarette, in which Barton light it for him is the final act of relief, in which they both share together before the film end and the screen fades out to black.
Walter’s innocence, until one day he is finally released from death row. Mr. Stevenson’s book
“Is He Serious? And Other Ironies” During the short story you assume that Harrison is going to succeed because when you were younger all the story’s you read had happy endings so you assume that all stories will have happy endings, however, at the end of this story Harrison gets shot and everyone forgets what happens and never
One can infer from this moment that Walter is hav... ... middle of paper ... ... that same rhythm throughout. Whereas in the movie, his fantasies play in active role of pursuing his quest of finding the missing negative for the last Times magazine edition- or he loses his job.
Walter would have told his mother, and would have caused trouble for his father” (75). In
hold an influential man in jail under the assumption that he committed murder, however as they wait for the marshal, who is not exp...
This essay focuses on intentional tort, which includes trespass to person consisting of battery, assault and false imprisonment, which is actionable per se. It also examines protection from harassment act. The essay commences with a brief description of assault, battery and false imprisonment. It goes further advising the concerned parties on the right to claim they have in tort law and the development of the law over the years, with the aid of case law, principles and statutes.
This scene shows the importance of money to Walter Lee. Here he is trying to guilt his mother into giving him the money by pointing out things that the family has to settle with. For example, he tells Lena that she will have to tell that to his son he is pointing out that Travis sleeps on the couch and does not have an actual bed of his own. He talks about how his wife Ruth has to watch someone else’s kids for money instea...
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and say, Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job ... that ain’t nothing at all” ( Hansberry 1755).
Initially, Walter?s sole focus on his dreams lead to impaired judgment. One way Walter portrays his impaired judgment is when he makes assorted empty promises. In the Yo...
After casually meeting the rape victim, Teena Maguire, and then being called to her crime scene, John Dromoor goes on a hero’s journey, starting with the hearing in September 1996. When madness ensues in Judge Schpiro’s courtroom, “Dromoor had seen the derailment. Sick in the gut, had to escape” (Oates 75). It is just a month after that Dromoor begins to take matters into his own hands in order to protect Teena and her daughter. By shooting James DeLucca with deadly force, an act that can be considered by some one of a madman, Dromoor asserts himself as the family’s protector and ‘hitman’. In his further actions, seeking out and likely being the killer of the Vick brothers and Fritz Haaber, Dromoor does what he knows the Maguires are desiring: to feel safe. Dromoor has a serial killer gene in his body, using his victim’s weaknesses to lure them to their death (i.e. Fritz Haaber’s affection towards young girls), but the reader knows that he is so meticulous because he wants the best for the Maguires. When the young daughter of the victim feels sad, Bethel Maguire calls the man that she knows can protect her, John Dromoor, and says, “Help us please help us John Dromoor we are so afraid” (Oates 120). Then, after seeing the convict that scared her the most, Fritz Haaber at the mall, Bethie confides in her grandmother to make her aware of Haaber’s presence at the mall purely because she knows that her
To start off, Walter’s obsession with money is going to cost him a lot since it is the only thing he cares about. In the beginning, Walter starts out by only caring only about himself, but towards the end, he starts to care for everyone else as well. This shows that Walter is a selfish person. As Walter Lee states to Ruth, “Yeah. You see, this little liquor store we got in mind cost seventy-five thousand and we figured the initial investment on the place be ‘bout thirty thousand, see” is the dream that Walter Lee has for himself (Hansberry 33). Walter wants the money that the Younger family is getting from the insurance company to buy the liquor store. He thinks that the liquor store will make them rich and the family would not have to struggle anymore. At the end, Walter changes his whole point of view towards the insurance money. Walter declares to Mr....
In addition to the above, John was a go-getter and a calculated risk taker. Even though his act of abduction seemed impulsive, a scene before his act saw him thinking intently about what he was going to do and how exactly he was going to achieve it. He had one goal in mind which was to save his son and he pressed towards that with focus a...