Movie Review: Double Indemnity

1944. Starring Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. Directed by Billy Wilder. “I couldn’t hear my own footsteps.” So says Walter Neff, who has just sold his soul. But you have to admit, it was a pretty good sale – as an insurance agent, he knew how the accident policy would pay off, even “double indemnity” if the person named in the policy died in certain circumstances, such as an unlikely fall from a train. And with the help of the unhappy wife, he was in the position to make that unlikely accident occur exactly by plan. This sounds …

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Movie Review: Rififi

1955. Starring Jean Servais. Directed by Jules Dassin. Has there ever been a cinematic caper that has gone to plan? Jules Dassin filmed one of the best, an unforgettable crime tutorial, where the “Rififi” – the rough-and-tumble men – are willing to risk everything for a successful heist. The craggy Jean Servais leads a group of conspirators who have every step of the crime planned, every move timed, every potential hazard covered. Their target is a secure jewelry store, and their planning pays off to the tune of 240 million francs. But you know that something’s going to go wrong. …

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Elsewhere Online: The Big Picture

The Boston Globe’s The Big Picture site is a new blog that features great news photography at a greater size than normally found online. The photos are amazing — and the size adds a level of intensity to stories I wouldn’t have thought of as dramatic, such as Korean protests against American beef. Seriously. This photo gallery on the Cassini spacecraft’s journey past Saturn is beyond words.

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Country Music Reclamation Project: That’s What I Like

Country music has a lot of comedy acts, almost all of whom aren’t funny. But the great country artists all seem to have a pretty good sense of humor, and there aren’t many who don’t have a humorous song in their act. Hell, Hank Williams recorded Settin’ the Woods on Fire and Nobody’s Lonesome For Me, and he suffered severe back pain for nearly all his 29 years. Onie Wheeler isn’t quite as well-known but was just as talented. He recorded plenty of heartbreakers and sacred numbers, but his original “That’s What I Like” is full of charm, even if …

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Passings: Bo Diddley

There are very few of rock and roll’s innovators left. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis are the only ones I can think of, now that Bo Diddley has gone. His records have always made me happy — the standard riff, the shuffling beat and tumbling bass. The songs were rarely about anything, and that worked out fine, since Bo Diddley found a groove and stayed in it. Music fans never got tired of it. The saddest thing was that most of the tributes I’ve read in the past day or so mentioned that, despite the enormous impact he …

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