Directed by Bob Rafelson

Produced by Bob Rafelson, Charles Mulvehill

Screenplay by David Mamet

Starring Jack Nicholson, Jessica Lange

Running time: 123 minutes

Budget: $12 million Box office: $44.2 million

Dismal adaptation of James M Cain’s controversial novella, previously filmed in the 1940’s by Tay Garnett.  Almost fifty years on, this production was supposed to be more a faithful version but it fails in virtually every department.  For all its controversial sex scenes, the film comes nowhere near the raw brutality of Cain’s work and, as a crafted story, it pales next to the earlier film.  Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange are ideally cast but director Bob Ralfeson fails to makes them a convincing pair and the relationship is played out incoherently and tediously.  The original had its faults, mainly due to limits enforced by the Production Code, but it was superior to this.