Double Indemnity

This is such a deeply cynical film. The two main characters never seem to mean anything they ever say, especially to each other. They’re both awful, awful people who kill a man and try to take a big insurance payoff. It also forged an entire genre of film, establishing its tone, archetypes, and visual style that would be mimicked for decades. It’s such an imminently watchable film.

One of the more interesting parts of the film is the fact that the male protagonist, Walter Neff, isn’t a cop, priva...