Evan Popplestone’s review published on Letterboxd:
"My husband. You were anxious to talk to him weren't you?"
"Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean."
"There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour."
"How fast was I going, officer?"
"I'd say around ninety."
Billy Wilder's masterful film noir is littered with inspired exchanges of sharp dialogue. The plot gradually propels itself into motion and ultimately becomes almost unbearably suspenseful as the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck) goads insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) into murdering her husband in order to cash in on a double indemnity clause. It seems like the perfect plan... until it becomes increasingly clear that it isn't.
MacMurray is solid as the overconfident patsy and Stanwyck is smoking hot as the irresistibly manipulative femme fatale. However, it's Edward G. Robinson who steals the show as Neff's incredibly shrewd boss. His monologue on suicide cases is a bona fide highlight.
