Portland Movie Club

Film Noir Meet-Up: The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Let’s talk about movies! Join movie club member Jenna M. for The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), starring Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway, and Hume Cronyn. The film follows Frank Chambers, a restless drifter who takes a job at a roadside diner and quickly becomes involved with Cora, the beautiful and unhappy wife of the owner. Their attraction soon turns into a dangerous plot to murder Cora’s husband, setting off a chain of events involving suspicion, betrayal, guilt, and the consequences of trying to get away with murder.

Here’s how The Portland Movie Club meet-ups work:
Just like a book club, we watch the movie on our own time before we meet.
We'll meet at Lucky Lab on SE Hawthorne at 4pm on the scheduled date.
We'll typically have a sign at our table(s), but at least we'll try to be obvious and identifiable.
Grab some food and drinks to support our generous hosts and spend some time socializing and discussing this movie with us.

A Few Notes about the film:
The Postman Always Rings Twice was directed by Tay Garnett and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1946, based on James M. Cain’s 1934 novel. The film is one of the classic examples of Hollywood film noir, built around Cain’s familiar themes of lust, greed, crime, and fatalism. Lana Turner’s performance as Cora Smith was a major departure from her glamorous star image, while John Garfield brings a restless, cynical energy to Frank Chambers. The chemistry between the two drives much of the film, but what makes the story especially noir is the sense that their choices have already set them on a doomed path. The film was controversial for its time because of its sexual themes and its frank treatment of murder, but it was also a major commercial success. With its roadside diner setting, morally compromised characters, tense plotting, and increasingly oppressive atmosphere, it’s a particularly good example of how Hollywood transformed hard-boiled crime fiction into classic noir.

Viewing Options for the film:
As of the date of this posting, the film is available to stream for free with ads on Tubi and Plex, and through HBO Max/Amazon Channel, and YouTube TV. It is also available to rent or buy through Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube, and Fandango At Home.
For physical viewing, Movie Madness has two copies available, as well as MultCo. library having two copies. If anyone knows of any additional streaming or viewing options, please comment on the event.

UPDATE: Due to schedule conflicts, the discussion of Michael Winner's 1974 film "Death Wish" featuring Jeff Goldblum in his big-screen debut has been rescheduled to Sept. 27th. I apologize for the inconvenience!

Join Portland Movie Club members Kyle C. for the next First Roles group discussion! This group focuses on the initial on-screen appearances of celebrated Hollywood icons. For this meeting we will discuss 1974's vigilante action-thriller "Death Wish" that not only features a career defining performance from lead actor Charles Bronson, but also features the debut big-screen performance from Jeff Goldbum who is billed as "Freak #1"

Here's how it works:

The Camera Eye discussion: Stalker (1979)
Join Movie Club member Jake Brown for the next film in his series highlighting great cinematography in motion pictures: 1979's treacherous journey to gifts of greatest desires, Stalker (Сталкер). Directed by master dreamweaver Andrei Tarkovsky, the film is based on the 1972 novel Roadside Picnic (Пикник на обочине) by writing duo Arkady and Boris Stragatsy. It stars Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, and Nikolay Grinko, incorporating the earthy visual tones of Aleksandr Knyazhinskiy, who re-captured every hypnotic moment (after most of the film had already been shot by another cinematographer and then ruined) on Traditional 35mm in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio.

About Stalker
From Letterboxd: "Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted."

Viewing Options for Stalker
Streaming options include HBO MAX, with additional for-purchase/rental options through Apple TV and Amazon Prime. Physical copies can be rented from Movie Madness, including the Criterion Blu-ray.

“The Camera Eye” Portland Movie Club Meet-Up Series
Whether 35mm film, 70mm, 16, Super 8, or digital, we want to celebrate the greatest shots in cinema history. This isn’t just about cameras and lenses, though. It’s framing, lighting, blocking, acting, makeup, costumes, location, set design, and so much more. Of course, cinematography is just a jumping-off point. What about editing, sound design, characters, and most important of all, the story? Let’s discuss!

Here's how the Portland Movie Club Meet-Ups work

Political Films Meet-Up: Get Out (2017)

Let’s talk about movies! While we would normally be doing a documentary after Parasite, I decided we should start October off with a political horror movie, and the group chose Jordan Peele's Get Out (2017), one of the most acclaimed horror films of all time.

Here’s how The Portland Movie Club meet-ups work:

• Just like a book club, we watch the movie on our own time before we meet.
• We'll meet at Lucky Lab on SE Hawthorne at 4pm on the scheduled date.
• We'll typically have a sign at our table(s) but at least we'll try to be obvious and identifiable.
• Grab some food and drinks to support our generous hosts and spend some time socializing and discussing this movie with us.

A Few Notes about the film:
While director Jordan Peele is still well known for his comedy work (Key & Peele), this film launched his second career as a bankable horror auteur. Get Out was selected in 2021 by the Writers Guild of America West as the greatest screenplay of the 21st century so far.

Viewing Options for the film:
The film is available to stream via Peacock, Hulu, Youtube, and others. There are also discs available to rent at Movie Madness and the Multnomah County Library.