Day 25 of Noirvember: Love that Walter
Whenever I think and talk and write about film noir, I have a tendency to focus on the distaff characters: the Phyllis Dietrichsons, the Kathie Moffats, the Gildas and the Lauras and the Mildreds.
For today’s Noirvember post, I’m giving the gents a much-deserved nod and shining the spotlight on one of my favorite noir fellas: Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) in Double Indemnity (1944).
Since Double Indemnity is my favorite film noir, it stands to reason that I would be especially fond of its characters – and insurance salesman Walter is no exception. On the surface, Walter appears to be a good guy – a little smart-alecky, perhaps, with an eye for the ladies, and maybe just a little bit bored. But it may just be his boredom, his desire for a little excitement in his humdrum life, that not only led Walter into an affair with one of his very married clients, Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), but also to conspire with her to murder her spouse and collect a cool ten grand from a double indemnity accident insurance policy.
From the very start, Walter proves himself to be shrewd, intelligent, and unflappable. When, shortly after their second meeting, Phyllis none-too-subtly reveals her desire to get rid of her husband, Walter quickly sees through her artifice. He even wisely makes a rapid exit, after asking her, “Who’d you think I was anyway? The guy that walks into a good looking dame’s front parlor and says, ‘Good afternoon, I sell accident insurance on husbands. You got one that’s been around too long? One you’d like to turn into a little hard cash?’ Boy, what a dope you must think I am.”
But Walter was no dope. Although he later allowed himself to be wooed by Phyllis’s considerable wiles, it was Walter who took control – planning every step of the intricately designed crime, from secretly securing Mr. Dietrichson’s signature on the insurance policy, to making the murder appear as an accident, to setting himself up with an airtight alibi once the deadly deed was done. Even when his best-laid plans started to unravel, Walter didn’t lose his cool. He first cozied up to Phyllis’s stepdaughter, Lola (Jean Heather), in an effort to allay her justifiable suspicions. Then, after realizing that Phyllis was stepping out on him with Lola’s ex-boyfriend, Nino Zachetti (Byron Barr), Walter simply amended his original plan to include a new twist: kill Phyllis and pin the crime on the new guy.
Walter did manage to take one brief detour before resuming his irreversible descent into criminality and malevolence – instead of allowing Nino to take the fall for Phyllis’s murder, Walter had a change of heart and let the would-be sucker off by giving him a nickel and suggesting that he give Lola a call: “She’s in love with you,” Walter tells him. “Always has been. Don’t ask me why. I couldn’t even guess.” After that last good deed, though, all bets were off.
Outwardly upright, with an undeniable immoral bent, Walter Neff was a fascinating, unforgettable noir character. Unlike the experience of many a noir everyman who was led astray by a scheming woman, Walter’s relationship with Phyllis simply turned out to be the key that unleashed the inner villain that was lurking deep inside him all the time.
And how can you not love a guy like that?
(A version of this post originally appeared in my Noir Nook column on the Classic Movie Hub website.)
Join me tomorrow for Day 26 of Noirvember!
shadowsandsatin 
Maybe there was an inner demon, but the flaw in the writing for me is that his boss didn’t spot it. I still find it hard to believe Neff would consider murder. The way MacMurray played him didn’t add up to that.
That’s an interesting take, Vienna!
I personally find the situation with Keyes and Neff fairly true to life: I’ve know more than a few otherwise streetwise operators who have blind spots big enough to drive a Brinks truck through when it comes to someone they care about. And unlike Phyllis, Neff doesn’t LOOK like trouble. (I’ve known a few mugs like that, too), so I can see how Keyes wouldn’t spot it…
As for Neff going from zero to murder, I’ve always thought Wilder wrote the character as a guy who has spent a lot of time — we’re talking years — thinking about what kind of set-up would stymie his buddy Keyes, and when that set-up presents itself, Neff surprises himself. It turns out that he hadn’t been conducting a thought experiment all that time; subconsciously, he’d been waiting for an opportunity.
My biggest issue with the character was that I’d seen 12 seasons of MY THREE SONS reruns before getting an eyeful of DOUBLE INDEMNITY. It took me a minute to buy MacMurray as anything other than a sweater-wearing dad.
Great observations on ‘DD.’ Fred M’s acting range can’t be underestimated. He was very believable (& detestable) as a gutless two-face in “The Caine Mutiny.” 🎬😎
Loved your post, and I especially loved this description of Walter: “outwardly upright, with an undeniable immoral bent”.
Coincidentally, I saw this film on the big screen the other day, and it was glorious. I’ve seen the film several times, but in the theatre I still found myself holding my breath, wondering how it would all turn out!