Double Indemnity

Phyllis: Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening around 8:30? He'll be in then. Walter: Who? Phyllis: My husband. You were anxious to talk to him, weren't you? Walter: Yes, I was. But I'm sort of getting over the idea, if you know what I mean. Phyllis: There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour. Walter: How fast was I going, officer? Phyllis: I'd say around ninety. Walter: Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket. Phyllis: Suppose I let you off with a warning this time. Walter: Suppose it doesn't take. Phyllis: Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles. Walter: Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder. Phyllis: Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder. Walter: That tears it. 8:30 tomorrow evening, then. Phyllis: That's what I suggested. Walter: You'll be here too? Phyllis: I guess so. I usually am. Walter: Same chair, same perfume, same anklet? Phyllis: I wonder if I know what you mean. Walter:

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Keyes: I'm the guy that has to sit here up to my neck in phony claims so they won't throw more money out the window than they take in at the door. Walter: Okay, turn the record over and let's hear the other side. Keyes: Well, I get darn sick of tryin' to pick up after a gang of fast-talking salesmen dumb enough to sell life insurance to a guy who sleeps in the same bed with four rattlesnakes. Walter, I've had twenty-six years of this and let me tell ya, I - Walter: And you loved every minute of it, Keyes. You love it, only you worry about it too darn much, you and your little man. You're so darn conscientious you're driving yourself crazy. You wouldn't even say today's Tuesday unless you looked at the calendar. Then, you'd check to see if it was this year's or last year's calendar. Then you'd find out who'd printed the calendar and find out if their calendar checked with the World Almanac's Calendar. Keyes: Now that's enough out of you, Walter. Now get outta here before I throw my desk

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Walter: Look, baby. You can't get away with it. You want to knock him off, don't ya? Phyllis: That's a horrible thing to say. Walter: Whaddya think I was anyway? A guy that walks into a good-looking dame's front parlor and says, 'Good afternoon. I sell accident insurance on husbands. Have you got one that's been around too long? One you'd like to turn into a little hard cash? Just give me a smile and I'll help you collect?' Huh! Boy, what a dope you must think I am! Phyllis: I think you're rotten. Walter: I think you're swell. So long as I'm not your husband. Phyllis: Get out of here. Walter: You bet I'll get out of here, baby. I'll get out of here but quick.

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Walter: And now you hate him. Phyllis: Yes, Walter. He's so mean to me. Every time I buy a dress or a pair of shoes, he yells his head off. He never lets me go anywhere. He keeps me shut up. He's always been mean to me. Even his life insurance all goes to that daughter of his. That Lola. Walter: Nothing for you at all, huh? Phyllis: No, and nothing is just what I'm worth to him. Walter: So you lie awake in the dark and listen to him snore and get ideas. Phyllis: Walter, I don't want to kill him. I never did. Not even when he gets drunk and slaps my face. Walter: Only sometimes you wish he was dead. Phyllis: Perhaps I do. Walter: And you wish it was an accident and you had that policy for $50,000 dollars. Is that it? Phyllis: Perhaps that too.

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Phyllis: I hate him. I loathe going back to him. You believe me, don't you, Walter? Walter: Sure I believe you. [They kiss] Phyllis: I can't stand it anymore. What if they did hang me? Walter: They're not going to hang you, baby. Phyllis: It's better than going on this way. Walter: They're not gonna hang you because you're gonna do it and I'm gonna help you. Phyllis: Do you know what you're saying? Walter: Sure I know what I'm saying. We're gonna do it and we're gonna do it right. And I'm the guy that knows how. There's not going to be any slip up. Nothing sloppy, nothing weak, it's gotta be perfect. [They kiss each other and then he leads her toward the door] Call me tomorrow. But not from your house. From a booth. And watch your step every single minute. This has gotta be perfect, do ya understand? Straight down the line. Phyllis: Straight down the line.

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0

Phyllis: What do we do now, Walter? Walter: Nothing. We just wait. Phyllis: Wait for what? Walter: Until he can take the train. I told you, it's gotta be the train. Phyllis: But we can't wait. I can't go on like this. Walter: Look, we're not gonna grab a hammer and do it quick just to get it over with. Phyllis: There are other ways. Walter: We're not gonna do it other ways. Phyllis: But we can't leave it like this. What do you suppose would happen if he found out about the accident policy? Walter: Plenty, but not as bad as sitting in that death house. Phyllis: Don't ever talk like that. Walter: Don't let's start losing our heads, that's all. Phyllis: It's not our heads. It's our nerve we're losing. Walter: We're gonna do it right. That's all I said. Phyllis: It's the waiting that's getting me. Walter: It's getting me just as bad, baby. We've got to wait. Phyllis: Maybe we have, Walter, only it's so tough without you. It's like a wall between us. Walter: I better go, baby. I'm thinkin'

Double Indemnity (film), CC BY-SA 4.0