Double Indemnity
That line, at the end of the film,
always gets me.
The pseudo father-son relationship
always better than the real thing
for myself and James Sr.
No film noir deceits
or matching wits for us; nosirree.
How could there be —
you skipped town when I was seven.
We lied, and said you had been sent
to work in Georgia, as a clerk.
That seemed remote and uncheckable, then.
Of course you were just over in Lynn
with your booze-enamored floozy.
In time I got over it,
and learned to fend for myself.
But how I wish they wouldn’t play
a movie that still makes me pay, and pay.
Levell grew up near Boston and graduated from Northeastern University. He and his wife attend many lectures and concerts in Princeton.
