Characters / Double Indemnity

Walter Neff

Walter Neff

Played By: Fred MacMurray

• Adaptational Name Change: Walter Neff was Walter Huff in the novel.
• Affably Evil: Walter is a smooth-talking and charismatic insurance salesman and a very likable and sympathetic protagonist who acts like The Everyman. This makes it easy to forget that he's a murderer who killed an innocent man for "money and a woman" and even attempts to frame an innocent person for his crimes. Though he does call it off at the last minute and has a Heel Realization.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Neff may have been a greedy murderer but his pitiful and tragic demise makes you feel so sorry for him. Heck, you might even feel bad for Phyllis as her conscience/love for Neff catches up to her before she dies.
• Anti-Hero: He's the lead character, but he shortly becomes a murderer who willingly accomplices Phyllis in her scheme for the first half of the film.
• Danger Takes a Backseat: Justified in that Phyllis, the driver, is part of the murder plot and Walter is hiding back there to kill the passenger.
• Dead Person Impersonation: Used as part of the murder scheme.
• Deadpan Snarker: He's constantly seen doing plenty of snarking especially with Phyllis.
• Heel Realization: He has one at the end of the film that prompts him to turn himself in.
  • Foreshadowed by Phyllis
    Phyllis: Because you don't want the money anymore even though you could have it because she's made you feel like a heel all of a sudden?
• Mercy Lead: Subverted at the end, when Neff asks Keyes for a couple of hours to get away and Keyes points out, quite rightly, that with that bullet wound he won't get very far ("You'll never make the border, you'll never even make the elevator.")
• Oh, Crap!: Clearly what's going through his mind when Mr. Jackson shows up outside Keyes' office.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Averted. Neff receives a (visually-downplayed) gunshot wound in the shoulder, and apparently dies from it at the end.
• Pet the Dog: Walter's friendliness to Nino and Lola.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "Goodbye, baby."
• Villain Protagonist: Neff may be a sap who falls prey to Phyllis' manipulation, but he's also a murderer.

Phyllis Dietrichson

Phyllis Dietrichson

Played By: Barbara Stanwyck

• Adaptation Name Change: Her surname Dietrichson was Nirdlinger in the novel; The choice was intentional specifically because Chandler and Wilder thought that Nirdlinger was too silly a name for such a serious story.
• Battleaxe Nurse: Three guesses on who was the nurse taking care of the late first Mrs. Dietrichson.
• Black Widow: Phyllis is discovered to be this when Neff is told about how she was caught unfazed when her last husband had died in bed before marrying into the Dietrichson family.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: There is no single accomplice that she doesn't plan to eventually turn on.
• Deadly Hug: How she meets her end.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's constantly seen doing plenty of snarking especially with Walter.
• Evil Stepmother: Phyllis is revealed to have killed Lola's biological mother and then married herself into the Dietrichson family, later axing off her husband (Lola's father) as well.
• Femme Fatale: Literally; Phyllis not only kills her husband and his first wife, but shoots Walter.
• Grand Staircase Entrance: Our first look at Phyllis, wearing nothing but a towel.
• Heel Realization: Phyllis seems to have one right before Walter kills her, although it's unknown whether this realization was actually genuine.
• Lady Macbeth: Phyllis is it not to her husband but to Walter.
• Manipulative Bastard: Phyllis, thanks to her amazing ability to go from Vamp to Woobie at a moment's notice, gets Walter to do exactly what she wants, and it's revealed that she has a history of this as well.
• Shout-Out: Phyllis Dietrichson's surname is most likely a Shout-Out to classic femme fatale actress Marlene Dietrich.
• The Vamp: Naturally, with some of the additional tropes featured.

Barton Keyes

Barton Keyes

Played By: Edward G. Robinson

• Adaptational Heroism: Zig-zagged. When the film was in pre-production, it was Chandler's idea to make him a lovably-passionate Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist, whereas in the novel, he doesn't have nearly as much characterization.
• Cigar Chomper: He has a cigar in his mouth by the end of nearly every scene he is in.
• Establishing Character Moment: Keyes' introductory scene, in which he tears apart a guy trying to claim insurance on his truck by revealing that the man had set fire to it himself. The scene is irrelevant to the plot, but it serves to thoroughly introduce Keyes, his methods, his quirks, and his relationship to Neff.
• Gut Feeling: Keyes' "little man" who alerts him to any attempted Insurance Fraud.
• Hero Antagonist: Keyes's role as an antagonist comes from a desire to prevent the company from being defrauded (by murder), which, while perhaps not heroic, certainly positions him above Neff.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: According to Neff. While we mostly see Keyes as a rather haughty and brash investigator, it is shown that he cares a great deal about Walter and considers him to be a close friend. He personally vouches for him when he is suspected to be involved with the murder and shows a fair deal of sympathy for him at the end.
• Married to the Job: Keyes is a bachelor with almost no personal life, and, in fact, this trope applies quite literally to him. His investigative instincts led him to call off his own wedding.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In the final sequence, Keyes's composed and reserved demeanor is quite a jarring contrast to his wildly passionate and supremely confident attitude throughout the film. It really conveys how emotionally crushed he is upon discovering that his best friend and colleague was the murderer all along.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Subverted. Neff is sure that Keyes is going to hit him with one of these, full of "two-dollar words," but Keyes just looks at him with his eyes full of sorrow and betrayal and says:
  "Walter...you're all washed up."
• Running Gag: Keyes ends all his conversations by pulling out a cigar and patting all his pockets for a light. He never has one at hand, so Neff has to come to his rescue with a quickly-lit match. In the last scene, their roles are reversed: Neff, dying from his bullet wound, is too weak to light a match for his own cigarette; Keyes has to light it for him.
• Seriously Scruffy: Keyes, with his rolled up sleeves, overflowing pockets and his tie worn over his waistcoat is shorthand for how obsessive and overworked he is.
• Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Even though he's a talented detective, and quickly detected the something's off about the murder scheme, he still comes across as being a rather reasonable insurance man who's on rather decent terms with his old friend Neff.

Mr. Dietrichson

Mr. Dietrichson

Played By: Tom Powers

• Asshole Victim: Played with in regards to him. While certainly loudmouthed and obnoxious, it's hinted that a great deal of what Phyllis tells Neff about him is exaggerated or made up in order to get him to go along with her plan.
• Neck Snap: How Walter ultimately kills him.
• Tricked into Signing: Walter Neff sells Mr. Dietrichson car insurance, then tricks him into signing an accident insurance contract under the pretense that he needs him to sign two copies of the car insurance contract.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: He's briefly shown to be not quite ugly, but less appealing than his wife.

Lola Dietrichson

Lola Dietrichson

Played By: Jean Heather

• Morality Pet: She'd play this role towards Walter, as she would showcase Phyllis' true nature and express just how nasty she truly is. She would also cause Walter to regret his part in the murder and slowly kick-start his redemption arc.
• White Sheep: She seems to be the most innocent and non-hostile member of the Dietrichson considering her stepmother's a greedy murderer and her father might be loudmouthed and obnoxious

Mr. Jackson

Mr. Jackson

Played By: Porter Hall

• Running Gag: "Mr. Keyes: I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon. In Medford, we—" (fill in the blank)

Mr. Norton

Mr. Norton

Played By: Richard Gaines

• Jerkass Has a Point: He might be a prick who has never so much as glanced at an actuarial chart in his life, but he is correct in assuming something is fishy about Dietrichson’s death. He is also the first to suspect Walter of being involved with his death.

Nino Zachette

Nino Zachette

Played By: Byron Barr

• Chekhov's Gunman: At first appears to be nothing more than an excuse for Walter to interact with Lola, but keep watching...