Pitfall

Long before Fatal Attraction (1987), Andre De Toth’s Pitfall warned respectable married men about the risks of unfaithful dalliances; in the case of insurance man John Forbes (Dick Powell), the psycho turns out not to be the other woman (Lizabeth Scott) but the other men who also want her. While not particularly inventive, Pitfall is noteworthy for its depiction of postwar restlessness and self-destruction as Forbes has a good white-collar job, a pleasant suburban home, and a beautiful wife and son, but still longs for something more exciting. “We won the war together,” says his wife Sue (Jane Wyatt) when asserting that the couple can handle any challenges, including his roving eye. As witness to the affair, private investigator J.B. MacDonald (Raymond Burr) uses the indiscretion to his psychopathic advantage, toppling more than one white picket fence, metaphorically speaking, in the process.