Imagine if today’s reader got the script from Wilder and Raymond Chandler, and on the very first page the protagonist recites his confession into a Dictaphone and tells us he did it for the money and the dame, and that he didn’t get either. What the hell? It isn’t a story stopper. It’s a story killer. It’s over. We know what happens, it didn’t turn out good. Next script. Of course they would have missed one of the standard bearers for the best in Hollywood film noir. Wilder and Chandler also expanded the role of uber claims man, Barton Keyes so that instead of being a minor character, he becomes the Antagonist. He is, and not to put too fine or weird a point on it, the other love interest. Interestingly, Wilder gave Chandler a tiny cameo in the movie. It comes at 16:14 into it. Neff leaves Keyes’s office and there's Chandler sitting on a bench.

You are so right, John. Starting with the ending is an accepted practice in contemporary films [e.g., The Usual Suspects], but use it to create a mystery, not give away the whole damn thing, right? But of course there IS something left unresolved: What is Keyes going to do when he finds Neff in the office? Let him go to Mexico? Or not? John, being a fan of the movie, you probably know they shot an ending that Wilder dropped, whereby Neff is executed in the gas chamber. Wilder explained it just didn't work. I'll update the OP with a video clip with Wilder and an article detailing the alternate ending including the only known photo of the set. Re Chandler: I'm surprised Wilder included him in that one shot because they HATED each other. I've posted about that before from both of their perspectives. I'll see if I can dredge up that post.

I'm embarrassed to admit I only saw this movie for the first time recently. I loved "The Apartment" and thought "The Fortune Cookie" and "The Front Page" had brilliant moments but this one had always eluded me. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but the ending is just brilliant - so touching and unexpected. A very honest scene, great writing and Eddie G at peak form. Really interesting about the gas chamber scene - would love to see that. Would have changed the tone you are left with, not sure it would have been for the better.

One can only imagine what any day would have been like in Wilder's office, but those meetings with Chandler must've been doozies. He resigned because he didn't say please? Can you imagine a writer doing that these days? When, how, and why did things shift? It's been years since I've seen this movie, but as you went through the synopsis I thought of Body Heat. What a seduction and fall of a man that was. And the tension as she stood there with him looking at her through the windows wanting her. Maybe I'll look up that script and read it along with this one and see if memory serves what I think is a similarity (reboot).