Movie Type: Crime Thriller, Post-Noir (Modern Noir)
Themes: Haunted By the Past, Femmes Fatales, Dishonor Among Thieves
Main Cast: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Ronald Reagan, Clu Gulager
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Don Siegel directed this intensely pessimistic re-make of Robert Siodmak's 1946 film noir masterpiece The Killers, based upon a story by Ernest Hemingway. As the story opens two professional looking men in business suits -- Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager) -- push their way into a school for the blind and terrorize a secretary until she reveals the whereabouts of Johnny North (John Cassavetes). When Charlie and Lee trace Johnny to an automobile repair class, Johnny just stands there as the two men gun him down. Afterwards, Charlie wonders why Johnny just stood there, accepting his death. He also starts to wonder about his hefty paycheck for the murder and rumors that Johnny was involved in a million-dollar heist. He decides to pay Johnny's old friend Earl Sylvester (Claude Akins) a visit at his auto shop in Florida. Earl recalls the summer day long ago when former race car driver Johnny caught the eye of the rich and beautiful Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson). Johnny has been preparing for a race, but Sheila's attentions sidetrack him. The day of the big race, Earl notices that Sheila is visited by a group of rich gangsters, headed by Browning (Ronald Reagan, in a very surprising performance). During the race, Johnny is involved in a terrible crash, effectively ending his racing career. However, it seems Browning is arranging a mail heist and hires Johnny to drive the getaway car. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
About a decade removed from film noir's heyday, Don Siegel's remake of The Killers (1946) provided a much-needed jolt of bleak noir sentiment to mid-1960s American cinema. Originally intended for television, the 1964 version was released in theaters due to its violent content. Featuring intricate plotting, Siegel's typically lean direction, and Lee Marvin's wonderfully nasty star turn, The Killers was in many ways a precursor to the more subversive material which emerged later in the decade, such as Bonnie and Clyde and another Marvin vehicle, Point Blank (both from 1967). Marvin is at his steely best here: it's this sort of unmerciful yet peculiarly sympathetic role that highlighted his career. The Killers was also notable as Ronald Reagan's last feature; he provides some of his most impressive work, as a corrupt, wealthy bad guy. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Frank Arrigo - Art Director, George B. Chan - Art Director, George O'Connell - Art Director, Helen Colvig - Costume Designer, Don Siegel - Director, Richard Belding - Editor, Stuart H. Pappe - Editor, John Williams - Composer (Music Score), Stanley Wilson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Henry Mancini - Songwriter, Don Raye - Songwriter, Nancy Wilson - Songwriter, Bud Westmore - Makeup, Richard L. Rawlings - Cinematographer, Don Siegel - Producer, James S. Redd - Set Designer, John McCarthy - Set Designer, Gene L. Coon - Screenwriter, Ernest Hemingway - Short Story Author
Representative Songs: "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside," "When You Were Young"
Biography
Few bands in the mid-2000s rose so quickly to the forefront of pop music as Las Vegas quartet the Killers. With a mix of '80s-styled synth pop and fashionista charm, the band's street-smart debut, Hot Fuss, became one of 2004's biggest releases, spawning four singles and catapulting the group -- particularly their dandyish, 22-year-old frontman, Brandon Flowers -- into the international spotlight. Hot Fuss reveled in the garish glitz of the band's native Las Vegas, spinning tales of androgynous girlfriends and illicit affairs to a public whose taste for revivalist dance-rock would prove to be virtually insatiable. Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and the Bravery all benefited from such retro-minded interest, but the Killers unapologetically trumped them all -- even when their sophomore effort, Sam's Town, deemphasized the group's new wave sensibilities in favor of something more akin to the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and Rattle and Hum-era U2.
Brandon Flowers (vocals/keyboards), David Keuning (guitar), Mark Stoermer (bass), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums) first came together in 2002, two years before the stylish Hot Fuss introduced their band to the public. Flowers had been sacked by his former synth pop band, Blush Response, after refusing to move to Los Angeles alongside his bandmates. Instead, he remained in Las Vegas, where he soon met local guitarist and Oasis fanatic Keuning. The two began collaborating on material; within weeks, they had composed their soon-to-be radio hit "Mr. Brightside." Stoermer, a former medical courier, and Vannucci, a classical percussion major at UNLV, soon joined the fray, and the band began playing small clubs in their hometown. A U.K. representative for Warner Bros caught wind of the Killers' brewing hype, and although he neglected to bring them aboard the Warner roster, he did pass along their demo to the London-based indie imprint Lizard King. The British label quickly signed the Killers, who temporarily moved to the U.K. and issued a limited-edition single for "Mr. Brightside." The Killers' buzz had effectively traveled back across the Atlantic by fall 2003, and the band was offered a prime spot at the annual CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. A worldwide deal with Island followed shortly thereafter, positioning the Killers to join the ranks of Interpol, the Rapture, and the Strokes.
Shared U.K. dates with British Sea Power and stellastarr* in summer 2004 gave the Killers the opportunity to showcase material from their debut album, Hot Fuss, which arrived in June. "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It," and "All These Things That I've Done" all became worldwide chart hits, and Hot Fuss peaked at number seven on the Billboard Top 200. Buoyed by such success, Flowers became a sought-after media presence, often lashing out at such groups as the Bravery for riding his band's coattails into the mainstream. The frontman's confidence was not unwarranted; by 2006, Hot Fuss had earned five Grammy nominations and sold over five million copies. Rather than take a break to recover from their relentless tour regime, the Killers immediately set to work on their sophomore effort. A newly built facility at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas became the band's studio, and legendary producers Flood and Alan Moulder (who had previously worked together with U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins) were chosen to helm the controls. Instead of mining the glamour and glitz of their hometown (as they did to successful extent on Hot Fuss), the group instead focused on nostalgia and the demise of old-fashioned American values, citing veteran songsmith Bruce Springsteen as a chief influence.
The popularity generated by lead-off single "When You Were Young" led up to the highly anticipated release of Sam's Town in early October 2006. While the album did not match the commercial popularity of the band's debut, it nevertheless sold 700,000 copies worldwide during its first week, eventually spawning three U.S. singles and gaining the Killers two additional Grammy nominations. Sawdust, a collection of B-sides, rarities, and remixes, followed one year later, serving as a stopgap recording between the band's proper studio efforts. The Killers then returned in 2008 with Day & Age, which eschewed the Americana tangents of Sam's Town in favor of pop pastiches and sleek, oddball dance-rock. The band's return to the dancefloor was emboldened by Stuart Price, a veteran producer who had previously worked with Madonna and Gwen Stefani. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide
Charlie and Lee are well-dressed, cold-blooded professional hitmen hired to kill ex-race car driver Johnny North, who is now working as a teacher at a school for the blind. Despite being warned in advance, North chooses not to run or fight back when the two men arrive to kill him.
Charlie, the older and more experienced of the duo, is bothered by the job. He and Lee decide to track down the people who knew North and find out why their victim didn’t run or defend himself when he had the chance. This includes his mechanic and best friend Earl Sylvester as well as Johnny's lover, the attractive Sheila Farr.
The killers piece together North's story. It is Sheila who convinces him to be the getaway driver for an armored car heist masterminded by Jack Browning. The job goes wrong when Browning, aware of North's interest in Sheila and wanting all the money himself, decides to double-cross the driver and eventually hire Charlie and Lee to kill him.
The result is a final showdown between Browning, Sheila and the killers that comes to an end in a quiet neighborhood on a suburban house's front lawn.
The Killers was intended to be the very first "made for TV movie", but NBC judged it too violent to broadcast, and so Universal released the movie in theaters instead.
Don Siegel had originally been hired as director of the earlier 1946 version of the same story, but had been fired. Actress Virginia Christine had also appeared in the 1946 version.
According to the DVD commentary, leading lady Angie Dickinson received the news during filming that her friend (and rumored romantic partner) President John F. Kennedy had been shot and killed.
The Killers was Ronald Reagan's last acting role before entering politics, and the only villain in his career. According to Kirk Douglas' autobiographyThe Ragman's Son, Reagan regretted doing the movie, particularly because of a scene in which he slaps Dickinson.
