The Killing (1956) is the second feature length film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White. The drama features Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards and Elisha Cook Jr.[1]
Plot
Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a veteran criminal planning one last heist before settling down and marrying Fay (Coleen Gray). His plan is to rob the money-counting room of a racetrack of two million dollars during a featured race, and to do this he assembles a team consisting of a corrupt cop (Ted de Corsia); George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr.), a betting window teller at the track to give access to the backroom; a sharpshooter (Timothy Carey) to shoot the favorite horse during the race, distracting the crowd; a wrestler (Kola Kwariani, born 1903, Republic of Georgia) to provide another distraction by provoking a fight at the track bar, and the bartender (Joe Sawyer).
After a successful heist, the robbers return to the apartment where they were to meet and wait for Johnny to show up with the money so they can divide it. Unfortunately, George's wife Sherry (Marie Windsor) has learned about the heist from her weak-willed husband, and she has told her boyfriend Val (Vince Edwards), who shows up at the apartment to rip them off. In the ensuing shootout, a badly wounded George is the sole survivor. He goes home and shoots Sherry before dying himself.
On his way to the apartment, Johnny sees George staggering on the street, and knows that something is wrong. He puts the cash in an old used suitcase, and he and Fay go to the airport to get on a plane to leave town & dash; but when the bag falls off a cart on its way to be loaded on the plane, it opens up, and the money is blown all over the tarmac by the wind. Fay urges Johnny to make a run for it, but he refuses, stating that there is no use in trying to escape. The film ends with two officers coming to arrest him.
Cast
Cast notes:
- Three members of the cast, Hayden, de Corsia, and Carey, had appeared together the previous year in another low budget noir, Crime Wave
Critical reaction
The gang plan their heist.
Film noir critic Eddie Muller wrote, "With The Killing, Stanley Kubrick offered a monument to the classic caper film, and a fresh gust of filmmaking in one package. Who knew when he wrapped it, that it would be the last amusing movie he'd ever make?"[2]
A.H. Weiler, film critic for The New York Times, wrote, "Though The Killing is composed of familiar ingredients and it calls for fuller explanations, it evolves as a fairly diverting melodrama. ... Aficionados of the sport of kings will discover that Mr. Kubrick's cameras have captured some colorful shots of the ponies at Bay Meadows track. Other observers should find The Killing an engrossing little adventure."[3]
Film critic Mike Emery wrote, "Kubrick's camerawork was well on the way to finding the fluid style of his later work, and the sparse, low-budget circumstances give the film a raw, urgent sort of look. As good as the story and direction are, though, the true strength of The Killing lies in the characters and characterizations."[4]
The staff at Variety magazine liked the acting and wrote, "This story of a $2 million race track holdup and steps leading up to the robbery, occasionally told in a documentary style which at first tends to be somewhat confusing, soon settles into a tense and suspenseful vein which carries through to an unexpected and ironic windup...Hayden socks over a restrained characterization, and Cook is a particular standout. Windsor is particularly good, as she digs the plan out of her husband and reveals it to her boyfriend."[5]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 24 reviews.[6]
In 2001, Empire magazine named it one of the 50 greatest crime films ever.[7]
Awards
Nominations
Trivia
- Quentin Tarantino has confirmed that this influenced him a lot for his first film Reservoir Dogs, especially the use of different perspectives of different characters on a heist.
Notes
- ^ The Killing at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Muller, Eddie. Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir.
- ^ Weiler, A.H. The New York Times, film review, May 21, 1956. Last accessed: February 7, 2008.
- ^ Emery, Mike. The Austin Chronicle, film review, March 15, 1999. Last accessed: February 7, 2008.
- ^ 'Variety. Film review, 1956. Last accessed: February 7, 2008.
- ^ The Killing at Rotten Tomatoes. Last accessed: February 7, 2008.
- ^ They Shoot Pictures web site. Last accessed: September 5, 2008.
External links
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