'The Killing' has been overshadowed by Stanley Kubrick's subsequent better known and better made movie masterpieces. Films like 'Dr. Strangelove', '2001' and 'A Clockwork Orange' are much more flamboyant and intellectually exciting than this early hard boiled crime thriller, but for my money it is still one of his most entertaining movies, and in its own modest way just as brilliant as his more talked about films. 'The Killing' is still one of the greatest crime thrillers ever made, and one which influenced many film makers working in this genre, not the least of which Quentin Tarantino, who obviously worships this picture, and used its innovative structure as major inspiration for 'Pulp Fiction'. Kubrick wrote 'The Killing's script as well as directing, but made the smart move of asking "the Dime Store Dostoevski" Jim Thompson, author of pulp classics like 'The Killer Inside Me' and 'The Getaway' to supply the fresh and memorable dialogue. Sterling Hayden, who later achieved screen immmortality as General Jack D. Ripper in 'Dr Strangelove', is perfect as ambitious small time crook Johnny Clay. He is surrounded by an almost flawless supporting cast. I qualified that because I wasn't totally convinced by Coleen Gray who plays Johnny's girlfriend. However she only really has one scene, and the rest of the cast more than makes up for her. Especially memorable are the mis-matched husband and wife played by Elisha Cook, Jr ('The House On Haunted Hill') and the sultry Marie Windsor (noir classic 'Narrow Margin'). Their scenes together are simply terrific. Also noteworthy are the two scenes featuring legendary crazy Timothy Carey ('The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie'). Carey was one of the most extraordinary performers to set foot in front of a movie character, and is unforgettable. Kubrick obviously thought highly of him as he subsequently cast him in his anti-war classic 'Paths Of Glory', a move which antagonised the movie's star Kirk Douglas. Even if 'The Killing' didn't feature such a strong performance from Sterling Hayden it would be worth watching just to catch Cook, Windsor and Carey. On top of that you have some other great actors such as Vince Edwards, an innovative script, hip dialogue and some brilliant directorial touches. This exciting heist movie can't be recommended highly enough, it's a real treat for film buffs. A brilliant film that still packs a punch after almost fifty years, something I doubt you will be saying about many movies currently showing in today's theatres. 'The Killing' is a super cool suspense movie and not to be missed!
457 Reviews
The Thick, Pulpy Roots of Modern Heist Epics
drqshadow-reviews20 January 2012
Stanley Kubrick's coming-out party from the mid '50s is a startlingly accurate prediction of film's future. By way of a non-linear narration and a few remarkably fresh transitions, Kubrick adds considerable weight and magnitude to a tangled heist tale and its focus on the crooks behind a slick, daring stickup of the local racetrack. Confused by the film's radical new approach to storytelling, test audiences hated the first cut, leading to studio meddling and an almost-complete disintegration of its marketing budget. Kubrick fought back, though, and with the obvious exception of a horribly heavy-handed deadpan narration, the finished product seems virtually untouched. Concerned mostly with the planning and hand-wringing before the big theft, The Killing tensely builds anticipation throughout before finally boiling over in a machine gun-paced robbery scene, terse payoff and all-too-brief elaboration on the major players' ultimate fates. Acceptably acted at best, the real stars of this picture are the complex plot and the harvest of fresh ideas going on behind the lens. A clear inspiration for Tarantino's big hits of the '90s, it's a daring and stylish major market debut for the famed director that hints at the lengths his development would ultimately take the medium.
You Win Some, You...
Xstal8 October 2022
There is a plan that just can't fail no matter what, take the racetrack's banked cash roll, take all it's got, everybody knows their place, where to be for the big race, then where to gather, to take their share, of the big pot.
A piece of cinema magic that to this day leaves you astounded at the brilliance of the writer/director, amazed at the sensational performances by some truly great actors, and as engaged as you could ever hope to be with a story that nestles nicely in the age and the era from which it was born, an achievement that so many films of that time fail to achieve when revisited.
A piece of cinema magic that to this day leaves you astounded at the brilliance of the writer/director, amazed at the sensational performances by some truly great actors, and as engaged as you could ever hope to be with a story that nestles nicely in the age and the era from which it was born, an achievement that so many films of that time fail to achieve when revisited.
One of my five favorite Kubrick films - gets better every time
Quinoa198411 June 2004
At the age of 27, Stanley Kubrick's third film, The Killing, took Lionel White's hard-boiled, non-linear story of one man (Johnny Clay, with quick-talking, straightforward ease by Sterling Hayden) and his crew planning and tasking a race-track robbery. It's almost fifty years old, but by this time Kubrick intently defined his style, and somehow the film seems to have themes and characters that are identifiable (and recognizable) with any period. The supporting characters are as sharply drawn (and psychologically involving) if not more so than Johnny Clay. Driving us into this world of schemers shouldn't be dense, and as Kubrick passes by any pretense - and keeps the compositions and material entertaining and absorbing - and it allows a viewer a lot of promise on repeat viewings.
While the story elements are similar to the sort of Kubrick-movie psychology (mostly dealing with men who are head deep in a rather existential crisis of what's against society), what's unique is how the craft is intuitive. On a low budget, and even with a cast that's very good if not excellent, everything is always assured in the style and turns grinding in the plot. I could watch this movie another two times (after three in the past two years or so) and still see shots so detailed yet with the tone that of the most inspired film-noirs. It's questionable as to where Kubrick got influence for some of the compositions, with usage of shadows and the dark (and light shades too), but whether or not it was some famous expressionist or from the 40's film-noirs, the mark of Kubrick uncurling as an artist is evident.
One remark by some is that the narration is sometimes irritating, that the kind of B-movie police drama expository tone, and the information is too much. The voice is not my favorite part of the film, but the narration itself, the information, is an interesting mold in the film's structure. It adds on a layer to that existentialist subtext, as every description makes it sounds like the narrator's a reporter looking back on the past events with a (detached) objectivity. For me, this did make it a little much to concentrate on in the first viewing, however this is a film that demands un-thwarted attention for it's 83 minutes. If you turn away for too long, a piece of the puzzle will be out of sight. It's a great film, and it's gone on to inspire a flock of homagers and imitators in the last half century. A+
While the story elements are similar to the sort of Kubrick-movie psychology (mostly dealing with men who are head deep in a rather existential crisis of what's against society), what's unique is how the craft is intuitive. On a low budget, and even with a cast that's very good if not excellent, everything is always assured in the style and turns grinding in the plot. I could watch this movie another two times (after three in the past two years or so) and still see shots so detailed yet with the tone that of the most inspired film-noirs. It's questionable as to where Kubrick got influence for some of the compositions, with usage of shadows and the dark (and light shades too), but whether or not it was some famous expressionist or from the 40's film-noirs, the mark of Kubrick uncurling as an artist is evident.
One remark by some is that the narration is sometimes irritating, that the kind of B-movie police drama expository tone, and the information is too much. The voice is not my favorite part of the film, but the narration itself, the information, is an interesting mold in the film's structure. It adds on a layer to that existentialist subtext, as every description makes it sounds like the narrator's a reporter looking back on the past events with a (detached) objectivity. For me, this did make it a little much to concentrate on in the first viewing, however this is a film that demands un-thwarted attention for it's 83 minutes. If you turn away for too long, a piece of the puzzle will be out of sight. It's a great film, and it's gone on to inspire a flock of homagers and imitators in the last half century. A+
Great Characters In Here!
ccthemovieman-123 September 2005
Director Stanley Kubrick is best known for "2001: A Space Odyssey." "A Clockwork Orrange" or "The Shining" but I always found this to be my favorite of his films. This is film noir at some of its best: a tight no-nonsense story with tragic consequences, some of the best film noir actors in the business and great cinematography, which looks even better on DVD.
Sterling Hayden is the gang leader in this heist film and the big man was up to the task as he usually was in these kind of crime films. He wasn't as rough a character as he was in "Asphalt Jungle," but his role reminded me of that film.
What made this movie so appealing to me were four very interesting character actors: Elisha Cook Jr., Marie Windsor, Kola Kwariani and Ted de Corsia. Few people had those loser-type film noir characters down pat as well as the tough-talking Windsor and the meek and wimpy Cook. They played a husband-and-wife team here: that's film noir heaven!
Kwariani plays a burley chess-playing wrestler who fights six cops at one time and Carey is a long-distance racist rifleman who talks through clenched-teeth and shoots a racehorse! As I said, some very interesting characters here.
And, oh yeah.....for you over-55 readers, there's Vince Edwards, alias Dr. Ben Casey of TV fame, as a Windsor's young adulterer boyfriend trying to horn in on the money from the robbery.
This film is full of surprises and always fun to watch.
Sterling Hayden is the gang leader in this heist film and the big man was up to the task as he usually was in these kind of crime films. He wasn't as rough a character as he was in "Asphalt Jungle," but his role reminded me of that film.
What made this movie so appealing to me were four very interesting character actors: Elisha Cook Jr., Marie Windsor, Kola Kwariani and Ted de Corsia. Few people had those loser-type film noir characters down pat as well as the tough-talking Windsor and the meek and wimpy Cook. They played a husband-and-wife team here: that's film noir heaven!
Kwariani plays a burley chess-playing wrestler who fights six cops at one time and Carey is a long-distance racist rifleman who talks through clenched-teeth and shoots a racehorse! As I said, some very interesting characters here.
And, oh yeah.....for you over-55 readers, there's Vince Edwards, alias Dr. Ben Casey of TV fame, as a Windsor's young adulterer boyfriend trying to horn in on the money from the robbery.
This film is full of surprises and always fun to watch.
Kubrick-Noir: recommended
Enrique-Sanchez-5616 July 2004
Everything about this movie fascinates me. Even the unexpected ending has a compelling and unique flavor to it. Sure, it looks like many crime dramas of the 50's. But we are talking about of a movie with a director of the prodigious talents of Stanley Kubrick.
Sometimes you wonder which genre Kubrick could not have handled brilliantly. He seems to know exactly what to do in such a wide variety of movies...Crime, Drama, War, Surreal, Historical Epic, Science Fiction and Black Comedy. My only wish would have been if Kubrick could have made MORE movies. When he died, that left only Woody Allen as the only major director who is working as a pure artist in the film medium.
THE KILLING is filled with crime-noir touches that form an absorbing whole that is hard to beat. The acting is top-notch, the scenes are set in gold taking from every crime movie and creating a whole that could not have been done so well by just any director - perhaps only Hitchcock could have pulled this off. Then there's the jazzy score that underlines the action which punch and atmosphere that just curdles off the screen.
Even if you're not a Kubrick fan (which might surprise many people when they find out he was the director) you will enjoy this movie.
Right to the end...which I won't reveal...but has an inevitability written with classical balance and a submission to fate that leaves a wry smile on your face.
Sterling Hayden is great in this role and he populates this character with just the right sort of mystery to keep you guessing until the end.
Recommended without reservation.
Sometimes you wonder which genre Kubrick could not have handled brilliantly. He seems to know exactly what to do in such a wide variety of movies...Crime, Drama, War, Surreal, Historical Epic, Science Fiction and Black Comedy. My only wish would have been if Kubrick could have made MORE movies. When he died, that left only Woody Allen as the only major director who is working as a pure artist in the film medium.
THE KILLING is filled with crime-noir touches that form an absorbing whole that is hard to beat. The acting is top-notch, the scenes are set in gold taking from every crime movie and creating a whole that could not have been done so well by just any director - perhaps only Hitchcock could have pulled this off. Then there's the jazzy score that underlines the action which punch and atmosphere that just curdles off the screen.
Even if you're not a Kubrick fan (which might surprise many people when they find out he was the director) you will enjoy this movie.
Right to the end...which I won't reveal...but has an inevitability written with classical balance and a submission to fate that leaves a wry smile on your face.
Sterling Hayden is great in this role and he populates this character with just the right sort of mystery to keep you guessing until the end.
Recommended without reservation.
Crackling heist story that will have you glued to your seat
MeYesMe9 August 1998
There's little to fault in Stanley Kubrick's classic robbery tale. The acting is first-rate with Marie Windsor, as Mrs. Peaty, a sarcastic stand-out. The story just pops off the screen - and at less than 90 minutes, there's literally no filler. I love the winding time line ("earlier that day" etc.), which has been liberally utilized by Quentin Tarantino (Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs). This film was made right before Kubrick's WWI marvel, Paths of Glory, and his genius is apparent in both. No wasted words or actions. Love that last line!
Young Kubrick's triumph
Mike Sh.23 June 2001
Stanley Kunbrick was still in his twenties when he made this film, yet his confidence and self-assurance are all over it. It is a well-written story, co-written by Kubrick (based on a novel called "A Clean Break"), about a meticulously planned horetrack heist told from the point of view of the several people who were in on the plot. Most of these guys weren't professional criminals, but otherwise honest men who were down on their luck and needed a break. They turned to this audacious plan in desperation, thinking they could do some real good in their lives with their share of the money. I won't give away the ending of course, but keep in mind this is a Kubrick film. That's all I say about that.
Standouts include Sterling Hayden as the ringleader, Marie Windsor as a snide, manipulative woman, Elisha Cook as her milquetoasty husband, Timothy Carey, as creepy as ever, and Kola Kwariani, the thinking man's Tor Johnson, as a chess expert/hired thug.
Speaking of chess, this is the first movie I've ever seen with a scene taking place in a chess parlor. Being from a provincial New England town, and not being a chess afficionado, I never knew such places existed.
Standouts include Sterling Hayden as the ringleader, Marie Windsor as a snide, manipulative woman, Elisha Cook as her milquetoasty husband, Timothy Carey, as creepy as ever, and Kola Kwariani, the thinking man's Tor Johnson, as a chess expert/hired thug.
Speaking of chess, this is the first movie I've ever seen with a scene taking place in a chess parlor. Being from a provincial New England town, and not being a chess afficionado, I never knew such places existed.
Kubrick's first serious effort packs a punch.
TOMASBBloodhound24 June 2012
The Killing is a film whose legacy can still be seen in many films today. This film is not only Stanley Kubrick's first acclaimed film, but it is also credited with inventing the concept of non-linear story telling for the film industry. Some recent films that have used this technique are Reservior Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Go, Wonderland and The Usual Suspects.
The story deals with a motley crew of assorted criminals, inside men, and average joes just looking to get their hands on a large sum of money by stealing it from a racetrack. Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, a hardened criminal who just finished serving a five-year prison sentence. He is the ringleader of the bunch who is determined to only go for the big heists from now on. He figures they can put you away for stealing ten dollars as easily as ten million, so what have you got to lose? The rest of the crew are mostly average people with average problems, as Clay explains early on. Some of them work at the track. One is a crooked cop. Two are hardened criminals added at the last minute to cause diversions. Everything has been timed and planned out to the letter. Of course in a film like this, things never go as planned. It wouldn't be entertaining if they did.
The killing was made on a budget of well below half a million dollars, and it shows. The film looks cheap at times, but the story is more than enough to make you forgive its financial shortcomings. The acting is nothing too special. Hayden is strong and resourceful as Johnny Clay, but he's pretty wooden. Elisha Cook Jr. is pretty good as a hen-pecked husband who is taking part in the scheme to impress his high-maintenance wife. If this film were re-cast today, you'd have to think of William H. Macy to play this character. Timothy Carey is always memorable, even with such a small part like the one he has here. Such a strange-looking guy! He gets the most interesting assignment of all the people in on the heist.
You can really tell this was made fifty years ago. Even though there are hardened criminals and low-lifes in nearly every scene, nobody ever says the F-word! There is, however, a fairly gory shootout in one scene which you normally didn't find in films back then. The killing was ahead of its time in more ways than one, I guess. Please be sure to check this one out! 8 of 10 stars.
The Hound.
The story deals with a motley crew of assorted criminals, inside men, and average joes just looking to get their hands on a large sum of money by stealing it from a racetrack. Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, a hardened criminal who just finished serving a five-year prison sentence. He is the ringleader of the bunch who is determined to only go for the big heists from now on. He figures they can put you away for stealing ten dollars as easily as ten million, so what have you got to lose? The rest of the crew are mostly average people with average problems, as Clay explains early on. Some of them work at the track. One is a crooked cop. Two are hardened criminals added at the last minute to cause diversions. Everything has been timed and planned out to the letter. Of course in a film like this, things never go as planned. It wouldn't be entertaining if they did.
The killing was made on a budget of well below half a million dollars, and it shows. The film looks cheap at times, but the story is more than enough to make you forgive its financial shortcomings. The acting is nothing too special. Hayden is strong and resourceful as Johnny Clay, but he's pretty wooden. Elisha Cook Jr. is pretty good as a hen-pecked husband who is taking part in the scheme to impress his high-maintenance wife. If this film were re-cast today, you'd have to think of William H. Macy to play this character. Timothy Carey is always memorable, even with such a small part like the one he has here. Such a strange-looking guy! He gets the most interesting assignment of all the people in on the heist.
You can really tell this was made fifty years ago. Even though there are hardened criminals and low-lifes in nearly every scene, nobody ever says the F-word! There is, however, a fairly gory shootout in one scene which you normally didn't find in films back then. The killing was ahead of its time in more ways than one, I guess. Please be sure to check this one out! 8 of 10 stars.
The Hound.
A crime classic, and a monument for actor Elisha Cook, Jr.
frank_olthoff9 July 2001
The story of a meticulously-planned race track hold-up is a stunner in every minute you watch it, and the film's progressive use of a partly documentary style has often been acclaimed as uniquely supporting the dramatic goings-on. It definitely put a modern touch to the somewhat out-of-fashion film noir in 1956, but still greatly relied on its basic rules.
A fine new note was the neat distinction between the gang's members' motives, ranging from repaying underworld debts (De Corsia) and hope of offering a better life for his ill wife (Sawyer) to the vain ambition of pleasing his vamp wife by doing something special (Cook).
Despite the film's qualities, Kubrick's treatment of the women's rôles seems more than old-fashioned today. Women here are either the homely and sweet type (Coleen Gray) or the Bette-Davis-eyed and cherchez-la-femme type (Marie Windsor). Both are accordingly taller or smaller than their respective partners by a head.
I should like to mention one of my favourite pans: that's when the bald philosopher-catcher walks up to Joe Sawyer's bar. Lucien Ballard's camera follows him all across the crowded tote hall, a take which must have been very difficult to organize and shoot. Later, the scene is repeated with Sterling Hayden.
This motion picture is also a monument for the great histrionic art of Elisha Cook, Jr., in a stand-out performance as the born loser. (German dubbing gives him the apt voice of Stan Laurel's speaker Walter Bluhm.) This little man never just did his job in unnumerable supporting rôles but has rendered effective homage to the tragic figure on the silver screen more than any other (non-comical) character actor I can think of. Regardless of his versatility in lots of different films, his impersonations of a likeable man who is doomed to fail make him unforgettable: take his lethal parts in "Phantom Lady" (1944), "Shane" (1953) or the likes, the audience's sympathy was always with this fine actor.
A fine new note was the neat distinction between the gang's members' motives, ranging from repaying underworld debts (De Corsia) and hope of offering a better life for his ill wife (Sawyer) to the vain ambition of pleasing his vamp wife by doing something special (Cook).
Despite the film's qualities, Kubrick's treatment of the women's rôles seems more than old-fashioned today. Women here are either the homely and sweet type (Coleen Gray) or the Bette-Davis-eyed and cherchez-la-femme type (Marie Windsor). Both are accordingly taller or smaller than their respective partners by a head.
I should like to mention one of my favourite pans: that's when the bald philosopher-catcher walks up to Joe Sawyer's bar. Lucien Ballard's camera follows him all across the crowded tote hall, a take which must have been very difficult to organize and shoot. Later, the scene is repeated with Sterling Hayden.
This motion picture is also a monument for the great histrionic art of Elisha Cook, Jr., in a stand-out performance as the born loser. (German dubbing gives him the apt voice of Stan Laurel's speaker Walter Bluhm.) This little man never just did his job in unnumerable supporting rôles but has rendered effective homage to the tragic figure on the silver screen more than any other (non-comical) character actor I can think of. Regardless of his versatility in lots of different films, his impersonations of a likeable man who is doomed to fail make him unforgettable: take his lethal parts in "Phantom Lady" (1944), "Shane" (1953) or the likes, the audience's sympathy was always with this fine actor.
Out of the Jungle and on to the Racetrack
bkoganbing9 March 2008
Although Jack Palance and Victor Mature would have been perfectly good in the lead role I was surprised that Sterling Hayden was a third choice after them to play the lead in The Killing. Given his performance in The Asphalt Jungle I would have thought Hayden would have been a first choice for fledgling director Stanley Kubrick.
Hayden was in the muscle end in The Asphalt Jungle, but in The Killing he's doing some planning as well. What he's got planned is an intricate robbery of a racetrack with crooked cop Ted DeCorsia, track bartender Joe Sawyer, Jay C. Flippen, and parimutuel clerk Elisha Cook, Jr. Each has a most specific job that is timed to the split second. In addition Timothy Carey and Kola Kwariani have some jobs to perform that are unknown to the others and are getting a flat fee off the top for what they do.
Cook hasn't got his head in the game though. Who would with two timing high maintenance dame Marie Windsor as a wife. She learns enough to tip her boyfriend Vincent Edwards off to the scheme. Coleen Gray has the Jean Hagen role as Hayden's loyal girl friend.
The robbery comes off pretty good, the scenes are done in the same manner as The Asphalt Jungle. Of course the usual problems involving the split and the getaway occur. A lot of that is taken from The Asphalt Jungle as well.
The film was shot in and around Bay Meadows racetrack so it looks very real. Stanley Kubrick got such good reviews for this and deservedly so that Kirk Douglas hired him to direct the much bigger budgeted Paths of Glory. A career was born.
The Killing is a finely edited and finely crafted piece of movie making. It's both a noir and a caper film and succeeds at both. The characters are realistic in a realistic setting. Everybody here can be proud of their participation.
Hayden was in the muscle end in The Asphalt Jungle, but in The Killing he's doing some planning as well. What he's got planned is an intricate robbery of a racetrack with crooked cop Ted DeCorsia, track bartender Joe Sawyer, Jay C. Flippen, and parimutuel clerk Elisha Cook, Jr. Each has a most specific job that is timed to the split second. In addition Timothy Carey and Kola Kwariani have some jobs to perform that are unknown to the others and are getting a flat fee off the top for what they do.
Cook hasn't got his head in the game though. Who would with two timing high maintenance dame Marie Windsor as a wife. She learns enough to tip her boyfriend Vincent Edwards off to the scheme. Coleen Gray has the Jean Hagen role as Hayden's loyal girl friend.
The robbery comes off pretty good, the scenes are done in the same manner as The Asphalt Jungle. Of course the usual problems involving the split and the getaway occur. A lot of that is taken from The Asphalt Jungle as well.
The film was shot in and around Bay Meadows racetrack so it looks very real. Stanley Kubrick got such good reviews for this and deservedly so that Kirk Douglas hired him to direct the much bigger budgeted Paths of Glory. A career was born.
The Killing is a finely edited and finely crafted piece of movie making. It's both a noir and a caper film and succeeds at both. The characters are realistic in a realistic setting. Everybody here can be proud of their participation.
Poor ending.
doire4 May 2003
Warning: Spoilers
*SPOILERS* I really enjoyed "The Killing2 but, like many, felt that the ending was fatally flawed. Johnny Clay appears to have every meticulous little detail in this robbery worked out to perfection, yet after the heist he removes the money from the secure baggage it is in and transfers it to a second-hand suitcase that he knows the locks to be faulty on. Over two million dollars in hard currency, yet Johnny can´t be bothered securing the suitcase!. Right Oh!. From the moment Kubrick´s camera focused on those faulty locks, the viewer knows instinctively that the whole shabang is going to be blown wide open. Two million dollars Johnny!. A new suitcase, a secure suitcase would maybe have set you back twenty dollars. And why didn´t you consider this aspect when you were making your meticulous and brilliantly executed robbery plans?. Shame on you.
Somewhat over-hyped early Kubrick...
moonspinner5525 January 2008
Stanley Kubrick co-wrote and directed this adaptation of Lionel White's book "Clean Break" (a better title!) about a racetrack robbery gone horribly wrong. Film-noir is alternately exciting and heavy-hearted, with scenes that tend to plod and performances which aren't terribly magnetic. Sterling Hayden excels as always, and Elisha Cook and Vince Edwards do well in character parts, but the other roles are disappointingly filled and the production is on the cheap side. Although Kubrick's film garnered sterling notices in its time, it hasn't aged well and is worth-seeing today only as a curio. **1/2 from ****
Hitchcock like in style...
faraaj-14 November 2006
Kubrick directed 15 odd movies in half a century (let's exclude Spartacus). His skills as an auteur may not have been recognized till Strangelove but they were on display in films like Lolita, Paths of Glory and of course The Killing, his first certified classic.
The Killing is about an intricate race-track heist involving a group of non-professionals with clean records. The mastermind, Sterling Hayden, has however spent some time in prison. The unique thing for the time is the non-linear structure of the film - particularly the heist sequence. This was probably Hayden's finest role - yes, better than Jack D. Ripper of Strangelove or Altman's The Long Goodbye - as the doomed hero, Johnny Clay. He is very tall and physical and quite brilliant in this role. He is well-supported by an old favorite of mine from The Maltese Falcon, Elisha Cook Jr. whose venomous wife, Marie Windsor plays a femme fatale of sorts. There is also the cult favorite Timothy Carey as the person assigned to shoot Red Lightning. Reservoir Dogs, a cult film inspired by The Killing is dedicated to Carey.
While The Killing is certainly noirish, it does not have the pure noir look - well, pretty much most of it is filmed in the daytime. In fact, if Kubrick was inspired, it would have been more by Hitchcock's tight pacing than by Chandler or Cain's hard-boiled dialog. The camera-work and editing are brilliant - for me even better than later Kubrick classics. Kubrick was forced to add a voice-over by the studio - something he really wasn't inclined towards. His ingenious solution was to have the VO not directly comment on the movie, but to add another layer to the films structure. It works! This film is not dated, although the Marie Windsor character is a bit one-dimensional and what is visible in the short length of the movie is the tight pacing.
The Killing is about an intricate race-track heist involving a group of non-professionals with clean records. The mastermind, Sterling Hayden, has however spent some time in prison. The unique thing for the time is the non-linear structure of the film - particularly the heist sequence. This was probably Hayden's finest role - yes, better than Jack D. Ripper of Strangelove or Altman's The Long Goodbye - as the doomed hero, Johnny Clay. He is very tall and physical and quite brilliant in this role. He is well-supported by an old favorite of mine from The Maltese Falcon, Elisha Cook Jr. whose venomous wife, Marie Windsor plays a femme fatale of sorts. There is also the cult favorite Timothy Carey as the person assigned to shoot Red Lightning. Reservoir Dogs, a cult film inspired by The Killing is dedicated to Carey.
While The Killing is certainly noirish, it does not have the pure noir look - well, pretty much most of it is filmed in the daytime. In fact, if Kubrick was inspired, it would have been more by Hitchcock's tight pacing than by Chandler or Cain's hard-boiled dialog. The camera-work and editing are brilliant - for me even better than later Kubrick classics. Kubrick was forced to add a voice-over by the studio - something he really wasn't inclined towards. His ingenious solution was to have the VO not directly comment on the movie, but to add another layer to the films structure. It works! This film is not dated, although the Marie Windsor character is a bit one-dimensional and what is visible in the short length of the movie is the tight pacing.
I don't agree that it's a great film; Kubrick hadn't broken out yet
rzajac14 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
In Paths of Glory, we see Kubrick's "coming out"; the beginnings of his future aesthetic, with uncompromisingly straight-up dialog and a directness and unaffectedness of approach that made him an the undisputed master we now know him to be.
In The Killing, we see the beginnings of his beginnings. The hints are there, but it's too patchy to be able to say that the end product is well-knit. Some of the dialog is good. Attention to getting professionalism out of the actors/actresses lapses often enough to attract notice and mar the experience. I used to think that voice-over was invariably a cheap expedient; but upon refection, Kubrick's voice-over work in Barry Lyndon is well, well implemented. The voice-over work in The Killing grates the moment you first hear it, and then it becomes a noir ghost come back to haunt you every time it kicks in.
I think the story is trying to say something about "best-laid-plans", and that's cool. But the set-up for the denouement doesn't feel whole and right and good. Hayden's character has 2 million bucks, but buys a cheap, cardboard suitcase from a rundown dive of a luggage shop to stow it in? Sorry, it just doesn't compute, narratively speaking. I'm reminded of the ending of Manon of the Spring. Montand's character finds out that his whole amoral/jaded outlook on life was the result of a letter lost in the mails, before the age of the telephone. You have to digest that plot twist in light of the technical limitations of the period in which it is set. The plot twist at the very end of The Killing doesn't have this excuse. Even the similar, chaos-wrought twist at the end of No Country for Old Men works better because it is truly out of Anton Chighur's control. Perhaps Kubrick might have more carefully considered how to engineer this to make Hayden's character a true victim of circumstances.
What's good? Like I said, much of the dialog is good; some of it soars. Characterizations are generally good, even if the acting is a little stilted here and there. Of course, the cinematography is excellent. Oddly, the decision to make Hayden's character's love interest a last-minute, undeveloped character struck me a lot more honest than other crime movies where the plot development seems to be on its knees begging us to emotionally bond to criminals by over-developing the love interest angle. The Killing doesn't do this, and in fact even goes the other way, by showing shallow, self-deceived romantic conceits and feints among the criminal set. That's honest, and therefore good.
It's worth watching simply because it's Kubrick. If it works better for you than it did for me, then good. If you find some of the same issues I did, then at least it informs your perspective on how a great director/artist like Kubrick grows. Personally, I've always enjoyed watching artists grow, even in retrospect.
In The Killing, we see the beginnings of his beginnings. The hints are there, but it's too patchy to be able to say that the end product is well-knit. Some of the dialog is good. Attention to getting professionalism out of the actors/actresses lapses often enough to attract notice and mar the experience. I used to think that voice-over was invariably a cheap expedient; but upon refection, Kubrick's voice-over work in Barry Lyndon is well, well implemented. The voice-over work in The Killing grates the moment you first hear it, and then it becomes a noir ghost come back to haunt you every time it kicks in.
I think the story is trying to say something about "best-laid-plans", and that's cool. But the set-up for the denouement doesn't feel whole and right and good. Hayden's character has 2 million bucks, but buys a cheap, cardboard suitcase from a rundown dive of a luggage shop to stow it in? Sorry, it just doesn't compute, narratively speaking. I'm reminded of the ending of Manon of the Spring. Montand's character finds out that his whole amoral/jaded outlook on life was the result of a letter lost in the mails, before the age of the telephone. You have to digest that plot twist in light of the technical limitations of the period in which it is set. The plot twist at the very end of The Killing doesn't have this excuse. Even the similar, chaos-wrought twist at the end of No Country for Old Men works better because it is truly out of Anton Chighur's control. Perhaps Kubrick might have more carefully considered how to engineer this to make Hayden's character a true victim of circumstances.
What's good? Like I said, much of the dialog is good; some of it soars. Characterizations are generally good, even if the acting is a little stilted here and there. Of course, the cinematography is excellent. Oddly, the decision to make Hayden's character's love interest a last-minute, undeveloped character struck me a lot more honest than other crime movies where the plot development seems to be on its knees begging us to emotionally bond to criminals by over-developing the love interest angle. The Killing doesn't do this, and in fact even goes the other way, by showing shallow, self-deceived romantic conceits and feints among the criminal set. That's honest, and therefore good.
It's worth watching simply because it's Kubrick. If it works better for you than it did for me, then good. If you find some of the same issues I did, then at least it informs your perspective on how a great director/artist like Kubrick grows. Personally, I've always enjoyed watching artists grow, even in retrospect.
A Slightly Different Approach
dougdoepke3 June 2019
Warning: Spoilers
No need to echo plaudits for this, one of the most finely crafted crime films in Hollywood annals. Instead, I want to pick up on some of movie's unusual aspects for its time period, the 1950's. As I recall, TK was the only film this young movie freak was captivated enough to see twice.
Most atypical of the 50's is that for a crime film honest cops are hardly seen anywhere, except for security guards at the track, and have no role in cracking the case. No Dragnet here. In fact, it's a ditzy old lady and her purse-size doggie that ruins Hayden's get-away. That bit of delicious irony was not only compelling for that day but for this day too, which shows that even the grandest designs can be brought down in the most trivial manner. I suspect that's a big reason I paid money to watch a second time.
Then too, the criminals are humanized in unusual fashion. That is, we understand why the gang members turn to crime-- except maybe for De Corsia's crooked cop which may have been too much for Kubrick to risk. Also, Sawyer's track attendant with the sick wife is especially poignant. In fact, it's hard not to root for the brilliant robbery plan, entrepreneurial as it is. The humanizing element here is in contrast to the criminal stereotypes of the time who presented hardly a touch of ambiguity.
Then there's the sexual innuendo, masked, but present nevertheless. Flippen's gay designs on Hayden I'm sure went past most audiences of the time when such topics were forbidden on both big screens and little. It certainly went past my teenage grasp. But I salute Kubrick for sneaking it in at a time when the Hollywood production code was breaking down.
And of course, there's the dramatic centerpiece-- wimpy Cook's doomed marriage to a heartless Windsor. I'm conjecturing a bit, but based on the elliptical dialog, I think Cook's basic problem, besides being wimpy, is chronic impotence. Given Windsor's overbearing manner, his difficulties would be understandable. So, to substitute for bedroom problems, Cook feels he must prove himself by getting rich by fair means or foul. Anyway, impotence was another forbidden topic even when it pivots the plot as in The Barefoot Contessa (1954).
And lastly, only a flick like this would dare use such a zany character like Timothy Carey. After all, the 50's was the decade of glamor and convention, making him like an onion in the tulip patch. I only wish his role here were bigger, but he does add a distinctive kind of color, and would be an unforgettable oddity in Kubrick's successor film Paths of Glory (1958).
All in all, I think these are some reasons the heist film separated itself from the 50's pack and, remains a classic to this day. At the same time, it shows Kubrick looking effectively ahead, as his career would prove, and not safely behind. Come to think of it, now that the wife's left the room, I think I'll give my DVD another look-see.
Most atypical of the 50's is that for a crime film honest cops are hardly seen anywhere, except for security guards at the track, and have no role in cracking the case. No Dragnet here. In fact, it's a ditzy old lady and her purse-size doggie that ruins Hayden's get-away. That bit of delicious irony was not only compelling for that day but for this day too, which shows that even the grandest designs can be brought down in the most trivial manner. I suspect that's a big reason I paid money to watch a second time.
Then too, the criminals are humanized in unusual fashion. That is, we understand why the gang members turn to crime-- except maybe for De Corsia's crooked cop which may have been too much for Kubrick to risk. Also, Sawyer's track attendant with the sick wife is especially poignant. In fact, it's hard not to root for the brilliant robbery plan, entrepreneurial as it is. The humanizing element here is in contrast to the criminal stereotypes of the time who presented hardly a touch of ambiguity.
Then there's the sexual innuendo, masked, but present nevertheless. Flippen's gay designs on Hayden I'm sure went past most audiences of the time when such topics were forbidden on both big screens and little. It certainly went past my teenage grasp. But I salute Kubrick for sneaking it in at a time when the Hollywood production code was breaking down.
And of course, there's the dramatic centerpiece-- wimpy Cook's doomed marriage to a heartless Windsor. I'm conjecturing a bit, but based on the elliptical dialog, I think Cook's basic problem, besides being wimpy, is chronic impotence. Given Windsor's overbearing manner, his difficulties would be understandable. So, to substitute for bedroom problems, Cook feels he must prove himself by getting rich by fair means or foul. Anyway, impotence was another forbidden topic even when it pivots the plot as in The Barefoot Contessa (1954).
And lastly, only a flick like this would dare use such a zany character like Timothy Carey. After all, the 50's was the decade of glamor and convention, making him like an onion in the tulip patch. I only wish his role here were bigger, but he does add a distinctive kind of color, and would be an unforgettable oddity in Kubrick's successor film Paths of Glory (1958).
All in all, I think these are some reasons the heist film separated itself from the 50's pack and, remains a classic to this day. At the same time, it shows Kubrick looking effectively ahead, as his career would prove, and not safely behind. Come to think of it, now that the wife's left the room, I think I'll give my DVD another look-see.
One of Kubrick's best
planktonrules4 January 2009
THE KILLING is a story about several guys who work together to pull a major heist. The group is led by the laconic Sterling Hayden and each step along the way towards the robbery is shown--often in non-linear fashion. For example, after showing what one character does up until the robbery, the film then backs up a bit and shows what another is doing just before this. While unusual, this style works just fine and was later adopted in other films. After pulling the seemingly perfect crime, it's interesting to see how things work out--a really clever way to show that at least in this case, you can't possibly work out every detail to perfection.
THE KILLING is among the best Film Noir pictures and also among the best films of director Stanley Kubrick. It tells the story of a group who set out to rob a race track, but unlike many crime films of the era, this one is very minimalistic--straight and to the point, which gives it a heightened sense of realism. Much of this was due to the types of actors chosen for the film--Sterling Hayden and the rest looked more like real folks and played the parts simply and exactly. Much of it was due to the no nonsense direction by Kubrick, whose style was very different with this film than with his later projects. His later trademark was perfectionism--with scenes filmed and re-filmed innumerable times. Here, however, the entire picture was completed in about three weeks--showing that Kubrick probably should have trusted himself more with later projects since he COULD get it perfect the first time. The only negative at all about the film is the irrelevant and unnecessary narration--something that IMDb said that the director did NOT want and was added by the studio. It didn't help the film and actually served to distract.
By the way, if you liked this film, also try watching the equally good ASPHALT JUNGLE--which also stars Sterling Hayden. It's a very similar film and just as enjoyable--though its reputation isn't nearly as good as THE KILLING's.
THE KILLING is among the best Film Noir pictures and also among the best films of director Stanley Kubrick. It tells the story of a group who set out to rob a race track, but unlike many crime films of the era, this one is very minimalistic--straight and to the point, which gives it a heightened sense of realism. Much of this was due to the types of actors chosen for the film--Sterling Hayden and the rest looked more like real folks and played the parts simply and exactly. Much of it was due to the no nonsense direction by Kubrick, whose style was very different with this film than with his later projects. His later trademark was perfectionism--with scenes filmed and re-filmed innumerable times. Here, however, the entire picture was completed in about three weeks--showing that Kubrick probably should have trusted himself more with later projects since he COULD get it perfect the first time. The only negative at all about the film is the irrelevant and unnecessary narration--something that IMDb said that the director did NOT want and was added by the studio. It didn't help the film and actually served to distract.
By the way, if you liked this film, also try watching the equally good ASPHALT JUNGLE--which also stars Sterling Hayden. It's a very similar film and just as enjoyable--though its reputation isn't nearly as good as THE KILLING's.
A Killing at the Racetrack
sol-kay10 January 2005
(SOME SPOILERS) Stanley Kubrick's 1956 Film/Noir classic that plays with the clock in putting most of those involved in this robbery of a California racetrack in the same time-frame in a series of overlapping episodes.
Planing to rob the tracks handle, money thats bet, as well as it's concession and tickets sales mastermind Johnny Clay, Sterling Hayden, plans the robbery to take place on the tracks biggest racing day when it holds it's most expensive feature race the $100,000.00 added Landstown Stakes.
Working together with a number of track workers, a ticket seller and bartender, as well as a policemen to make the getaway with the cash without being noticed. The plan laid out by Johnny goes off almost without a hitch. Only one of the robbers Kikki Arcane ,Timothy Carey, was shot and killed by track police and all the rest got away. It's later the robbers meet up at their prearranged hideout, minus Johnny, things start to fall apart.
As their all waiting for Johnny to come over with the $2,000,000.00 in cash that was taken in the robbery Val, Vince Edwards, and friend break into their place in order to rob them of the cash that they don't have. A gunfight breaks out with everyone there shot dead but the track ticket clerk George Peatty, Elisha Cook JR. who was in the other room and surprised them Val & Co. by starting the gun fight.
George badly wounded staggers out of the room to his car to go back home and deal with his two-timing wife Sherry, Marie Windsor, who was having an affair with Val, behind George's back. It was Saherry who tipped him off about the robbery and where the money is to be split between the robbers. As George leaves the house shot and bleeding Johnny pulls up with a laundry bag loaded with the $2,000,000.00 in cash to split up with the rest of the robbers.
Seeing the police coming on the scene Johnny takes off to pick up his girlfriend Fay, Coleen Gray, and together drive down to the airport and get on a flight to Boston with the cash. George meanwhile goes home and confronts Sherry who at first though, when he opened the door,t that he was her lover Val and shoots her dead for double-crossing him and his fellow crooks.
At the airport the final chapter of this film is played out with an ironic ending for both Johnny and Fay in their attempt to get away Scot-free with the track loot after everybody involved with it ended up dead. Like the domino effect in the movie that started with the shooting at the hideout between the robbers and Val & friend the last piece to fall, after all the others fell, was just about to go down.
The time sequences in the movie added at least twenty to the films final 85 minutes but instead of padding the movie to lengthen it's running time it actually enhanced it's story.
Planing to rob the tracks handle, money thats bet, as well as it's concession and tickets sales mastermind Johnny Clay, Sterling Hayden, plans the robbery to take place on the tracks biggest racing day when it holds it's most expensive feature race the $100,000.00 added Landstown Stakes.
Working together with a number of track workers, a ticket seller and bartender, as well as a policemen to make the getaway with the cash without being noticed. The plan laid out by Johnny goes off almost without a hitch. Only one of the robbers Kikki Arcane ,Timothy Carey, was shot and killed by track police and all the rest got away. It's later the robbers meet up at their prearranged hideout, minus Johnny, things start to fall apart.
As their all waiting for Johnny to come over with the $2,000,000.00 in cash that was taken in the robbery Val, Vince Edwards, and friend break into their place in order to rob them of the cash that they don't have. A gunfight breaks out with everyone there shot dead but the track ticket clerk George Peatty, Elisha Cook JR. who was in the other room and surprised them Val & Co. by starting the gun fight.
George badly wounded staggers out of the room to his car to go back home and deal with his two-timing wife Sherry, Marie Windsor, who was having an affair with Val, behind George's back. It was Saherry who tipped him off about the robbery and where the money is to be split between the robbers. As George leaves the house shot and bleeding Johnny pulls up with a laundry bag loaded with the $2,000,000.00 in cash to split up with the rest of the robbers.
Seeing the police coming on the scene Johnny takes off to pick up his girlfriend Fay, Coleen Gray, and together drive down to the airport and get on a flight to Boston with the cash. George meanwhile goes home and confronts Sherry who at first though, when he opened the door,t that he was her lover Val and shoots her dead for double-crossing him and his fellow crooks.
At the airport the final chapter of this film is played out with an ironic ending for both Johnny and Fay in their attempt to get away Scot-free with the track loot after everybody involved with it ended up dead. Like the domino effect in the movie that started with the shooting at the hideout between the robbers and Val & friend the last piece to fall, after all the others fell, was just about to go down.
The time sequences in the movie added at least twenty to the films final 85 minutes but instead of padding the movie to lengthen it's running time it actually enhanced it's story.
Sherry: A candy bar, George? George: No, not a candy bar, Donut.
bombersflyup1 December 2018
Warning: Spoilers
The Killing has a good premise, but is poorly written and executed. Lacking entertainment for a heist film, with mostly uninteresting characters that are also overacted.
The main character Johnny's the worst. George and Sherry Peatty are good characters, because they're realistic and well acted, but even they could use more dimension. In regards to the ending, you would research luggage restrictions or do a trial run, but there are so many silly mistakes. Nikki the shooter, had to get there first and make a big deal of it so the parking attendant would remember him. The bar attendant couldn't just put the package away eliminating any risk and therefore avoiding making a scene. The wrestler had to tell someone that if he wasn't back by a certain time, for that person to tell someone to do something, that if anyone was to question his involvement it would be obvious he knew ahead of time. Sherry's other man couldn't just get Johnny as he gets out of his car, instead of holding the group at gunpoint avoiding being shot.
The film's okay, but that's mostly because it's almost impossible to make a bad film about this sort of content. The many unabashed Kubrick praise reviews make me chuckle.
The main character Johnny's the worst. George and Sherry Peatty are good characters, because they're realistic and well acted, but even they could use more dimension. In regards to the ending, you would research luggage restrictions or do a trial run, but there are so many silly mistakes. Nikki the shooter, had to get there first and make a big deal of it so the parking attendant would remember him. The bar attendant couldn't just put the package away eliminating any risk and therefore avoiding making a scene. The wrestler had to tell someone that if he wasn't back by a certain time, for that person to tell someone to do something, that if anyone was to question his involvement it would be obvious he knew ahead of time. Sherry's other man couldn't just get Johnny as he gets out of his car, instead of holding the group at gunpoint avoiding being shot.
The film's okay, but that's mostly because it's almost impossible to make a bad film about this sort of content. The many unabashed Kubrick praise reviews make me chuckle.
2 thumbs up !
FrenchEddieFelson18 March 2019
Film noir in all its splendor, with a very dynamic rhythm, far from '2001, a space odyssey': an audacious burglary seems perfectly orchestrated and prepared with a surgical precision, until a minor glitch transforms a 'Symphonie fantastique' in a 'Descente d'Orphée aux enfers'.
One of the most skillful and entertaining suspense movies of the Fifties
Nazi_Fighter_David5 May 2005
Warning: Spoilers
The formidably promising talent shown in "Killer's Kiss" helped to secure for Stanley Kubrick studio backing for his next straight thriller, "The Killing," made in 1956
This was a much more "professional" job than its forerunner Kubrick had the casting of a bunch of actors so experienced in the "character" parts that as soon as they came into camera view you recognized them from a score of Hollywood movies
"The Killing" lacks for me the dimension of humanity of its predecessor It reminded me of one of those documentaries that give you every conceivable fact with immaculate accuracy and leave you without the heart of the truth This has something to do with the style of the storytelling . Once again there is a narrator; only instead of a lonely failure with blood in his veins, this one sounds like a "March of Time" commentator: loud, confident, detached
The film opens on the horses preparing for the off at the track and, even before the titles end, the dramatic music has started building the tension
One by one we are introduced to the characters as once again, we don't know for a while what the plot is going to be; but this one uses the time to build the mystery and tension rather than to deepen the characters
Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a convict just out from five years in Alcatraz, master-minding the two million dollar hold-up He collects (how, we are never told) a bunch of flawed human beings to fit, like jigsaw pieces, into the intricacy of his plan There's an Irish barman, an amiable old book-keeper, a tough crooked cop; and there's little George Peatty, played by Elisha Cook Jr he of the bulging eyes and mobile mouth; here the incarnation of fear and uncertainty and in countless other Hollywood thrillers the personification of the staring-eyed boy killer...
Kubrick plays tricks with time as his characters become caught in the plot He takes each of them and plays his incident through to the next turn of the screw; then goes back to an earlier moment in time to see what somebody else was doing
Even the incidental small parts have "character" stamped right through them The marksman hired to shoot a winning racehorse to cause a diversion from the robbery is a war veteran with deformed speech The old retired wrestler, who picks a fight with the police to create another diversion
If "Killer's Kiss" had one big dramatic set-piece, "The Killing" has a score of small dramatic touches to heighten the irony and the tension
"The Killing" is one of the most skillful and entertaining suspense movies of the Fifties It mesmerized like a ticking time bomb, and every few minutes, with sure skill, Kubrick recorded a new peak of suspense And all with very little violence, again, though with the obligatory sudden death
This was a much more "professional" job than its forerunner Kubrick had the casting of a bunch of actors so experienced in the "character" parts that as soon as they came into camera view you recognized them from a score of Hollywood movies
"The Killing" lacks for me the dimension of humanity of its predecessor It reminded me of one of those documentaries that give you every conceivable fact with immaculate accuracy and leave you without the heart of the truth This has something to do with the style of the storytelling . Once again there is a narrator; only instead of a lonely failure with blood in his veins, this one sounds like a "March of Time" commentator: loud, confident, detached
The film opens on the horses preparing for the off at the track and, even before the titles end, the dramatic music has started building the tension
One by one we are introduced to the characters as once again, we don't know for a while what the plot is going to be; but this one uses the time to build the mystery and tension rather than to deepen the characters
Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a convict just out from five years in Alcatraz, master-minding the two million dollar hold-up He collects (how, we are never told) a bunch of flawed human beings to fit, like jigsaw pieces, into the intricacy of his plan There's an Irish barman, an amiable old book-keeper, a tough crooked cop; and there's little George Peatty, played by Elisha Cook Jr he of the bulging eyes and mobile mouth; here the incarnation of fear and uncertainty and in countless other Hollywood thrillers the personification of the staring-eyed boy killer...
Kubrick plays tricks with time as his characters become caught in the plot He takes each of them and plays his incident through to the next turn of the screw; then goes back to an earlier moment in time to see what somebody else was doing
Even the incidental small parts have "character" stamped right through them The marksman hired to shoot a winning racehorse to cause a diversion from the robbery is a war veteran with deformed speech The old retired wrestler, who picks a fight with the police to create another diversion
If "Killer's Kiss" had one big dramatic set-piece, "The Killing" has a score of small dramatic touches to heighten the irony and the tension
"The Killing" is one of the most skillful and entertaining suspense movies of the Fifties It mesmerized like a ticking time bomb, and every few minutes, with sure skill, Kubrick recorded a new peak of suspense And all with very little violence, again, though with the obligatory sudden death
Exquisitely Timed Masterpiece
SonOfMoog11 August 2003
Warning: Spoilers
While people die violently in The Killing, the title comes from the thought of a financial killing. This film is a choreographed chess match - Kubrick had a lifelong passion for chess - with human pieces, where the gambit is a racetrack heist of two million dollars.
The heist is brilliantly conceived. Johnny Clay, recently paroled, must have thought of nothing else in prison except this heist. The precision with which this scheme comes together is exquisite and absolutely flawless. There is one minor loose end during the heist itself when Marvin Unger shows up at the track drunk, contrary to instructions, but this is a red herring.
The heist is brilliantly executed. It goes literally like clockwork, and that is the best, maybe the only, metaphor to describe it. It reminded me of a road rally where drivers had to be in certain positions at certain times. Clay recruits accomplices on the inside, track employees, who must play small, but critical parts, for the heist to work. Everyone does his job beautifully, the heist comes off with hardly a hitch. One accomplice is killed by police, but no one else - conspirator or bystander - gets hurt, and Clay gets away clean. No military operation was ever planned so minutely or executed so precisely.
But, once Clay has the money, things come a-cropper. We know, of course, that the plan cannot succeed. Nefarious plans *never* succeed in film noir. It's a rule.
How this particular scheme came undone and was foiled seemed contrived and forced to me. Here is this exquisitely planned operation, flawlessly executed with military precision. And yet this scrupulously planned, perfectly timed attention to detail is tossed aside once Clay has the money. It's almost like he expected to fail, or never counted on succeeding, like he thought, "Okay, I've got two mil in small bills. Now, what do I do?"
But, that would be telling. How the perfect crime is foiled is the film's climax, and its only weak moment.
Sterling Hayden is brilliant as Johnny Clay. His precise, clipped, monotone delivery, almost like a newsman, is perfect here. The liner notes for my DVD said that the studio wanted Jack Palance or Victor Mature for the role, but Kubrick held firm. Either would have been good, but Hayden was brilliant. Marie Windsor is not one we would think of as a femme fatale, but she is also very good as the selfish, vain, scheming and very attractive wife of one of the co-conspirators played by Elisha Cooke, Jr. He married out of his league, and in film noir, that's a guarantee for disaster.
One of Kubrick's best, and one of the best film noir's ever done. A solid 8 out of 10
The heist is brilliantly conceived. Johnny Clay, recently paroled, must have thought of nothing else in prison except this heist. The precision with which this scheme comes together is exquisite and absolutely flawless. There is one minor loose end during the heist itself when Marvin Unger shows up at the track drunk, contrary to instructions, but this is a red herring.
The heist is brilliantly executed. It goes literally like clockwork, and that is the best, maybe the only, metaphor to describe it. It reminded me of a road rally where drivers had to be in certain positions at certain times. Clay recruits accomplices on the inside, track employees, who must play small, but critical parts, for the heist to work. Everyone does his job beautifully, the heist comes off with hardly a hitch. One accomplice is killed by police, but no one else - conspirator or bystander - gets hurt, and Clay gets away clean. No military operation was ever planned so minutely or executed so precisely.
But, once Clay has the money, things come a-cropper. We know, of course, that the plan cannot succeed. Nefarious plans *never* succeed in film noir. It's a rule.
How this particular scheme came undone and was foiled seemed contrived and forced to me. Here is this exquisitely planned operation, flawlessly executed with military precision. And yet this scrupulously planned, perfectly timed attention to detail is tossed aside once Clay has the money. It's almost like he expected to fail, or never counted on succeeding, like he thought, "Okay, I've got two mil in small bills. Now, what do I do?"
But, that would be telling. How the perfect crime is foiled is the film's climax, and its only weak moment.
Sterling Hayden is brilliant as Johnny Clay. His precise, clipped, monotone delivery, almost like a newsman, is perfect here. The liner notes for my DVD said that the studio wanted Jack Palance or Victor Mature for the role, but Kubrick held firm. Either would have been good, but Hayden was brilliant. Marie Windsor is not one we would think of as a femme fatale, but she is also very good as the selfish, vain, scheming and very attractive wife of one of the co-conspirators played by Elisha Cooke, Jr. He married out of his league, and in film noir, that's a guarantee for disaster.
One of Kubrick's best, and one of the best film noir's ever done. A solid 8 out of 10
Ten stars are not enough.
searchanddestroy-117 October 2021
THE absolute best heist film ever. Short, sharp as a Bowie knife, gritty, accurate like a Swiss watch, it describes in 82mn the preparation and execution of a race track cashier office heist. Characters are deep presented, each of them with their own life and relatives, hopes, dreams but also problems. The suspense and tension are here all the time, pulled by a terrific music score. You are literally stuck to it, maybe more than in ASPHALT JUNGLE, though the Huston's film is also a masterpiece starring Sterling Hayden. Rather faithful to the Lionel White's book. The off voice helps much to present characters and timing of the operation. And I did not see it as a Kubrick's film at all. It could have been a Phil Karlson or Don Siegel's picture. And when I read Lionel White's novel, the Johnny Clay's character is so close to Streling Hayden, I thought about him, even I had not known he played in the film, and also so close to Dix character in ASPHALT JUNGLE. The link between the two characters in both novels is so obvious. Roles made for Sterling Hayden, but that could have fit to Robert Ryan too, same disillusioned characters. Remember ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW.
Kubrik gallops out of the gate.
rmax30482310 June 2005
Warning: Spoilers
"The Killers" obviously owes a lot to "The Asphalt Jungle" of four years earlier, and also reflects the influence of the kind of semi-documentary post-war intrigues that Henry Hathaway and some others made -- "The House on 92nd Street", for instance -- with their baritone narrations and emphasis on clockwork precision. It isn't quite what we think of as a Kubrik film yet. The lighting, for example, doesn't seem to emanate from such strange sources as the floor, and there is still genuine emotion being shown on screen, a real sense of humanity, rather than its near absence.
All that aside, it's an involving story of a complicated race track heist with a first-rate cast. Marie Windsor, as the treacherous adulteress, is sexy and gorgeous. (I kind of find Ileana Douglas interesting too.) Coleen Gray has less time on screen but is likewise sexy and gorgeous, but in a much more housewifely way. Yipes, what a nearly perfect face, full of excellent bone structure. It could have come from noplace but Nebraska. You can imagine Gray as once having been a virgin whereas the Windsor character seems to have been born debauched.
The men are equally good. Sterling Hayden, the human monolith whose career ranks right up there in the first rank of the second rate. He was more interested in his yacht than his vocation, which he thought was silly. Elisha Cook, Jr., the schmuck, taken advantage of and repeatedly humiliated, yet again. Ted DeCorsia as a reliably corrupt cop, for him a role filled with decorum. Vince Edwards as a non-acting sleazy gigolo. A hairy mountainous Greek wrestler with some lines that reek of pomposity. (He's a chess aficionado; maybe that accounts for it.) Joe Sawyer as the low-echelon participant with a sick wife. (As I said, it harks back to "The Asphalt Jungle.") Timothy Carey as a racist equinocide who gets what's coming to him for using the "N" word. Then there's Jay C. Flippen in the complex role of the financier. It's "complex" because I've seen this film a dozen times but only tonight did I pay any real attention to the scene in which Flippen and Hayden part for the last time. Flippen has been an aw-shucks kind of softy throughout, but in this scene he tells Hayden that Hayden is like a son to him and proposes a trip around the world for just the two of them -- "Let the old world take a couple of spins" -- which today sounds suspiciously like a gay come on. Hayden however doesn't seem to catch any undertones and his departure is no more than friendly, but the camera lingers on Flippen's expression of extreme disappointment after Hayden has gone.
I understand the movie had to be re-edited to make the narrative clearer but although some of the scenes overlap in time I didn't have any trouble following it. The plot is pretty clever, with no more than the usual number of holes in it. (One shotgun blast and one pistol shot and half a dozen people are turned into mincemeat.) It's an enjoyable movie with an ironic ending -- all that cash flying around in the prop wash, caused by some snotty lady's tiny and deformed dog -- but one supposes the moral code called for crime not to pay in 1956. I'm all for the punishment of thieves and murderers but I wanted to make a grab for all those bills floating about.
All that aside, it's an involving story of a complicated race track heist with a first-rate cast. Marie Windsor, as the treacherous adulteress, is sexy and gorgeous. (I kind of find Ileana Douglas interesting too.) Coleen Gray has less time on screen but is likewise sexy and gorgeous, but in a much more housewifely way. Yipes, what a nearly perfect face, full of excellent bone structure. It could have come from noplace but Nebraska. You can imagine Gray as once having been a virgin whereas the Windsor character seems to have been born debauched.
The men are equally good. Sterling Hayden, the human monolith whose career ranks right up there in the first rank of the second rate. He was more interested in his yacht than his vocation, which he thought was silly. Elisha Cook, Jr., the schmuck, taken advantage of and repeatedly humiliated, yet again. Ted DeCorsia as a reliably corrupt cop, for him a role filled with decorum. Vince Edwards as a non-acting sleazy gigolo. A hairy mountainous Greek wrestler with some lines that reek of pomposity. (He's a chess aficionado; maybe that accounts for it.) Joe Sawyer as the low-echelon participant with a sick wife. (As I said, it harks back to "The Asphalt Jungle.") Timothy Carey as a racist equinocide who gets what's coming to him for using the "N" word. Then there's Jay C. Flippen in the complex role of the financier. It's "complex" because I've seen this film a dozen times but only tonight did I pay any real attention to the scene in which Flippen and Hayden part for the last time. Flippen has been an aw-shucks kind of softy throughout, but in this scene he tells Hayden that Hayden is like a son to him and proposes a trip around the world for just the two of them -- "Let the old world take a couple of spins" -- which today sounds suspiciously like a gay come on. Hayden however doesn't seem to catch any undertones and his departure is no more than friendly, but the camera lingers on Flippen's expression of extreme disappointment after Hayden has gone.
I understand the movie had to be re-edited to make the narrative clearer but although some of the scenes overlap in time I didn't have any trouble following it. The plot is pretty clever, with no more than the usual number of holes in it. (One shotgun blast and one pistol shot and half a dozen people are turned into mincemeat.) It's an enjoyable movie with an ironic ending -- all that cash flying around in the prop wash, caused by some snotty lady's tiny and deformed dog -- but one supposes the moral code called for crime not to pay in 1956. I'm all for the punishment of thieves and murderers but I wanted to make a grab for all those bills floating about.
"It's not murder at all"
nickenchuggets25 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Before Stanley Kubrick became the film legend he is mostly known as today, he was responsible for some lesser known movies that were equally as influential as 2001 or Clockwork Orange. I am referring to The Killing, an exciting and well made movie from the 50s which involves a heist, a gritty noir atmosphere, and one of the most infuriating (but deserved) endings in film history. Although there definitely is quite a lot of killing in this, arguably the most important character killed isn't even a human being. The story follows Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), a criminal who wants to carry out one last ambitious crime so that he can have enough money to move somewhere with his wife Fay (Coleen Gray). Johnny's plan is to steal a huge amount of money (2 million dollars) from a horseracing event. He knows that it's going to be almost impossible to carry this out unless there are multiple distractions going on, so Johnny calls upon his associates to get him through this. A window teller named George (Elisha Cook Jr) tells his wife Sherry (Marie Windsor) about what is about to take place, knowing that Sherry doesn't have much love for him after failing to get rich when they were originally married. Behind her husband's back, Sherry gets her secret boyfriend Val (Vince Edwards) to try and steal the money which will result from the heist. Shortly before the race is to take place, Johnny enlists the assistance of an assassin named Nikki (Timothy Carey) to snipe a specific racing horse named Red Lightning during the event so as to cause a distraction. When the day comes, Nikki gets in a vantage point to shoot the horse from as it runs around a bend. He successfully kills the animal, but is himself shot dead by a cop as he tries to drive away. Concurrently, one of Johnny's thugs creates an argument with a bartender and fights several cops barehanded. Johnny takes advantage of the confusion, puts on a rubber mask, and robs the money counting room of the racetrack. He throws the huge sack containing the money out the window to a waiting car. Later, the criminals meet at an apartment to each receive their cut of the riches, but before Johnny gets there, Val and a goon of his threaten everyone with shotguns. George guns Val and the other guy down, and within a few seconds, everyone in the room (but George) is dead. He then visits his uncaring wife and shoots her, before dying himself. Johnny decides to keep the money in a safe place until he can split it with the (now dead) conspirators, so he decides to stuff all of it into a briefcase and fly away with it. At the airport, the security give Johnny and his wife a hard time because of luggage size regulations, but his package is allowed on the plane anyway. As the briefcase is about to be loaded onto the aircraft, a dog jumps from an old lady's arms and startles the driver of the luggage cart, making him swerve. The briefcase containing millions of dollars falls to the tarmac and spills open, the bills being kicked all over the place by the engine backwash. Fay tries to convince Johnny to run away, but he knows it's over for him as two guards with pistols close in. This movie is really good and demonstrates how much of a perfectionist Kubrick was, even early in his career. The film pioneers a storytelling technique that is used often today (particularly by Tarantino) in that the plot is mostly told out of order. We get to see what takes place before the crime and after, but the movie never really goes that much into the heist itself. It shows Johnny stealing the money, Nikki sniping the horse, and the fight started by one of Johnny's men at the bar nearby, but that's pretty much it. This helps the film feel more varied, especially to first time watchers, since the order of events is not simply linear. As for the actors, Hayden is great as the leader of the conspirators, but my favorite characters have to be the roles played by Timothy Carey and Marie Windsor. Carey was an odd person, and only directors willing to put up with his strange and boisterous behavior were willing to cast him. Similarly to Lawrence Tierney, who was a real life criminal who even shot at his own nephew once, Carey put on good performances even if he was kind of strange. Marie on the other hand portrays Sherry perfectly, since she encapsulates exactly what the quintessential noir woman should be. She goes behind her husband's back to enact a nefarious plot of her own, and even after he gets shot towards the end, she doesn't really feel bad. Even though the end of this movie had me pretty frustrated because Johnny was almost home free, I was able to accept it because the rest of the film is so good. This is one noir that manages to be a trailblazer despite being made at a time when noir was mostly over.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews