The Killing

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Stanley Kubrick
Starring:	Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray
Release date:	14 August, 2001
List price:	~~$14.95~~
Our price:	$13.66 that is 9% off!

The Killing

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Marie's the name....

The late Marie Windsor is one of the great "bad girls" of cinema, having appeared in several "films noir" and westerns, and made a very impressive mark. Tall and shapely, with large, heavy lidded eyes, a generous mouth (some wags called her "a cross between Loretta Young and Edmund O'Brien") and a somewhat flat delivery of her lines, "tough broads" were her forte. Her three favorite films were "Hellfire", "The Narrow Margin", and Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing", based on the book "Clean Break" by Lionel White. Ms. Windsor plays Sherry Peatty, the faithless, scheming, no-good wife of milquetoast racetrack cashier George Peatty, played by that champ of [bad] roles, Elisha Cook, Jr. Sherry and her boyfriend Val (a pre-Ben Casey Vince Edwards) get wind of George's participation in an elaborately plotted racetrack robbery, masterminded by Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), and want to get their greedy hands on the stolen loot. This unfortunate triangle is my favorite element of this audacious film. Stanley Kubrick co-scripted this film with Jim Thompson ("The Grifters", "The Killer Inside Me", "After Dark My Sweet"), and his unique narrative structure, copied some 38 years later by the vastly overrated Quentin Tarantino and Tarantino ... Guy Ritchie, is amazing. "The Killing" does resemble Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle", which also starred Mr. Hayden, in its big-heist-gone-awry story, but it pushes the envelope even further, with its gritty, strongly lit photography (you can practically smell the characters!), strong dialogue, and less-than-glamorous looking performers. Strong stuff for 1956! Other players in this film include Jay C. Flippen, Joe Sawyer, Ted de Corsio, Jay Adler, Kola Awariani, pretty Colleen Gray, and Dorothy Adams, who are all perfect in their roles, tho Ms. Gray's part is so slight that she could have "phoned it in". This is the first of my 3 favorite Kubrick films, along with "Lolita" and "Dr. Strangelove", before Mr. K. got on the space shuttle to Planet Weird, tho I did like the misanthropic "A Clockwork Orange". The picture quality and sound on this DVD are excellent, though surprisingly, there are no extra features. If you are a fan of film noir, then this is an absolute must-see film. "The Killing" packs quite a wallop!

The Killing -

The penultimate crime caper film

Back in the days when Stanley Kubrick was still a relative unknown, he made this gem of a film which has since earned a reputation for being one of the best crime caper films ever made. The film is tightly structured and well-paced with an eye on increasing the tension until the very end. A wonderful movie, and those who have seen "Reservoir Dogs" will immediately recognize the influence "The Killing" had on the latter film. The plot-line is simple - a band of crooks, each with his own motivation, conceive of a plan to rob a racetrack. The plan works fine...until something goes wrong. Kubrick filmed this classic with a minimal budget, but his genius is evidently on-screen in how he arranges the furniture and lighting and actors to get the most out of his limited funds and to augment the clastrophobic sense of suspense. Truly a great film.

I purchased the DVD of this film, and it looks quite good. The picture quality is pristine (unlike in the DVD version of Kubrick's later films, alas). I had no problems with the sound, either, though it is monophonic. There aren't any real extras on this DVD except for a trailer, but the presentation is somewhat cool and adds to the tension of the film. So, I will recommend this DVD of "The Killing" to fans of Kubrick and good crime films.

- The Killing

Kubrick Does Noir

An ex-con engineers a race track heist in "The Killing," a taut and suspenseful film noir from director Stanley Kubrick. Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is fresh out of Alcatraz after five years, and immediately goes to work on a job he figures to be worth upwards of two million dollars. He puts together a gang who are not real criminals, just "Some guys with problems and a little larceny in them." Marvin (Jay C. Flippen) is good for some front money Johnny needs; George (Elisha Cook Jr.) is a cashier at the track, and Mike (Joe Sawyer) is a bartender there; Randy (Ted de Corsia) is a cop with loan shark payment problems. Clay's got it all figured out, a precision plan that can't go wrong as long as everyone does his part and keeps quiet about it, before and after. But George has a wife, Sherry (Marie Windsor), who wants nice things, and he can't resist the temptation to let her know it's all going to get better real soon. Trouble is, Sherry has a boyfriend, Val (Vince Edwards), who has more than a little larceny in him, as well. As it is with all "perfect" plans, there are, after all, imperfections. The presentation of this film is not one of them, however; Kubrick keeps the tension high throughout, working with a tight narrative and an out of sequence chronology through which he dispenses bits of information, building the suspense, until it all fits together in the end like pieces of a giant puzzle (Much the same as Tarantino would do with "Pulp Fiction" many years later). The stoic delivery, coupled with the stark black and white photography of the film, creates an almost surreal, fatalistic ambience that works so well with this material; especially at the end, for it underscores the climax and heightens the drama of the final moment, all of which makes for a truly unforgettable scene. The supporting cast includes Coleen Gray (Fay), Kola Awariani (Maurice), Joe Turkel (Tiny), and Timothy Carey, who makes his detached and indifferent hit man, Nikki Arane, one of the most memorable characters in the film. It must be noted, however, that Elisha Cook Jr. gives what may have been his best performance ever, here. His scene, after it all goes bad for him and he stumbles into his apartment, bullet holes in his face and wide-eyed with acceptance, to confront Sherry, is so cool and underplayed that it becomes one of the lasting impressions of the movie. Kubrick wrote the screenplay (with some help from Jim Thompson with the dialogue), adapted from the novel "Clean Break" by Lionel White. "The Killing" is one of Kubrick's earliest and best films; and it's not just for Kubrick fans or for those who love the "noir" genre. This is an excellent piece of work that will definitely be appreciated by anyone who likes good movies.

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