The Killing (1956)

• Year: 1956
• Released: 06 Jun 1956
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award1 nomination total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049406/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_killing
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-killing
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Approved
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
• Runtime: 84 min
• Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Jim Thompson, Lionel White
• Director: Stanley Kubrick
• Cast: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
• Keywords: husband wife relationship, gangster, noir, robbery, corruption,

	8.0/10
	91/100

The Killing Storyline

After just being released from a five-year stint in prison, Johnny Clay has assembled a five-man team, including two insiders, to carry out what he estimates will be a $2 million heist at Lansdowne Racetrack, the take to be split five ways, minus expenses. Besides Johnny, none of the men truly are criminals in the typical sense. In addition to the other four team members, Johnny has hired two men outside of the team to carry out specific functions for a flat fee; the other four will not meet the two men for hire or know who they are, while the two men for hire will not be told of the bigger picture of the heist. None involved are to tell anyone, even their loved ones, about the job. Each of the five have a specific reason for wanting his share of the money: Johnny, in wanting to get married to his longtime girlfriend Fay, the two who have known each other since they were kids, realizes that to live comfortably, he has to shoot for the moon instead of carrying out the penny-ante stuff that put him behind bars; Marvin Unger, a bookkeeper who is bankrolling the plan, is doing it out of his friendship and loyalty to Johnny; Randy Kennan, a crooked police officer, is already late with his repayment to a loan shark; Mike O’Reilly, one of the track’s bartenders, wants to be able to provide better overall care, most importantly medical, to his bedridden wife, Ruthie O’Reilly; and milquetoast George Peatty, one of the track’s ticket clerks, is trying to buy back the love of his shrew of a wife of five years, Sherry Peatty, if he ever had her love at all. The elaborate plan requires meticulous timing by all seven men. Beyond any unforeseen problems causing the plan to fail, what the other four team members are unaware of is that weak-minded George told Sherry of the broad issue that he will be involved in a heist in an effort to hold on to her emotionally; she, in turn, told her boyfriend Val Cannon, with Sherry and Val having their own ideas of absconding with the entire take of the heist after the fact.

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The Killing Movie Reviews

One of Kubrick’s best

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.

Stanley Kubrick’s first “very good” film

As someone who considers Stanley Kubrick one of the greatest directors who ever lived, ‘The Killing’ is not one of his very best (his masterpiece being ‘2001’).

This said, ‘The Killing’ is a big step up from the still solid if flawed ‘Killer’s Kiss’ and especially the very poor (for me his only misfire) ‘Fear and Desire’, which only had the camera work and use of light and shadow going for it.

My only two complaints with ‘The Killing’ are with the ending and the narration. The ending was rather rushed and anti-climactic, ending on too much of an abrupt note. The narration poses more of a problem, apparently it was forced into the film and the tacky execution really shows, it is annoyingly cheesy, over-explanatory and overused and the film would have fared much better without it like Kubrick intended.

However, ‘The Killing’ looks great, complete with brilliantly evocative camera work/cinematography, atmospheric use of light and shadow and suitably claustrophobic sets. The music score is a marked improvement over the music scores for ‘Fear and Desire’ and ‘Killer’s Kiss’, it’s not perfect with parts that are a bit too loud and intrusive but here it is not inappropriately jaunty, it has its haunting and tense moments without being too obvious and unlike ‘Fear and Desire’ it doesn’t sound like a bad Bernard Hermann imitation.

Also significantly improved is the dialogue, excepting the narration. Here the script is witty and deliciously sardonic, providing some really enjoyable chemistry between the characters and actors. Kubrick directs with a masterly touch, with much more of his own style coming through (one can say that he had not found it with ‘Fear and Desire’, was starting to find it with ‘Killer’s Kiss’ and found it with ‘The Killing). The story is ground-breakingly non-linear but tightly paced and with some genuine suspenseful tension and moving poignancy.

Of a strong cast, yet another big improvement, standing out are Sterling Hayden, Marie Windsor and Elisha Cook Jnr, who are all excellent in roles perfectly tailored for them.

In summary, while not one of Kubrick’s best (he went on to do even better, with his first masterpiece being ‘Paths of Glory’) it is his first “very good” film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Out of the Jungle and on to the Racetrack

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.