SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Mandeep Tyson
The acting in this movie is really good.
Movie_Muse_Reviews
Stanley Kubrick's first major feature film, "The Killing," stands apart from the rest of his catalogue, if for no other reason than its length. A straight shot noir heist thriller, at 82 minutes long it's quite the opposite of what he became known for, multi-hour epics in multiple parts. If shown without credits, you might not guess one of cinema's greatest directors was behind it, but some clues are there.If we're being really honest, "The Killing" has probably been elevated in stature because it's a Kubrick film. Aside from the nonlinear structure, which was certainly innovative in the '50s to be sure, it's a rather crude and uncomplicated story that goes for gut-punch finale that isn't hard to see coming. Only a few moments are truly surprising – at least Kubrick is there to maximize their effect."The Killing" features a group of down-on-their-luck criminals and nobodies who scheme to put a big hit on a horseracing track. Most of the men remain fairly enigmatic, even lead man Sterling Hayden's Johnny Clay. The only one of them we really get to know is George (Elisha Cook Jr.), a nebbishy track employee with a beautiful wife (Marie Windsor) who despises and belittles him – not to mention she's in love with another man and conspiring to hijack the operation.The rest of the film is the planning and execution of the heist, which we are neither completely privy too nor completely unaware of, making the whole thing both mysterious and exciting at some turns and uneventful at others. The screenplay's staggered structure showing all the different pieces put in place to pull off the heist gives it enough of an edge in the sense that we're waiting to see if something went/goes wrong. Our investment in the outcome, however, is a little tempered by not knowing a whole lot about the characters, who with the exception of George seem to have no motivation or stake in their success other than money. When the film ends, it's unclear whether the outcome feels fulfilling or sad.Kubrick's signatures are not as abundant as someone familiar with his most acclaimed works would hope for. There are a couple nice tracking shots and moments of suspense, but nothing as involved as films like "The Shining" or "2001: A Space Odyssey." There are also a few really good close-ups of faces and one effective shock-you moment in the final stretch. Other than some juicy noir lighting, that pretty much sums up the film's artistic achievements."The Killing" just feels like its missing a compelling hook. The storytelling is creative and interesting, Jim Thompson's dialogue impressively sharp and Kubrick provides a handful of noteworthy flourishes; it's the resonance that his best films have always had that's missing here (aside from the George-Sherry subplot, which is easily the film's most compelling element). The culprit? Probably that Kubrick was not playing auteur on this film to the same degree that he did on the rest of his canon. Or maybe it's the annoying narration. Either way, "The Killing" is a solid heist thriller, just nowhere near Kubrick's many masterpieces.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more
Fletcher Conner
The Killing is one of Kubrick's early films before he really broke out with Paths of Glory and Spartacus, but the talent is evident. The film is a very straightforward concept, a heist at a horse track, but it lays out the blueprint for making a heist film that is still used today with the Ocean's series. They lay out their plan just enough that the viewer knows what is going on and the general outline of the plan, but it isn't until the climactic heist that it all comes together. The decision to show the heist from each characters perspective non-linearly worked very well and was a bold choice at the time as it was a novel approach.Sterling Hayden gives a good performance, though it is odd to see him as the mastermind when he is usually just typecast as a heavy. Elisha Cook Jr. also does well as the meek clerk who is pushed around by his two timing wife. The characters are given moments of compassion, particularly Joe Sawyer's bartender, to let the audience root for them, while still reminding us that they are criminals.
zardoz-13
Stanley Kubrick's third feature film concerns a group of hard-boiled losers who assemble for the perfect heist that involves staging a daylight robbery at a horse racetrack. Early on, one character observes that nobody has ever had the audacity to pull such crime, and therein lies the narrative significance of this crime melodrama. "Killer Inside Me" novelist Jim Thompson furnished the flavorful dialogue, and the oddball collection of individuals reveal a lot about themselves. Word is that Thompson wanted a fully-fledged screenplay credit, but he didn't get it. Oscar-nominated lenser Lucien Ballard of "The Caretakers" photographed this taut,gritty and doom-laden thriller in the tradition of John Huston's "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950) and Phil Karlson's "Kansas City Confidential" (1952)in glorious black & white. Predictably, this Hollywood icon clashed with Kubrick who had his own ideas about the cinematography. A veteran cast of familiar faces breathe life into this cabal of unsavory criminals. The supporting roles are well-cast, too. Sterling Hayden, who appeared in "The Asphalt Jungle," plays Johnny Clay, the man in charge of these hoods. They include corrupt cop Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia of "The Naked City") who is in deep with a loan shark; racetrack cashier George Peatty (Elisha Cook, Jr. of "The Maltese Falcon"); barkeeper Mike O'Reilly (Joe Sawyer of "The Public Enemy"), and Marvin Unger (Bruce C. Flippen of "The Hellfighters"). Clay hires a couple of thugs to carry out diversions, and they receive their pay up front, without getting a cut of the robbery. He pays Nikki Arcane (Timothy Carey of "Paths of Glory") to shoot a horse from a nearby parking lot with a high-powered rifle. Meantime, inside the racetrack, he has a friend, Maurice Oboukhoff (Kola Kwariani of "Nanette: An Aside") pick a fight with Mike. During the hysteria, Clay slips into the cashier's booth, dons a clown's mask, and orders the employees to load $2-million in paper into a duffel bag. Clay throws the duffel out a window, and Kennan retrieves the bag. Everybody in Clay's crew awaits him with the loot. Meanwhile, two armed thugs--Val (Vince Edwards of "Rogue Cop") and Tiny (Joe Turkel of "The Shining")--burst into the hotel room where the accomplices are waiting for Clay. George spoils their intervention and shoots Val, but Val takes him down before he dies. At the same time, everybody else in the room perishes, too. This massacre is as hard to believe as Nikki's encounter with the policeman in the parking lot. Like Huston's crime movies nothing goes right for thieves, but the absolutely ridiculous ending that has a dog scrambling out onto the tarmac and nearly getting killed by a baggage attendant is hilarious. Of course, Kubrick and company produced this thriller on a meager budget of $320 thousand, but they could have concocted a better ending.
Sidster3
"The Killing" (1956) certainly deserves its title. It is honestly "Ocean's Eleven" before there was an "Ocean's Eleven", but it is not nearly as good. The use of shadow in the film added to the mystery of it all and the flashbacks helped tie everything together without giving too much away. This movie wasn't horrible to watch but, it's certainly not my favorite. It had the potential to be really good, but the lack of humor, depth, and drama held it back. The plot was decent, but it could have been flushed out more. I honestly wonder if the costume designers and makeup artists created Sherry's look based off of Betty Boop. George Peatty, played by Elisha Cook Jr., was such a sucker. I felt bad for the guy at the beginning, but when you see how he has no back bone you just wanna smack the guy and tell him to wake up and smell the coffee.
