The Killing

Rating:
Summary: epitome of the gritty crime film
Review: I knew this had a good reputation; it's frequently mentioned in books about cinema in general, and film noir in particular. Nothing prepared me, though, for the propulsive plot, great acting and the tangible atmosphere of menace so important to these films. I thought this blew away contemporary caper movies, and stood up to more ambitious films like Quentin Tarrantino's. This is really, really good!

Rating:
Summary: Kubrick & Jim Thompson triumph!
Review: If you are a Jim Thompson fan, you will instantly recognize the style of dialogue. This movie is without mercy. The characters are hardboiled cons who would most likely slit their mother's throats to get to a payday. Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray & the rest of the cast dive into their roles with an over the top cut-throat abandon. This is one of the best crime movies you will ever see. Kuberick was brilliant & way ahead of his time in his direction of The Killing. The fact that Thompson(The Grifters, The Getaway, The Killer Inside Me) lent his talents to Kubrick's screenplay captured my interest. The movie itself held it throughout. You can see where the idea of Reservoir Dogs most likely came from. I don't want to spoil the movie for you. If you like tense, gritty crime stories...The Killing is what you've been looking for. This one is a must! The Killing was based on the novel Clean Break, by Lionel White. The ending will floor you.

Rating:
Summary: Wow! What a great film!
Review: If you haven't seen this yet, do yourself a favor and watch John Huston's Asphalt Jungle (1950) first. The Killing is an informal sequel/tribute which in my humble opinion is even better. I must admit I am not a big fan of Stanley Kubrick but I thought this film was great. It lacks star power but the performances are all excellent nonetheless and the story is innovative, tightly wound, and thoroughly entertaining. I should also mention that I thought Tarantino & Avary were primarily influenced by the likes of Melville, Truffaut, & Godard, but I now see that this film was at least as influential upon his neo gangsteresque mojo movement as anything from the French new wave. In fact it looks as if Tarantino borrowed excessively from here for the non-linear plot structure of his Pulp Fiction. In my opinion Stanley Kubrick's The Killing deserves a spot somewhere behind The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, and Touch of Evil as one of the better film noir efforts ever produced.

Rating:
Summary: Great Film Noir
Review: If you like the crime drama genre you must watch this film. It is one of the best ever made.

Rating:
Summary: BRUTAL FILM NOIR....
Review: Kubrick's "The Killing" is a bitter and brutal slice of 50's film noir with a race track heist the focus of the conflict. Striking b&w photography---especially during the actual robbery sequence where Sterling Hadyen wears a macabre clown mask. Superb cast features Hayden, fresh out of prison pulling the job with an assorted gang that includes Jay C.Flippen and stalwart character actor Elisha Cook Jr. as the weakest and tortured of the crew. He's married to Marie Windsor, a sultry and sexy doll who's hot to cash in on the robbery so she can run off with her lover, Vince Edwards ("Ben Casey"!). It's Windsor, in typical noir "dame" fashion, that proves to be the undoing of (almost) the whole thing through her psychological manipulations of Cook. But the ending at the airport is truly a stunner. The tension is thick in this thriller and the cast couldn't be more noir perfect. The dialogue is rough, the guys are tough, the situations believable and Windsor is a true noir vixen. Kubrick proved himself a director to remember with this nail biter. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty noir classic, A lost Kubrick Gem!
Review: Listen up Noir fans - get this film! The Killing is nothing short of brilliant. This little-known gem is also the U.S. directing debut of - hold onto your fedora - Stanley Kubrick! True fans of Noir crime fiction will also appreciate this: guess who wrote the screenplay? The master himself, Jim Thompson (also wrote the novels The Grifters, Aftter Dark..., The Killer Inside Me, Heed The Thunder). This film is a classic "caper" flick with Sterling Hayden giving us his terse, gruff best as the leader of a gang who wants to pull a payroll heist. Trouble, big, violent, ugly trouble ensues. I won't spoil it for you, but I promise this flick delivers in a big way and it is surprising how much they got away with given the year this baby was shot. Unlike many movies of the era, this thing pulls no punches and is about as subtle as a brass-knuckle sandwich. Footnote: real fans of the noir genre may also appreciate this. James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential (to name just one of his many outstanding novels), cited The Killing as his favorite film of all time and the inspiration behind many of his stories and characters.

ENJOY!

Rating:
Summary: ...
Review: My alltime favorite movie - I don't believe I have experienced anything so taut with so many types of highs of emotions and excitement... This movie consists of your holding your breath and finally getting an opportunity to exhale when it is done.

Rating:
Summary: Kubrick;s Breakout Film
Review: Not Kubrick's first film, but the one that got Hollywood's attention. This film is very tautly edited and paced. There are terrific tracking shots not normally seen in films of this period. The low angle shots effectively ratchet up the tension. The cast could not have been better,and seemed to have held up well under Kubrick's renowned multiple takes. I gotta tell you,Tim Carey's performance as the sharpshooter,jumped out at me. His agreeing to blow the brains out of a prize racehorse,while he cuddled a puppy was a hoot. His acting style was so out of kilter with what was considered 'normal' in 50's Hollywood, that it's no wonder no one knew how to showcase him in later films. Alas,audiences had to wait until the 1970's-90's before the late actor's eccentric style was appreciated in others. (Ex. Bruce Dern, John Turturro, even Jim Carey.)

If you want a terrific heist film with not a wasted second,(and were wondering where Quentin got his inspiration for story telling structure) rent or buy " THE KILLING "!!

Rating:
Summary: Excellently crafted crime thriller from a master filmmaker
Review: One of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films, this is a tough, taut crime thriller in the classic film noir tradition, but with a certain modern drive and edge. Probably the most notable aspect of it would be the ahead-of-its-time nonlinear storytelling technique. The film's plot is centered around a racetrack robbery in which the party will net a cool $2 million, if everything goes as planned. Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, an ex-con and orchestrator of the daring heist which involves a (hopefully) reliable crew that will help him execute his plan. This gang he's put together is a group of trusted associates, including criminals, street guys, and ordinary civilians. He even has insiders in the racetrack lounge, like bartenders, just to make sure every distraction and diversion goes over well. Of course, as all things go in these kind of situations, the plan heads in the wrong direction from the very beginning. One of the members of the gang, George, a sorry and pathetic man who has joined the heist to earn more money, accidentally blabs to his cheating and abusive wife Sherrie (Marie Windsor) about a meeting he and Clay's gang are having. As it turns out, Sherrie has known about Clay's plan all along. However, what Clay thought was a trusted accomplice turns out to be orchestrating her own plan with her on-the-side boyfriend to steal the cash Johnny nets. I won't go into detail about how the perfectly set up plan crumbles before their very eyes, but let's just say this: When you're dealing with that many people and that much money, you can almost count on things to go wrong in a dark and, often, deadly way. Going back to the revolutionary story-telling technique, the events of the heist are shown out of sequence so that each major section of the plan can be focused on, giving greater weight to the way in which the plan unravels. It also gives what would otherwise have been a standard 1950s film noir a certain modern sensibility. Legend has it that when Kubrick finished the final cut of the film, the producers wanted him to re-cut it placing all the events in sequence. They thought the "non-structure" of the film would irritate people. At the first screening, many people walked out of the theater, not in the mood for a crime film. Afterward, Sterling Hayden's agent said that Kubrick had ruined the picture and hurt his client. The director went back to the editing room, broke the whole movie down, and put it together. When he watched it he completely hated it and put it back the way it was. It was his first step to gaining total control over his work, something he would soon become notorious and hailed for. The performances are very good by the key players, if slightly dated in their line deliveries and shocked expressions. Hayden gives the stongest screen prescence and would go on to bigger and better projects: He played mad-cap General Jack D. Ripper in Kubrick's brilliant "Dr. Strangelove" and, later, played the corrupt cop in "The Godfather". As one would expect, "The Killing" was ignored at the box-office on initial release and, even today, is one of Kubrick's lesser-known films, except by ardent fanatics of his work. However, its influence on modern cinema is readily evident in films today, notably Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" and "Jackie Brown". I would strongly recommend checking it out if you're a fan of crime thrillers or classic cinema.

Rating:
Summary: HARD TO SURPASS
Review: One of Stanley Kubrick's very best; the "big heist" theme has hardly ever been exploited better except perhaps for The Asphalt Jungle," made around the same time, I believe. A case study in how to make a suspense film