Review of The Killing (1956) by Aaron A — 10 Jul 2011

"At exactly 3:45 on that Saturday afternoon in the last week of September, Marvin Unger was, perhaps, the only one among the hundred thousand people at the track who felt no thrill at the running of the fifth race.".

Synopsis: Career criminal Johnny Clay plans one last heist before settling down to a respectable life with Fay. Clay and several cohorts devise a complex racetrack robbery, but inner tensions and bad luck work against them.

Though the film starts off relatively scattered and hard to place, by the second act when everything starts intertwining, one can let his mind wonder as to how a relative newbie filmmaker at the time can display such poise, it's Kubrick that's how. Don't be fooled by it's confusing beginning, The Killing is a masterfully crafted bank heist film that some filmmakers of today have trouble reaching.

Though the film has a seemingly disjointed beginning, The Killing's masterful non-linear story-telling and terrific payoff insure that any fragmented moments are eventually assimilated.