Review of The Killing (1956) by Brandon W — 11 Jan 2012

Stanley Kubrick had a pretty legitimate resume under his belt by the time he did Dr. Strangelove, that included some duds like Lolita, some he would later claim he only had a small part in like Spartacus and a few that are considered the standard for low budget indie debuts. Among his early crime movie, noir phase came the aptly named The Killing based on Lionel White's novel Clean Break. On its release it had mixed reception due to it being one of the darker and grittier movies of its day, not due to dialogue necessarily but lighting and the general attitude of the characters. But the main reason people remember The Killing is because it was one of the first movies to play around with the all important story structure. Like books before them movies had reached the point where telling a story chronologically from beginning to end, maybe through flashback if you were feeling frisky, had so become the norm anything else was unthinkable. The Killing took the first step in changing the world of story telling in movies by changing the order of the movie by telling each member of the team's job individually to create the most tension and uncertainty building towards the finale emulating how a real person would feel pulling one of these jobs, all you know at the moment is your own small part to play and you just have to do it and put faith in the fact any minor deviations from the plot don't escalate. Test audiences didn't react well to the film and Kubrick's friend and Producer James B. Harris opted to putting the movie in the right order on the argument "if everyone says you're sick maybe you need to lie down" but Kubrick for the first of many times stood by his art and announced clearly to the world a new and defined directing presence had arrived on the scene. But how well does this little caper hold up? Is it still a bona fide classic? Or is it only remembered for its famous directors later work and for its ambition if not quality? Let's take a clown mask wearing look.

Our movie is centered around hardened criminal Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden, a beloved character actor getting in another role as a brutal and unforgiving bad ass) who has recently been released from prison and is about to pull off one more big score before he retires with his love Fay (Coleen Gray, who aside from one or two intimate displays of emotion is mostly sidelined here). The target? A Racetrack. He assembles a team to be in on the job and have a take to get away with it. First Randy Kennan (Ted de Corsia, another basically minor role with one or two good scenes), a crooked cop in over his head in gambling debt that will aid in making the getaway less conspicuous. Than a bartender (Joe Sawyer, barely even worth mentioning except he's good at looking nervous during the job) who will provide lookout and drop off the goods inside the Locker Room near the Betting Room. And finally betting window teller George Peatty (Elisha Cook Jr. who is both believable as a quiet sad sack and during his deranged finale) who will provide access to the back room. With outside men Nikki Arane (Timothy Carey who could have had a career in gangster movies)as a scummy sharpshooter who distracts the audience by taking out the lead horse and ex wrestler Maurice (Kola Kwariani, in a solid and over blown supporting role) to stage a brawl at the bar and distract the police all the pieces are set for a perfect job. Too bad George's conniving wife Sherry (Marie Windsor, a real scene stealer as that uppity entitled bitch whose face you want to smush these movies often have) is seeing another man and is planning to use him to muscle in on their action. I won't spoil the fun but hey it's pretty predictable from once you see she's seeing another man and tells him that her husbands involved in some heist that things can only go downhill from there.

One of the things I most like about this movie other than its willingness to unceremoniously kill people off which is pretty rare for the day, is the fact that even though it's a 50s movie no one in this movie is not a scumbag and yet no one is without redeeming qualities. Johnny may be a criminal who's a little to quick to resort the violence but especially with Fay he's basically a good guy and displays genuine tenderness for her. Meanwhile with the Peatty's both handle their situation poorly and pay dearly for it and yet you can understand why both of them did the things they do. As a whole the movie has believable characters, and the events unfold believably even if each character meets their karmic end a little to poetically (especially Nikki with the horseshoe). All in all this is a taught, edge of your seat little heist thriller even if certain scenes are a bit dated and Kubrick hadn't yet quite found his signature style. The lighting is eerie, the action is well done for its time and the heist scene itself is cool, methodical and utterly unforgettable. This has got to be a sort of early standard by which heist movies hold themselves.

Quentin Tarantino has stated that he tried to emulate The Killing with his gritty debut heist masterpiece Reservoir Dogs and the parallels are quite apparent. Both focus on different members of the party's adventures at a time, both lightly mix up the story structure (though Reservoir Dogs just had a lot of flashbacks) and both end in the members of the gang meeting grisly ends. In fact I won't spoil it but the very end of both of them remind me a lot of each other for various reasons. Still with both of these I can't help but be reminded of David Chase talking about the ending of his own critically lauded crime show The Sopranos. It's amazing how fast an audience turns, throughout the whole thing you root for and even vicariously experience the criminal acts of these men but you justify your enjoyment by clamoring for bloody retribution when the time comes. I guess it's also just a part of the old adage if now in need of a small update. Live by the gun, die by the gun. This movie is unbelievably solid though, it was far ahead of its time and functions as both a visual tour de force, a taut suspense thriller and even a minor character study so that being said if you're a Kubrick fan or even just a fan of heist movies it's about time you checked this one out.