Review of The Killing (1956) by Nat M — 01 Mar 2008

Ever wondered how Quentin Tarantino got the idea to make the timeline of events in "Reservoir Dogs" not be linear? He probably watched "The Killing", directed by the greatest filmmaker ever, Stanley Kubrick! In many respects, you could say that "Dogs" is a spiritual remake of "The Killing", the sole difference being that instead of an undercover cop fucking everything up, it's a woman! Leave it to Stanley to provide inspiration (or should I say "material") for one of the best crime movies ever made.

While it isn't as great as its spiritual successor, "The Killing" is a great original heist movie that still retains a lot of its value today. Even though it's over 50 years old, it never gets too stupid or unrealistic.

The heist makes sense, and all of the actors perform wonderfully, most notably Sterling Hayden and the "Horse-Sniper" (watch the movie if you want that one explained). "The Killing" is excellent, and while it paved the way for even better movies, it's still one of my favorites, and once again shows that Kubrick, the master of film, could do any genre.