FAQ

The Killing is based on the book Clean Break (1955) by American crime fiction novelist Lionel White [1905-1985].

Maurice Oboukhoff, a wrestler, is paid $2,500 (nowadays worth about $21,000) to provoke a fight at the bar with bartender Mike O'Reilly to create a distraction for the police and security guards. Betting-window teller George Peatty then opens the door for heist mastermind Johnny Clay to sneak into the storeroom. A tommy gun that was smuggled in by O'Reilly is used by Clay to steal the cash from the storeroom employees. Nikki Arcane, a sharpshooter, is paid $5,000 (nowadays $42,000) to kill the lead horse, Red Lightning, in the big race, to provoke a riot in the crowd. Clay then throws the money out the window to Randy Kennan, a corrupt police officer, who puts it in his patrol car and drives away. He delivers the money to Johnny, who meets the conspirators at 7 p.m. to divide up the "dough". That's the plan. Of course, things may not go so smoothly...

The Hard Word (2002) is a film about robbing The Melbourne Cup, Australia's big annual horse race. In The Heist (1989), a 1989 HBO film, Pierce Brosnan's character robs a horse race track to seek revenge on the owner of the track for putting him in prison. In Trafic en haute mer (1950), four criminals charter a boat after a racetrack heist. Also see The Split (1968).