The Killing

Stanley Kunbrick was still in his twenties when he made this film, yet his confidence and self-assurance are all over it. It is a well-written story, co-written by Kubrick (based on a novel called "A Clean Break"), about a meticulously planned horetrack heist told from the point of view of the several people who were in on the plot. Most of these guys weren't professional criminals, but otherwise honest men who were down on their luck and needed a break. They turned to this audacious plan in desperation, thinking they could do some real good in their lives with their share of the money. I won't give away the ending of course, but keep in mind this is a Kubrick film. That's all I say about that.

Standouts include Sterling Hayden as the ringleader, Marie Windsor as a snide, manipulative woman, Elisha Cook as her milquetoasty husband, Timothy Carey, as creepy as ever, and Kola Kwariani, the thinking man's Tor Johnson, as a chess expert/hired thug.

Speaking of chess, this is the first movie I've ever seen with a scene taking place in a chess parlor. Being from a provincial New England town, and not being a chess afficionado, I never knew such places existed.

Although Jack Palance and Victor Mature would have been perfectly good in the lead role I was surprised that Sterling Hayden was a third choice after them to play the lead in The Killing. Given his performance in The Asphalt Jungle I would have thought Hayden would have been a first choice for fledgling director Stanley Kubrick.

Hayden was in the muscle end in The Asphalt Jungle, but in The Killing he's doing some planning as well. What he's got planned is an intricate robbery of a racetrack with crooked cop Ted DeCorsia, track bartender Joe Sawyer, Jay C. Flippen, and parimutuel clerk Elisha Cook, Jr. Each has a most specific job that is timed to the split second. In addition Timothy Carey and Kola Kwariani have some jobs to perform that are unknown to the others and are getting a flat fee off the top for what they do.

Cook hasn't got his head in the game though. Who would with two timing high maintenance dame Marie Windsor as a wife. She learns enough to tip her boyfriend Vincent Edwards off to the scheme. Coleen Gray has the Jean Hagen role as Hayden's loyal girl friend.

The robbery comes off pretty good, the scenes are done in the same manner as The Asphalt Jungle. Of course the usual problems involving the split and the getaway occur. A lot of that is taken from The Asphalt Jungle as well.

The film was shot in and around Bay Meadows racetrack so it looks very real. Stanley Kubrick got such good reviews for this and deservedly so that Kirk Douglas hired him to direct the much bigger budgeted Paths of Glory. A career was born.

The Killing is a finely edited and finely crafted piece of movie making. It's both a noir and a caper film and succeeds at both. The characters are realistic in a realistic setting. Everybody here can be proud of their participation.

'The Killing' has been overshadowed by Stanley Kubrick's subsequent better known and better made movie masterpieces. Films like 'Dr. Strangelove', '2001' and 'A Clockwork Orange' are much more flamboyant and intellectually exciting than this early hard boiled crime thriller, but for my money it is still one of his most entertaining movies, and in its own modest way just as brilliant as his more talked about films. 'The Killing' is still one of the greatest crime thrillers ever made, and one which influenced many film makers working in this genre, not the least of which Quentin Tarantino, who obviously worships this picture, and used its innovative structure as major inspiration for 'Pulp Fiction'. Kubrick wrote 'The Killing's script as well as directing, but made the smart move of asking "the Dime Store Dostoevski" Jim Thompson, author of pulp classics like 'The Killer Inside Me' and 'The Getaway' to supply the fresh and memorable dialogue. Sterling Hayden, who later achieved screen immmortality as General Jack D. Ripper in 'Dr Strangelove', is perfect as ambitious small time crook Johnny Clay. He is surrounded by an almost flawless supporting cast. I qualified that because I wasn't totally convinced by Coleen Gray who plays Johnny's girlfriend. However she only really has one scene, and the rest of the cast more than makes up for her. Especially memorable are the mis-matched husband and wife played by Elisha Cook, Jr ('The House On Haunted Hill') and the sultry Marie Windsor (noir classic 'Narrow Margin'). Their scenes together are simply terrific. Also noteworthy are the two scenes featuring legendary crazy Timothy Carey ('The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie'). Carey was one of the most extraordinary performers to set foot in front of a movie character, and is unforgettable. Kubrick obviously thought highly of him as he subsequently cast him in his anti-war classic 'Paths Of Glory', a move which antagonised the movie's star Kirk Douglas. Even if 'The Killing' didn't feature such a strong performance from Sterling Hayden it would be worth watching just to catch Cook, Windsor and Carey. On top of that you have some other great actors such as Vince Edwards, an innovative script, hip dialogue and some brilliant directorial touches. This exciting heist movie can't be recommended highly enough, it's a real treat for film buffs. A brilliant film that still packs a punch after almost fifty years, something I doubt you will be saying about many movies currently showing in today's theatres. 'The Killing' is a super cool suspense movie and not to be missed!

The non-linear storytelling, overused nowadays even when it does not make any sense, is key to this taught thriller, narrated almost as a documentary.

Besides, despite the non-linear structure, the plot is very easy to follow, thanks to the narrator who tells the audience everything from the time of the day to the details about the gang involved in the audacious heist at the races.

It does't hurt that main character Johnny Clay is played by one of my favourite actors, Sterling Hayden, in a role that reminds me of his doomed character in The Asphalt Jungle. Clay is a coincise, world-wary character who planned the heist to the last detail, unfortunately missing the "human factor".

As it's customary in stories about failed heists, there's always one detail that is either unknown or unpredictable, but important enough to wreak havoc even in the most perfect plan.

Perhaps my favourite Kubrick's movie, with a tight script, excellent cast and no-nonsense approach.

Stanley Kubrick's coming-out party from the mid '50s is a startlingly accurate prediction of film's future. By way of a non-linear narration and a few remarkably fresh transitions, Kubrick adds considerable weight and magnitude to a tangled heist tale and its focus on the crooks behind a slick, daring stickup of the local racetrack. Confused by the film's radical new approach to storytelling, test audiences hated the first cut, leading to studio meddling and an almost-complete disintegration of its marketing budget. Kubrick fought back, though, and with the obvious exception of a horribly heavy-handed deadpan narration, the finished product seems virtually untouched. Concerned mostly with the planning and hand-wringing before the big theft, The Killing tensely builds anticipation throughout before finally boiling over in a machine gun-paced robbery scene, terse payoff and all-too-brief elaboration on the major players' ultimate fates. Acceptably acted at best, the real stars of this picture are the complex plot and the harvest of fresh ideas going on behind the lens. A clear inspiration for Tarantino's big hits of the '90s, it's a daring and stylish major market debut for the famed director that hints at the lengths his development would ultimately take the medium.