Directed by:
Stanley KubrickScreenplay:
Stanley KubrickCinematography:
Lucien BallardComposer:
Gerald FriedCast:
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Sawyer, Marie Windsor, James Edwards, Joe Turkel (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
Before settling down to a respectable life, career criminal Johnny Clay teams with a group of pitiful two-bit crooks to pull off one final, elaborate heist at a racetrack. (Kino Lorber)
Videos (1)
Reviews (6)
A great noir-heist film with a devastating twist. The non-linear narrative that was a huge influence on Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs is something unheard of in a 1960s film, but then so was Stanley Kubrick. The portrayal of the characters is austere but sufficient, the actors are great and the dialogues are brilliant. There’s brutal black humour in unexpected places, and the ending is great. ()
If it weren’t for the bothersome and absolutely inappropriate music, I would have no fundamental objections. A clever story, a cold atmosphere, with an overall feeling of cynicism. But I would really like to know why the barman became involved when the task of smuggling in the package could have easily be taken by George. Taking unnecessary risks doesn’t suit such an otherwise perfect plan. P.S.: And reading other reviews, I see that I’m not the only one to be surprised by that. ()
Riveting film. That said, the plan of the burglars was very far from perfect. There were so many things that could have gone wrong, even without Sherry, that all that brouhaha about a flawless plan must have been some sort of sophisticated joke by Kubrick. ()
Kubrick is God and I've made sure several times that I can get everything from him. While the trio The Shining-Odyssey-Full Metal Jacket is far superior to his other films and represents for me the pinnacle of cinema as a whole, even the lesser known The Killing clearly shows the director's immense talent and incredible precision. The story is extremely fast-paced, the retrospective narrative is done to perfection and the final half hour or so is like a balm for the soul of all genre connoisseurs. Together with Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, it's the best film-noir I've seen so far. ()
When I watch something by Kubrick, I'm glued to the screen, eager to know what will happen in the next scene. Here you can really see how much he controlled the performances and ensured that everyone did exactly what he wanted. He continues with highly condensed close-ups of faces and manages to properly build up each scene, including the horse racing scene that most creators would handle routinely. I quite like that Kubrick continues to use voiceover narration. In the violent scenes, weaknesses are visible, but even that gradually improved as A Clockwork Orange can attest to. This Killing really is killing. ()
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