We are now officially into the dog days of summer. Fall is in the air and it is time for my final film noir of the summer. Many movies have depicted the attempt at the perfect heist, but there are few that are as influential as the 1956 Stanley Kubrick motion picture The Killing. Kubrick, who is best known for later films such as The Shining, Full Metal Jacket and 2001: A Space Odyssey, both wrote the screenplay and directed this classic gem, with assistance from Jim Thompson – who helped write the dialogue (Thompson has become an iconic pulp crime fiction novelist [The Killer Inside Me] – gaining fame after his death in 1977).
The story follows Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden), a newly released criminal who is planning the perfect heist of a race track which will allow him to retire and marry his longtime love, Fay (Coleen Gray). In order to achieve his goal of stealing the two million dollar sum, he assembles a group of associates that are ‘in the know’ which consists of a cop, a window teller who works at the venue and a bartender, who is also placed perfectly at the locale. He also enlists the help of two acquaintances of his, a sharpshooter named Nikki Arcane who is given the job of killing the race favourite to confuse the crowd, and Maurice, a wrestler who is going to distract the police inside by starting a brawl; both know nothing of the rest of the plan and are paid handsomely for their part.
The tightly woven plot is put together with amazing precision. Unlike most stories, both today and especially of that time, the plot is told in a non-linear format. We flash both forward and back, all of which leads us to a memorable, satisfying and ironic conclusion. Kubrick did not want the narrator who voices the time-line of the story, however, early test screenings found that people were lost without it so it was added and it does not take away from the complex story.
The acting is an important part of what makes this movie iconic. Our lead, Sterling Hayden, is excellent, playing the strong, gruff and physical character to perfection. Elisha Cook Jr. is spectacular as the nervous, weak and twitchy eyed window teller George Peatty. Equally impressive is Marie Windsor, who plays his wife Sherry. She is brilliant as the two-timing, conniving and tricky femme fatale. Every one of their conversations are cleverly written, with Windsor mixing loving comments with sly insults that put her husband down in typical hard-boiled fashion, bringing female manipulation to a new level. Character actor Timothy Carey is mesmerizing as Nikki Arcane, the sharpshooter. His unique look, unusual facial expressions and accent are something to behold.
It is all of these things and more that make this film so influential. This movie was a major influence for Quentin Tarantino when he wrote and directed Reservoir Dogs. One will be able to see the similarities as the story is not only about a heist but the non-chronological story format is very similar. Also, though this is not the first mask used in a robbery film, the clown-face is extremely influential. We will see similar touches in films such as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, Point Break (which will be reviewed in the near future) and other such films that contain a heist theme. Other oft used gimmicks that are now commonplace are also utilized: hidden weapons in flower boxes and a guitar case, as well as the stolen money being stored in a giant briefcase.
Kubrick’s visual flair can already be seen in this early film, despite the low budget. There are some deaths at one point and Kubrick uses a handheld camera to put us in the perspective of the survivor. The story also has some great touches. It feels authentic that no matter how well one may plan the perfect crime, luck and chance always play a role in the outcome and no one can devise the ‘perfect’ heist. In the end, this truth lends itself to a gratifying sense of irony.
Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing is a superb film noir heist thriller that captures everything one could want in a crime caper: a complex non-linear story, a group of well developed crooked characters, excellent dialogue, a brilliant group of actors and a movie that, despite being almost sixty years old, feels just as fresh and modern as it did when it was made. So plan to watch The Killing; it is well worth the risk.