The Killing

(1956)

Directed by

Stanley Kubrick

Review by Todd Plucknett

The Killing is Stanley Kubrick’s phenomenal second feature film, based on the novel by Lionel White. It is unlike anything that the man did in his career after, and he may have never made a better film. This one is almost completely flawless.

This Kubrick film is about a group of criminals led by Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden). He wanted to pull off one last heist before settling down with his girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray). He plans to pull off a $2 million job at a horse racetrack. To pull off the job, he rounds up a very misfit group of people, including a gun salesman, a thug, and several workers at the racetrack to pull off the heist. However, several unforeseeable and unfortunate events plague the intricately prepared plan.

One thing that goes wrong immediately is that George (Elisha Cook Jr.), one of the members of the team, sort of lets his unfaithful wife (Marie Windsor) in on the plan. He tells her that within a few days he will have hundreds of thousands of dollars. She snoops around, finds the meeting place for the group, and lets her lover in on it, trying to devise a plan to take George’s share. The plan seemed to be perfectly thought out and organized, but people and restrictions get in the way of the completion of the heist. The way it comes together in the end is perfect and completely original.

The acting here is good for the most part. The always brilliant Hayden is strong as the mastermind behind the whole ordeal. Gray was underwritten. Cook Jr. was annoying, and Windsor was very good. The real star of this superb film noir is the editing. It was one of the most intense films I have ever seen. It moves so quickly, and no time is wasted. Every moment is necessary, with all 85 minutes being completely hypnotic. My heart was pounding the entire final half hour; it is such an original thrill. The screenplay, written by Kubrick and Jim Thompson, is also completely groundbreaking. The non-linear storyline is something that has been used countless times since then, particularly by Quentin Tarantino. In fact, Jackie Brown’s heist scenes have the same format as this film. You see a scene happen, and then you see it again from a different character’s point-of-view.  This film is one that several filmmakers have drawn from, and one that stands as one of the more innovative film noirs.

If there is one flaw in the film, it is the narration. I don’t really understand the point of it. What it was broadcasting was either obvious or unnecessary. It is better used then most films’ attempts at using the device, but I do not feel that it was needed here.

The Killing is undeniably Kubrick’s most appealing film. He is such an original and genius filmmaker, but this one is his most tame and universally satisfying. It is not hard to take in like A Clockwork Orange; it is not over-the-top like Full Metal Jacket; and it is not perplexing like 2001: A Space Odyssey. It is a masterpiece of suspense and intelligence. Of all the films about robberies, stings, or heists, this one of the most perfectly executed and pieced together. It is just about unblemished, and it is one of the greatest masterpieces by the legend Stanley Kubrick.

Rating:

# 75 on Top 100

# 1 of 1956