Genre:Crime, Film Noir, Thriller
Distributor:
Arrow Academy
BD Release Date:
9th February 2015 (UK)
Director:
Stanley Kubrick
Cast:
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards
Buy:The Killing + Killer's Kiss [Blu-ray]
The Killing was Stanley Kubrick’s third feature length film and it’s the one in which the genius of Kubrick is formed. He previously made the quite abysmal Fear & Desire and he followed that up with the quaint but fascinating Killer’s Kiss. His early films are sometimes forgotten in favour of his later films - but The Killing, and it’s follow up Paths of Glory, are quite possibility his finest.
Kubrick is always considered this cinematic artist (and he is) but he was also a genre filmmaker; always wary of genre, nearly every film he made was “the final statement” on the film’s specific genre, for example, The Shining and the horror genre. The Killing is two genres: it is first and foremost a heist film (and the finest one ever made) but it’s also a pitch perfect example of Film Noir. It came out near the tail end of the classic Film Noir and plays like a much more modern film than many classic noirs.
Sterling Hayden stars as Johnny Clay who is an old school criminal planning to settle down after he does his last big score. He plans to rob a racetrack and he assembles a team of a corrupt cop, a window teller, a sniper, a wrestler and finally the track’s bartender. However, in textbook noir fashion, it doesn’t all go to plan.
The execution of the film is as flawless as humanly possible. The film runs at 84 minutes and never lets up; it’s exciting from the first minute to the fatalistic ending. The film’s modern feel may be down to the fractured way it tells the story; it would influence Tarantino greatly on his debut Reservoir Dogs. The photography by Lucien Ballard is almost French New Wave in style. It’s mostly location photography and has that spark that the best films of Godard and Truffaut did. Kubrick wanted to be the cinematographer (he started as a photographer) but due to union rules he couldn’t so Ballard was hired but the two men clashed but the finished product is stunning.
Hayden was one of the great noir actors; he starred in the previous heist film The Asphalt Jungle a film Kubrick greatly admired. This is probably his finest performance, his performances always have this inner pain in them which might be down to the fact he named names in the blacklist and it tormented him for the rest of his life. The rest of the cast are noir veterans like Timothy Carey, Ted de Corsia etc. Unlike many of Kubrick’s later films the performances very naturalistic for the most of the time unlike the most heightened performances he got some actors later on.
Arrow has compiled a impressive package, it includes Killer’s Kiss which is a maze like bit of noir, Kubrick was never happy with the film but it has many of it’s own virtues. The disc contains an appreciation by Ben Wheatley who talks about The Killing but also Kubrick in general. There is a vintage interview with Sterling Hayden on French television and the critic Michel Ciment who discusses Kubrick’s much underappreciated ‘50s output. Finally it also includes trailers for both films and a booklet with numerous essays on the films.
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