Film Review: The Killing

Director: Stanley Kubrick

An early Kubrick movie from 1956 which was the third feature film of his career. The film struggled at the box office despite being a hit with the critics but over time it garnered a cult following especially as Kubrick's stock rose in Hollywood with films like Paths of Glory and Spartacus shortly after. The telling of the story of the heist is something that hugely inspired Quentin Tarantino when making the film Reservoir Dogs. 

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is a veteran criminal who comes up with the idea of robbing two millions dollars from a local racetrack, his plan is to use his share of the money to run away and get married to Fay (Coleeny Gray). He enlists a corrupt cop, a teller from the racecourse, a sniper as well as a wrestler and barman to cause a scene at the track to distract attention from the robbery. The plan is perfectly set as long as everyone agrees to stick to the original plan.

The group come together to plan the heist

The first thing that is immediately apparent is the narration at the beginning of each scene to explain what is happening, although an entirely serious part of the film it actually works out being quite funny and light-hearted against the more serious plot. Sterling Hayden is your classic bad guy wanting to go good after one last robbery with the female roles playing a much bigger part than you would have expected, in many ways they are the ones indirectly behind the heist.

This film noir was one of the early heist movies that set the bar for the many that have followed since, The repeating of key scenes from different characters perspective is a stroke of genius, rather than just having one universal truth it gives it a different edge. Kubrick has never been scared of pushing the boundaries of cinema and was doing so even in his early years.

3/4 A little dated but still an enjoyable classic