The Killing (1956)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)
Jim Thompson (dialogue)

Release Date:

6 June 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller | Film-Noir

Tagline:

These 5 Men Had a $2,000,000 Secret Until One of them told this Woman!

Plot:

Crooks plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery.

Plot Keywords:

Racetrack | Robbery | Airport | Heist | Dog

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Sterling Hayden	...	Johnny Clay
Coleen Gray	...	Fay
Vince Edwards	...	Val Cannon
Jay C. Flippen	...	Marvin Unger
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	George Peatty (as Elisha Cook)
Marie Windsor	...	Sherry Peatty
Ted de Corsia	...	Policeman Randy Kennan (as Ted DeCorsia)
Joe Sawyer	...	Mike O'Reilly
James Edwards	...	Track Parking Attendant
Timothy Carey	...	Nikki Arcane
Joe Turkel	...	Tiny (as Joseph Turkel)
Jay Adler	...	Leo the Loanshark
Kola Kwariani	...	Maurice Oboukhoff
Tito Vuolo	...	Joe Piano - motel manager
Dorothy Adams	...	Mrs. Ruthie O'Reilly

Also Known As:

Bed of Fear (USA) (working title)
Clean Break (USA) (working title)
Day of Violence (USA) (working title)
Die Rechnung ging nicht auf (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Atracament perfecte (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Atraco perfecto (Spain) [es]
Casta de malditos (Argentina) [es]
Coup manqué (Belgium: French title) [fr]
Ha-Hereg (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
I klopi (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
L'ultime razzia (France) [fr]
Mislukte opzet (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Mordet (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
O Grande Golpe (Brazil) [pt]
Peli on menetetty (Finland) [fi]
Rapina a mano armata (Italy) [it]
Son darbe (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Spelet är förlorat (Sweden) [sv]
Tappo (Finland) [fi]
The Killing (Finland) (reissue title) [fi]
To hrima tis orgis (Greece) [el]
Ubistvo (Serbia) [sr]
Um Roubo no Hipódromo (Portugal) [pt]

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1956) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-15 (2003) | Finland:K-16 (1960) (cut) | Spain:T | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Norway:16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Ireland:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #17836) (original rating) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Bay Meadows Racetrack - 2600 S. Delaware Street, San Mateo, California, USA

Company:

Harris-Kubrick Productions

Trivia:

The car Nikki was driving was a MG TD.

Goofs:

Continuity: On the day of the robbery a scene with the character, Johnny Clay, shows him awake and dressed and says "At seven that morning, Johnny Clay began what might be, the last day of his life". He wakes another character and they talk awhile. This scene is immediately followed by an airport scene in which the narrator says: "It was exactly 7:00AM when he got to the airport".

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: At exactly 3:45 on that Saturday afternoon in the last week of September, Marvin Unger was, perhaps, the only one among the hundred thousand people at the track who felt no thrill at the running of the fifth race. He was totally disinterested in horse racing and held a lifelong contempt for gambling...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lat sau san taam (1992)

Young Kubrick's triumph

Stanley Kunbrick was still in his twenties when he made this film, yet his confidence and self-assurance are all over it. It is a well-written story, co-written by Kubrick (based on a novel called "A Clean Break"), about a meticulously planned horetrack heist told from the point of view of the several people who were in on the plot. Most of these guys weren't professional criminals, but otherwise honest men who were down on their luck and needed a break. They turned to this audacious plan in desperation, thinking they could do some real good in their lives with their share of the money. I won't give away the ending of course, but keep in mind this is a Kubrick film. That's all I say about that.

Standouts include Sterling Hayden as the ringleader, Marie Windsor as a snide, manipulative woman, Elisha Cook as her milquetoasty husband, Timothy Carey, as creepy as ever, and Kola Kwariani, the thinking man's Tor Johnson, as a chess expert/hired thug.

Speaking of chess, this is the first movie I've ever seen with a scene taking place in a chess parlor. Being from a provincial New England town, and not being a chess afficionado, I never knew such places existed.