The Killing (1956)

Crook Johnny Clay assembles a five man team to plan and execute a daring race-track robbery.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Stanley Kubrick (screenplay by), Jim Thompson (dialogue by)

Stars:

Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sterling Hayden	...	Johnny Clay
Coleen Gray	...	Fay
Vince Edwards	...	Val Cannon
Jay C. Flippen	...	Marvin Unger
Ted de Corsia	...	Patrolman Randy Kennan (as Ted DeCorsia)
Marie Windsor	...	Sherry Peatty
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	George Peatty (as Elisha Cook)
Joe Sawyer	...	Mike O'Reilly
James Edwards	...	Track Parking Attendant
Timothy Carey	...	Nikki Arcane
Kola Kwariani	...	Maurice Oboukhoff
Jay Adler	...	Leo the Loanshark
Tito Vuolo	...	Joe Piano
Dorothy Adams	...	Ruthie O'Reilly
Herbert Ellis	...	Second American Airlines Clerk

Storyline

After just being released from a five year stint in prison, Johnny Clay has assembled a five man team, including two insiders, to carry out what he estimates will be a $2 million heist at Lansdowne Racetrack, that take, minus expenses, to be split five ways. Besides Johnny, none of the men truly are criminals in the typical sense. In addition to the other four team members, Johnny has hired two men external to the team to carry out specific functions for a flat fee, the other four who will not meet the two men for hire or know who they are, while the two men for hire will not be told of the bigger picture of the heist. None involved are to tell anyone, even their loved ones, about the job, each of the five who has a specific reason for wanting his share of the money: Johnny, in wanting to get married to his longtime girlfriend Fay, the two who have known each other since they were kids, realizes that to live comfortably, he has to shoot for the moon instead of carrying out the penny ...

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Plot Keywords:

heist | heist gone wrong | police shootout | femme fatale | one last job | 

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Taglines:

Suspense! Terror! Violence! Will grip you as no other picture since "Scarface" and "Little Ceasar"!

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.

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Goofs

During the fight scene at the race track, where the robber is let in the door in two scenes told from from different angle, you clearly see that the door is opened in different ways, and also that the robber is much quicker in the second time, though the scene is supposed to be the same.

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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. Nevertheless, he had a $5 win bet on every horse in the fifth race. He knew, of course, that this rather unique system of betting would more than likely result in a loss, but he didn't...

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Connections

Featured in The 71st Annual Academy Awards (1999)

User Reviews

The Thick, Pulpy Roots of Modern Heist Epics

Stanley Kubrick's coming-out party from the mid '50s is a startlingly accurate prediction of film's future. By way of a non-linear narration and a few remarkably fresh transitions, Kubrick adds considerable weight and magnitude to a tangled heist tale and its focus on the crooks behind a slick, daring stickup of the local racetrack. Confused by the film's radical new approach to storytelling, test audiences hated the first cut, leading to studio meddling and an almost-complete disintegration of its marketing budget. Kubrick fought back, though, and with the obvious exception of a horribly heavy-handed deadpan narration, the finished product seems virtually untouched. Concerned mostly with the planning and hand-wringing before the big theft, The Killing tensely builds anticipation throughout before finally boiling over in a machine gun-paced robbery scene, terse payoff and all-too-brief elaboration on the major players' ultimate fates. Acceptably acted at best, the real stars of this picture are the complex plot and the harvest of fresh ideas going on behind the lens. A clear inspiration for Tarantino's big hits of the '90s, it's a daring and stylish major market debut for the famed director that hints at the lengths his development would ultimately take the medium.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 June 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Killing

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$320,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harris-Kubrick Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1