The Killers (1956)

Two men besiege a lunch bar looking for a third man they must kill.

Directors:

Marika Beiku (as M. Beiku), Aleksandr Gordon (as A. Gordon)

Writers:

Ernest Hemingway (short story) (as E. Hemingway), Aleksandr Gordon (screenplay) (as A. Gordon)

Stars:

Yuliy Fayt, Aleksandr Gordon, Valentin Vinogradov

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Yuliy Fayt	...	Nick Adams (as Yuli Fayt)
Aleksandr Gordon	...	George
Valentin Vinogradov	...	Al
Vadim Novikov	...	Max
Yuriy Dubrovin	...	1st Customer
Andrei Tarkovsky	...	2nd Customer
Vasiliy Shukshin	...	Ole Andreson

Storyline

Two men besiege a lunch bar looking for a third man they must kill.

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Genres:

Short | Drama

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Did You Know?

Trivia

This is Andrei Tarkovsky's first student film co-directed with his brother-in-law Aleksandr Gordon while they were studying at VGIK (Moscow Film Institute)

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Connections

Version of The Killers (1964)

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Soundtracks

Lullaby of Birdland
Written by George Shearing
(1952)
Whistled by the second bar patron played by Andrei Tarkovsky

User Reviews

oh interesting historical significance

This film is interesting for being what it is--a Soviet cinema school's student project depicting a Hemingway short story--one of the student performers being Andrei Tarkovsky. As a film on its own right, its acting and direction are uneven. That said, I thought some of the acting was fine. The mood is a bit too subdued and less menacing than the story as I remember it. Then again, the cast were all close to 20--so that's probably is to be expected. According to most accounts, this was the first project from the Soviet film school portraying a non Russian story--and this choice, which was freshly published at the time was chosen by the young Tarkovsky himself, 4.5 stars out of 10

Details

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian

Release Date:

1956 (Soviet Union)

Also Known As:

The Killers

Filming Locations:

VGIK Studio, Moscow, Russia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Vsesoyuznyj Gosudarstvennyj Institut Kinematografii (VGIK)

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1