The Killing

Directed by: Stanley Kubrick

Based on the book by: Lionel White

Screenplay by: Stanley Kubrick, Jim Thompson

Cinematography by: Lucien Ballard

Editor: Betty Steinberg
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray and Vince Edwards
Year: 1956

In the waning years of American film noir, a young Stanley Kubrick delivered to unwitting audiences of the time, one of the best the genre had ever seen. It's got everything you'd expect from a fun '50s heist film; shadowy gangsters, a crooked cop, a femme fatale, sex, money, murder and a generous helping of one-liners that you'll be quoting long after the credits roll. 

Now, don't get me wrong, this film isn't perfect. Hell, it doesn't even come close to being as much as a masterpiece as any of Kubrick's subsequent films (which is actually saying a lot). But I must admit it is an entertaining film that is very fascinating if only to watch for the budding "Kubrickian" touches you can see at play within what could have been a standard genre movie: Uncommonly long tracking shots through rooms, and a Pulp Fiction-esque re-organization/recycling of the narrative from multiple characters' perspectives makes you wonder if Stanley caught a screening of Rashômon the night before he stepped onto this film's set. 

As I said, the film is not without its flaws, an authoritative, yet totally unnecessary monotone narration of the re-ordered events might have been a result of an unsure Kubrick hedging his bets in case the audiences of the time just didn't get it.

Also, the ending is so laughably predictable and cynical in its outlook, (the classic crime theme of "The best laid plans of mice and men, yadda-yadda-yadda...") that you can identify with the lead gangster at the end of the film who just shrugs his shoulders and admits "Eh, what's the use?".

But for all of its contrivances and compromises, you can CLEARLY see a master in the making.

4 out of 5