:
Burt Lancaster,
Lee Marvin,
Burt Lancaster,
more...
:
Don Siegel,
Robert Siodmak,
Don Siegel,
more...
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Criterion
: Classics, Film Noir, Classic Crime, Crime, Classic Crime, Criterion Collection, Neo Noir
: English
: English
see additional details...
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The Killers (Criterion Collection) (1946)
The Killers uses Ernest Hemingway's short story as a springboard for a complex film noir. Two mysterious men (William Conrad and Charles McGraw) muscle their way into a small town and kill an aging boxer (Burt Lancaster, making his screen debut), who offers no resistance and seems to be welcoming his death. An insurance investigator (Edmond O'Brien) is hired to locate the beneficiary to Lancaster's policy, and in the course of his investigation reopens a long-dormant robbery case. In a series of flashbacks, O'Brien makes the connection between Lancaster and the robbery and tracks down the "brains" behind the operation. He also comes in contact with Lancaster's former girlfriend (Ava Gardner), whose duplicity played a big part in Lancaster's demise -- and his indifferent reaction to it. Siodmak's hard-edged, moody direction of the Oscar-nominated screenplay by Anthony Veiller, makes The Killers one of the definitive films noirs, including what is considered to be one of the greatest opening sequences in movie history. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
The Killers (Criterion Collection) (1964)
Don Siegel directed this intensely pessimistic re-make of Robert Siodmak's 1946 film noir masterpiece The Killers, based upon a story by Ernest Hemingway. As the story opens two professional looking men in business suits -- Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager) -- push their way into a school for the blind and terrorize a secretary until she reveals the whereabouts of Johnny North (John Cassavetes). When Charlie and Lee trace Johnny to an automobile repair class, Johnny just stands there as the two men gun him down. Afterwards, Charlie wonders why Johnny just stood there, accepting his death. He also starts to wonder about his hefty paycheck for the murder and rumors that Johnny was involved in a million-dollar heist. He decides to pay Johnny's old friend Earl Sylvester (Claude Akins) a visit at his auto shop in Florida. Earl recalls the summer day long ago when former race car driver Johnny caught the eye of the rich and beautiful Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson). Johnny has been preparing for a race, but Sheila's attentions sidetrack him. The day of the big race, Earl notices that Sheila is visited by a group of rich gangsters, headed by Browning (Ronald Reagan, in a very surprising performance). During the race, Johnny is involved in a terrible crash, effectively ending his racing career. However, it seems Browning is arranging a mail heist and hires Johnny to drive the getaway car. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Special Features:
- Andrei Tarkovsky's student film version of The Killers
- Video interview with writer Stuart M. Kaminsky (Don Siegel: Director)
- Screen Director's Playhouse 1949 radio adaptation, starring Burt Lancaster and Shelley Winters
- Actor Stacy Keach (Mike Hammer) reads Hemingway's short story
- Production and publicity stills with actor biographies, rare behind-the-scenes stills gallery, original press book and ads
- Collection of trailers for Robert Siodmak films
- Writer/director Paul Schrader's seminal 1972 essay "notes on film noir"
- Notes by Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn)
- Music and effects track
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| Sounds better than it is....
by eifert
July 4, 2004 - 12:52 PM PDT
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5 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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First of all, what a nice cast. Lee Marvin, Angie Dickenson and John Cassavetes star as the good guys. Ronald Reagan (who looks like he did as President is off putting- right down to the suits and hair) and his side kick Norman Fell (yes, Mr. Roper) play the heavies. Clu Gulager plays Marvin's side kick. He has an extensive hyperbolic 4-letter word of an interview in the extras that are much, much better than his sunglasses wearing performance in the movie.
Let's talk about the movie. It was originally made for TV (it was to be the first ever TV movie!) and it looks like one. The lighting and colors are super bright. This was because, the theory was, when you watched TV in your 60's living room there were too much distractions, so they had to make the picture stand out as much as possible. The film makers succeeded here. The movie is one step darker than a 60's Batman episodes. Unfortunately, it makes the sets look like movie sets. There isn't a shadow in the whole film. (Watch the old "Police Squad" show and you'll see them spoof this technique. Every scene looks like a TV studio set.) Arent noirs supposed to be black? Thats why they call them noir!
The movie is actually titled, "Ernest Hemingway's The Killers" which is funny, because there is nothing in the short story that's in the movie. That's except for there's two killers. The original "The Killers" from the 40's featured a scene in the diner with razor-sharp dialog lifted right from the short story. The rest of that film was original. In this version, the heist and criss cross at the end is actually stolen from the first film.
Seeing the cast and story line, I hoped that this would be another "Point Blank," the great 60's pulp crime film starring both Marvin and Dickenson. Unfortunately, it's not.
Marvin the killer is a nice guy who wants to find out why Cassavetes wouldn't put up a fight. He doesn't seem like a killer at all. He does finally have a good scene right at the end (*spoiler*) when he shoots his fingers up in the air like a toy gun right before he dies. According to Gulager in the extras, Marvin was drunk as a skunk when he performed that scene. I tend to agree, because it's the only part of the film where Marvin shows any edge. When I saw it I wondered aloud, "Why isn't "Point Blank" on DVD?"
Right now since his passing, Reagan is being touted as a saint in the press. It's interesting to see him cocking an eyebrow trying to look tough. Not to mention slapping Dickenson hard across the face.
The movie is a chore to get through. The rear projections during the race and go-cart scenes are uproariously funny. So is Cassavetes wearing a smoking jacket over his suit after seemingly bedding Dickson at her swinging 60's pad. Seems you would take off cloths, not put them on.
This Criterion Collection is being sold with the Lancaster "The Killers" at stores. If you're renting, just get the first one, and skip this inferior one.
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| Film noir-style crime thriller
by eifert
June 18, 2004 - 8:59 PM PDT
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3 out of 3 members found this review helpful
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| The story, based on Hemingway's short, is a tale told in flashback. The gritty dark film looks at the events leading up to a violent death of one of the leads. The best scene in the film is the first one. The two killers walk out of the darkness and into a diner. Their dialog with the diner owner and customer is chilling. They're there to kill a man they never met. The movie expands the gritty crime tale from there. Burt Lancaster and an unbelievably perfect Ava Gardner star in this, one of the great noir films. Remade with Lee Marvin and Ronald Reagan years later. |
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