| Sterling Hayden | Johnny Clay |
| Coleen Gray | Fay |
| Marie Windsor | Sherry Peatty |
| Elisha Cook Jr. | George Peatty |
| Vince Edwards | Val Cannon |
| Jay C. Flippen | Marvin Unger |
| Ted de Corsia | Randy Kennan |
| Joe Sawyer | Mike O'Reilly |
| Timothy Carey | Nikki Arane |
| Jay Adler | Leo |
| Joe Turkel | Tiny |
| Dorothy Adams | |
| William Benedict | Airline Clerk |
| Mary Carroll | |
| James Edwards | Parking Attendant |
| James Griffith | |
| Kola Kwarian | Maurice Oboukhoff |
| Steve Mitchell | |
| Tito Vuolo | |
| Robert B. Williams |
| Stanley Kubrick | Director, Screenwriter |
| Lucien Ballard | Cinematographer |
| Gerald Fried | Score Composer |
| Rudy Harrington | Costumes/Costume Designer |
| James B. Harris | Producer |
| David Koehler | Special Effects |
| Ruth Sobotka | Art Director |
| Harry Reif | Set Decoration/Design |
| Alexander Singer | Associate Producer |
| Earl Snyder | Sound/Sound Designer |
| Betty Steinberg | Editor |
| Jim Thompson | Screenwriter |
When I was in college, a psychology professor told me that people who hurt, torture or kill animals will certainly do the same thing to people. This is a movie which involves the killing of a horse but it eventually leads to the killing of several people. And like all the great classic crime films, it's all done for money. That's the sour message delivered in Stanley Kubrick's directing debut, "The Killing". Made in 1956, Kubrick even then knew how to tell a compelling story, even though it seemed simple enough. Sterling Hayden portrays Johnny, an expert criminal who plans to rob a racetrack box office and hopefully retire. He's hired a number of cronies to help him pull this off. However, they have ideas of their own. One of these cronies is George (played brilliantly by Elisha Cook), whose wife pulls a double-cross that throws everything into disarray. Shot in grainy black-and-white with almost none of the special tracking shots that Kubrick would later be noted for, "The Killing" is told in the gritty style of a 1940's pulp fiction novel with more than a few twists. Yet, this could very well be the first Noir Heist film, one that a lot of filmmakers try to emulate but can't duplicate. Although you watch this film and you can imagine Sterling Hayden as the Boss in Quentin Tarantino's "Resevoir Dogs". Hayden, who starred in other Kubrick films, is tough, quick-thinking and delivers one great hard-boiled line after another---"Suppose they pick you up? What have you done? You shot a horse! That's not first-degree murder! It's not first-degree anything! In fact, I don't even know what it is!" The DVD which was been released by The Criterion Collection also features Kubrick's second film, "Killer's Kiss", which is nowhere neaer as great as this film is. But it's interesting to see both of these films because just two years later, Kubrick would direct "Paths Of Glory" and he became an A-list filmmaker for the rest of his life. The journey to "Dr. Strangelove", "2001: A Space Odyssey", "A Clockwork Orange" and "The Shining" all began here. Who knows what kind of a filmmaker Kubrick might have turned out to be had he continued making movies like "The Killing"?
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Angel22
Posted October 1, 2010
Yes, i did like this movie, it was interesting and it did have a good plot. It was visually good as well, and the acting was good. If you want something different then this movie is worth checking out.
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Posted October 1, 2011
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