The Killing

The first genuinely great film by Stanley Kubrick, The Killing follows Sterling Hayden’s Johnny Clay as begins planning a racetrack heist almost immediately after his release from prison – with the movie detailing the buildup to and eventual execution of said heist. There’s little doubt that The Killing gets off to a relatively rocky start, as Kubrick delivers a slow-moving first act that dwells a little too keenly on the exploits of Johnny’s crew – with the movie, even at this early stage, at its best when focused on the protagonist’s efforts at arranging the intricate operation. (There are, having said that, a few exceptions to this, including and especially everything involving Timothy Carey’s Nikki Arcane’s ongoing attempts at murdering a horse.) The film’s proliferation of irresistibly compelling elements keeps things interesting even through its less successful stretches, with The Killing benefiting substantially from, among other things, Kubrick’s typically hypnotic visuals, Hayden’s consistently engrossing performance, and Jim Thompson’s irresistibly hard-boiled dialogue (eg “you’ve got a great big dollar sign there where most women have a heart”). It’s clear, then, that the movie improves immeasurably once the heist itself starts, as Kubrick, employing an impressively conceived and executed time-shifting structure, does a superb job of exploring every facet of the crime and its subsequent impact on the other players – with the spellbinding atmosphere heightened by an ongoing inclusion of electrifying interludes. By the time the note-perfect conclusion rolls around, The Killing has cemented its place as one of Kubrick’s very best films and, in addition, one of the all-time classic heist thrillers.

***1/2 out of ****