The Killing

directed by Stanley Kubrick
Category: "Suspense"
Year of Release:1956
Date Added:08/18/2024
Date Watched:08/18/2024
Description:Crook Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) comes up with a scheme to rob a racetrack of $2 million. He brings six other men in on the plot. One of them, Peatty, has a domineering wife, Sherry, who is unsatisfied with her life. She manipulates Peatty into telling her what's going on, and she tells her boyfriend. They plan to break in on the robbers when the gather after the heist and steal the money from them. The robbery goes off as planned, but at the meeting place, before Johnny gets there with the money, Sherry's boyfriend and another guy bust in. Peatty begins shooting, and everyone but him is killed. He's badly injured, but makes it back to his apartment to kill Sherry before dying himself. That leaves Johnny and the money. He packs it in a cheap suitcase and heads to the airport with his girl. But the suitcase falls off the cart on the runway, breaks open, and all the money flies off. Johnny and his girl try to walk away, but the cops stop them, so nobody got the money.
My Rating:6

Reviews for The Killing

Review - Killing, The

The basic plot was fine, but Kubrick decided to tell the story out of sequence, jumping back and forth over the days leading up the robbery. There was no reason for this — it just made things confusing and slowed things down when they were beginning to be exciting. The studio made him use a narrator to explain the jumps, but supposedly Kubrick was so upset about this that he wrote incorrect narration. I didn't notice this, but that would just make things even more stupid. Also, there was absolutely nobody to root for. It's supposed to be a classic, one of the best noir movies ever made, but ... meh.

Reviewed by Roger on 2024-08-18 15:56:45

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