The Killers (1964 film)
The Killers | |
---|---|
Directed by | Don Siegel |
Screenplay by | Gene L. Coon |
Based on | "The Killers" 1927 story by Ernest Hemingway |
Produced by | Don Siegel |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Richard L. Rawlings |
Edited by | Richard Belding |
Music by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Killers (released in the UK as Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers") is a 1964 American
The film stars Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson, and Ronald Reagan in his final film role before retiring from acting in 1966 in order to enter politics.
At the time of release, Marvin said that it was his favorite film.[1] The supporting cast features Clu Gulager, Claude Akins, and Norman Fell. In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.[2]
Plot
Earl tells them (in a
Charlie and Lee approach a former member of Browning's crew, who reveals (in a flashback) after the crash, Sheila found Johnny working as a mechanic. She told him Browning was planning the robbery of a U.S. postal truck. On Sheila's recommendation, he agreed to Johnny as his getaway driver. Johnny forgave Sheila and modified the getaway car. Johnny punched Browning and threatened to kill him after Browning slapped Sheila. They agreed to "settle this" after the robbery.
Browning and North placed a detour sign to send the mail truck onto an isolated mountain road. When the truck stopped, the gang held it up at gunpoint, loading more than $1 million into the getaway car. Johnny then forced Browning out of the moving car, driving off alone with the money.
Charlie and Lee pay a visit to Browning, who is now a real estate developer in Los Angeles. Browning insists he has no idea what happened to the money. He reveals that Sheila is staying at a hotel and arranges a meeting with her. To avoid an ambush, Charlie and Lee go to the hotel hours earlier than agreed, but a clerk spots them and calls Browning. At first, Sheila denies all knowledge of Johnny or the money. Charlie and Lee beat her and dangle her out the window. Terrified, she tells them the truth (in a flashback).
The night before the robbery, Sheila told Johnny that Browning was planning to kill him and pocket his share. Johnny wanted to kill Browning on the spot. Sheila insisted she had a better idea. On her advice, Johnny threw Browning out of the car and drove the money to Sheila, who double-crosses Johnny. As they entered a motel room, Browning was waiting. He shot Johnny, severely wounding him, before Johnny escaped. Fearing Johnny would seek revenge, Browning hired Charlie and Lee to murder him.
Browning is waiting outside the hotel with a sniper rifle. He kills Lee and wounds Charlie. Browning and Sheila return home, where they prepare to flee with the money. Charlie shows up and shoots Browning dead. He shoots and kills Sheila and staggers out the door with the money. Charlie falls dead on the lawn while spilling the money out of the suitcase as the police arrive.[3]
Cast
- Lee Marvin as Charlie Strom, a professional killer
- Angie Dickinson as Sheila Farr, Johnny's two-timing lover
- Clu Gulager as Lee, a professional killer, Charlie's accomplice
- John Cassavetes as Johnny North, the man Charlie and Lee are hired to kill
- Ronald Reagan as Jack Browning, a gangster, posing as a legitimate businessman
- Claude Akins as Earl Sylvester, mechanic and best friend to Johnny
- Norman Fell as Mickey Farmer, gang member and associate of Browning
- Virginia Christine as Miss Watson, the blind secretary
- Don Haggerty as Mail Truck Driver
- Robert Phillips as George Fleming, gang member and associate of Browning
- Kathleen O'Malley as Miss Leslie, the receptionist
- Burt Mustin as Elderly Man
Production
The Killers was intended to be one of the early
Steve McQueen and George Peppard were considered for the role that eventually went to Cassavetes. After Cassavetes was signed to play the race car driver, director Don Siegel found out the actor could barely drive.[6]
Siegel was considered to direct the 1946 version but was passed over for the film. The Killers was Reagan's last acting role in motion pictures before entering politics and the only villainous role in his career. Reportedly, Reagan later stated his regret in doing the movie.[7]
The main title and closing music, originally composed by
A special role in the film is dedicated to a
Reception
Film critic J. Hoberman writing in The New York Times regarded Seigel’s The Killers as a "more vivid, streamlined and callous” adaption of the Hemingway short story than director Robert Siodmak's 1946 version.[8] Hoberman wrote:
The cast is first-rate. Thanks to Marvin’s sleek, snub-nosed menace and the edgy thrill-seeking projected by Angie Dickinson’s classy moll, the movie exudes a cynical Rat Pack cool…The shock opener has the two relentless hit men (Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, in matching shades and sharkskin suits) hunting their prey (John Cassavetes) in a school for the blind; their mission is accomplished amid a crowd of witnesses, none of whom can see.[8]
The Killers holds a rating of 80% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 25 reviews with a 7.2/10 average. The consensus reads: "Though it can't best Robert Siodmak's classic 1946 version, Don Siegel's take on the Ernest Hemingway story stakes out its own violent territory, and offers a terrifically tough turn from Lee Marvin."[9]
Theme
“The Killers elaborates in detail ideas which were present in less developed form in Seigel’s earlier movies. It is deeply pessimistic: everyone is compromised either through their associations, occupations or their pasts.” - Biographer Judith M. Kass in Don Seigel: The Hollywood Professions, Volume 4 (1975)[10]
Film critic Judith M. Kass explains the ironic significance of the opening setting for The Killers—a school for the blind:
The sightless students provide a clue to the film’s symbolic stance: that none of the protagonists are able to "see" the situation they are in nor the fateful course ahead of them. And each is movivated by self-interest, so there is no possibility of co-operation between them.[11]
Kass, commenting on the mass liquidation that marks the film’s climax writes: "In every case, sticking together or relying on one another might have changed the outcome for each."[11]
Awards
Marvin received the 1965
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Epstein, Dwayne (1996). "Lee Marvin: The Mind Behind the Muscle". Outre. Vol. 1, no. 6. pp. 63–66, 86. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
- ^ "Biennale Cinema 2018, Venice Classics". labiennale.org. July 13, 2018. Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
- ^ Kass 1975, p. 131-132.
- ^ Smith, Cecil (November 21, 1963). "Two-Part Show Is One Worth Look". Los Angeles Times.
- ISBN 978-0275981426.
- ISBN 0-571-16270-3.
- ^ Tobias, Scott (July 16, 2014). "The Killers gave Ronald Reagan a chance to explore his dark side". The Dissolve.
- ^ a b Hoberman 2015.
- ^ "The Killers (1964)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
- ^ Kass 1975, p. 131.
- ^ a b Kass 1975, p. 132.
Sources
- Hoberman, J. (July 30, 2015). "Facing Death With a Shrug in Two Versions of 'The Killers'". The New York Times.
- Kass, Judith M. (1975). Don Seigel: The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 4 (1975 ed.). New York: Tanvity Press. p. 207. ISBN 0-498-01665-X.
External links
- The Killers at the American Film Institute Catalog
- The Killers at IMDb
- The Killers at the TCM Movie Database
- The Killers at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Killers essay by Geoffrey O'Brien at The Criterion Collection