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The Killing
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The Killing (1956) More at IMDbPro »

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The Killing (1956) -- ZuGuide.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
Writers:
Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)
Jim Thompson (dialogue)
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Killing on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
6 June 1956 (USA) more
Tagline:
These 5 Men Had a $2,000,000 Secret Until One of them told this Woman! more
Plot:
Crooks plan and execute a daring racetrack robbery. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. more
NewsDesk:
(11 articles)
User Reviews:
Hitchcock like in style... more (168 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Sterling Hayden ... Johnny Clay
Coleen Gray ... Fay
Vince Edwards ... Val Cannon
Jay C. Flippen ... Marvin Unger
Ted de Corsia ... Policeman Randy Kennan (as Ted DeCorsia)
Marie Windsor ... Sherry Peatty
Elisha Cook Jr. ... George Peatty (as Elisha Cook)
Joe Sawyer ... Mike O'Reilly
James Edwards ... Track Parking Attendant

Timothy Carey ... Nikki Arcane
Kola Kwariani ... Maurice Oboukhoff
Jay Adler ... Leo the Loanshark
Tito Vuolo ... Joe Piano - motel manager
Dorothy Adams ... Mrs. Ruthie O'Reilly
Herbert Ellis ... 2nd American Airlines Clerk
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Bed of Fear (USA) (working title)
Clean Break (USA) (working title)
Day of Violence (USA) (working title)
more
Runtime:
85 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
Finland:(Banned) (1956) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-15 (2003) | Finland:K-16 (1960) (cut) | Spain:T | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | South Korea:15 | Brazil:12 | Norway:16 | Canada:14A (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Ireland:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (PCA #17836) (original rating) | West Germany:12

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
As Johnny leaves the store after buying a suitcase, advertised on the wall just beyond his car is a burlesque show featuring Lenny Bruce. more
Goofs:
Crew or equipment visible: When Sherry is removing her makeup in their room, George is moving toward her. When he hits his mark, announcing that he is dropping out, the shadow of a crew member's head is clearly seen on his shirt and then fade on the right side. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: At exactly 3:45 on that Saturday afternoon in the last week of September, Marvin Unger was, perhaps, the only one among the hundred thousand people at the track who felt no thrill at the running of the fifth race. He was totally disinterested in horse racing and held a lifelong contempt for gambling...
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Panic Room (2002) more

FAQ

Is "The Killing" based on a novel?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
What is the heist plan?
more
23 out of 35 people found the following review useful.
Hitchcock like in style..., 4 November 2006
9/10
Author: faraaj-1 (faraajqureshi2401@gmail.com) from Sydney, Australia

Kubrick directed 15 odd movies in half a century (let's exclude Spartacus). His skills as an auteur may not have been recognized till Strangelove but they were on display in films like Lolita, Paths of Glory and of course The Killing, his first certified classic.

The Killing is about an intricate race-track heist involving a group of non-professionals with clean records. The mastermind, Sterling Hayden, has however spent some time in prison. The unique thing for the time is the non-linear structure of the film - particularly the heist sequence. This was probably Hayden's finest role - yes, better than Jack D. Ripper of Strangelove or Altman's The Long Goodbye - as the doomed hero, Johnny Clay. He is very tall and physical and quite brilliant in this role. He is well-supported by an old favorite of mine from The Maltese Falcon, Elisha Cook Jr. whose venomous wife, Marie Windsor plays a femme fatale of sorts. There is also the cult favorite Timothy Carey as the person assigned to shoot Red Lightning. Reservoir Dogs, a cult film inspired by The Killing is dedicated to Carey.

While The Killing is certainly noirish, it does not have the pure noir look - well, pretty much most of it is filmed in the daytime. In fact, if Kubrick was inspired, it would have been more by Hitchcock's tight pacing than by Chandler or Cain's hard-boiled dialog. The camera-work and editing are brilliant - for me even better than later Kubrick classics. Kubrick was forced to add a voice-over by the studio - something he really wasn't inclined towards. His ingenious solution was to have the VO not directly comment on the movie, but to add another layer to the films structure. It works! This film is not dated, although the Marie Windsor character is a bit one-dimensional and what is visible in the short length of the movie is the tight pacing.

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Message Boards

Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for The Killing (1956)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Did pulp fiction take a scene TheBudderKing
Metaphorical meaning to loss of the winnings dawise_guy666
Enough questions about the suitcase people sedna1000
Mistakes in narration? pisces_foo
Greatest Films of All Time (IMHO) Dead_Head_Filmmaker
was this the first non-linear structured movie? Pvt_Joker
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