Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The Killing (1956)


A group of men conspire to pull off a daring robbery at a racetrack.

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I have no way of proving it, but I have a strong inkling that this was a very personal film for Stanley Kubrick. Like Sterling Hayden's character Johnny, Stanley was a notorious perfectionist and a meticulous planner. Both  went about their work in a very methodical manner, planning everything out to the smallest detail. There are plans and back-up plans. According to legend, Kubrick would spend weeks shooting simple scenes to make sure they were exactly as he had intended. Unfortunately there are no second takes when it comes to robbing a racetrack. The littlest hiccup starts a domino effect which brings the whole operation crashing down. While most people would identify this as Film Noir, I'm pretty sure Stanley would call this a horror film.

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