The Killers (1946)

Director:

Robert Siodmak

Writers:

Ernest Hemingway (story)
Anthony Veiller (screenplay)

Release Date:

28 August 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

THE MOST SUSPENSEFUL PICTURE OF ALL TIME! (re-release print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Hit men kill an unresisting victim, and investigator Reardon uncovers his past involvement with beautiful, deadly Kitty Collins.

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Insurance | Gas Station | Flashback | Insurance Investigator

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	'Swede' Andersen
Ava Gardner	...	Kitty Collins
Edmond O'Brien	...	Jim Reardon
Albert Dekker	...	Big Jim Colfax
Sam Levene	...	Lt. Sam Lubinsky
Vince Barnett	...	Charleston
Virginia Christine	...	Lilly Harmon Lubinsky
Charles D. Brown	...	Packy Robinson
Jack Lambert	...	'Dum-Dum' Clarke
Donald MacBride	...	R.S. Kenyon
Charles McGraw	...	Al
William Conrad	...	Max
Phil Brown	...	Nick Adams
Queenie Smith	...	Mary Ellen Daugherty
Jeff Corey	...	'Blinky' Franklin

Also Known As:

A Man Alone
Ernest Hemingway's The Killers (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Norway:16 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:(Banned) (1947-1949) | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Company:

Mark Hellinger Productions

Trivia:

This was Burt Lancaster's first important movie role. He was the third choice for the part of The Swede, and was signed only after actors Wayne Morris and Sonny Tufts proved unavailable. Lancaster was an ex-circus acrobat from Union City, New Jersey. When producer Mark Hellinger saw the first rushes of Lancaster's performance in a private screening room, he was so pleased that he yelled "So help me, may all my actors be acrobats!"

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When they're making their getaway from the robbery, the camera crew is reflected in the windshield of the truck they're hiding behind.

Quotes:

Al: You got anything to drink?
George: I can give you soda, beer, ginger ale...
Al: I said, 'You got anything to drink?'
George: [intimidated] No.
Al: This is a hot town. Whatta ya call it?
George: Brentwood.
Al: Did you ever hear of Brentwood?
Max: [Max shakes his head, no]
Al: Whatta ya do here nights?
Max: [sarcastically] They eat the dinner. They all come here and eat the big dinner.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser (1957)

Soundtrack:

THE MORE I KNOW OF LOVE

The swede story unravels in noir classic.

You can scan thru many publications and they will tell you that Robert Siodmark's adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's story The Killers is quintessential noir, and whilst I haven't seen enough of the perceived classics to make a sound judgement, I do understand why this one ranks so high.

Perfectly directed by Siodmark because it is washed with a moody ambiance that befits the script, the main players in the piece are bang on form to realise the mood and sombre tempo that makes the film a winner. The story basically revolves around Burt Lancaster's Swede Anderson who upon learning that hired KILLERS are out to fulfil a contract on him, promptly stays horizontal on his bed and awaits his fate. We then follow Edmond O'Brien's insurance investigator Jim Reardon as {thru a series of flashbacks} he reconstructs Swede's life and what caused his demise.

The story encompasses one of film noirs most well known femme fatales in Ava Gardner's foxy Kitty Collins, and it's certainly the films driving force observing her part in Swede's life, for better or worse as it were, but ultimately it's the classy framing of the film that marks it out as essential viewing, it's oppressive, it's almost stifling, and it's certainly story telling of the highest order, but mainly it just looks so fecking gorgeous you feel privileged to have been part of it.

8/10