For some reason, I went in to The Killing assuming it was a play on words for a sure bet that pays off big - hence the racetrack setting. Boy, was I ever wrong.

The Killing has so many good things going for it that trying to list them all would be redundant considering how much is written about Kubrick. Sterling Hayden (hell, virtually all the speaking roles) put on such a good show, delivering that particularly overdramatic dialogue without having it come off as the staccato, wise guy, can'tstoptobreathwithoutfinishingthissentence style so seemingly prevalent in the bad-boy heist noirs endlessly sampled in more modern movies. Kubrick's camerawork for his first major picture turned some heads, and rightfully so, considering the…

Early in his directorial career, young Stanley Kubrick proved his directing strength in a concatenation of a thrilling fun-ride that he wrapped up in a heist concept. The Killing might have been overshadowed by Kubrick's prominent filmography such as A Clockwork Orange, 2001: A Space Odyssey, or perhaps Dr Strangelove, whose brilliance is more acclaimed than this film that much relies on its heist high point. Even so, in a minimum budget, all the construction were well-implemented under the ambitious direction of Stanley Kubrick and he also formulated the scripts himself. Kubrick probably got a lot of influence or inspiration for some of the compositions he poured in The Killing, with the use of shadows and darks typical of film…

An ingenious work of filmmaking & a thrilling example of film-noir, The Killing is Stanley Kubrick's breakthrough feature that showcases many potentials of a director who would later go on to cement his legacy as arguably the greatest filmmaker of all time. Modest in budget yet unrelenting with its subject matter, The Killing experiments with many aspects, especially the manner in which its plot is structured & narrated as well as the characterization of its finely-scripted characters.

The plot concerns a veteran criminal who masterminds a heist of millions of dollars from the money-counting room of a racetrack during a featured race. Joining him in the plan are a crooked cop, a betting window teller & a track bartender plus a wrestler & a…

Decades Project: 4/5 of the 50's

"You have not yet learned that in this life you have to be like everyone else—the perfect mediocrity—no better, no worse. Individuality's a monster, and it must be strangled in its cradle to make our friends feel confident."

Early feature from the man who would become one of cinema's great masters. Something about the way The Killing builds tension reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock, and it's incredible to think the two were both making films at the same time (American theaters would have had to choose between screening this and The Man Who Knew Too Much, which was released just the week before). The plot is dark and twisted, but it never gets lost…

What a fantastic crime film from Stanley Kubrick. Not only we have memorable characters here, but also a very inventive way of storytelling and a brilliant ending. I can totally see how this influenced Quentin Tarantino on making Reservoir Dogs and notice quite a few similarities between the two. I really liked how Kubrick constantly goes back and forth in time, in order to demonstrate each character's assignment and how everything must happen with precise and flawless execution. You really feel how important and crucial they are for the heist to go according to plan.

Another great aspect of the film is that the director takes his time to show everyone's motivations behind the robbery, building a nice character development…

Jules Dassin's quintessential heist film "Rififi" is an absolute masterpiece! I had doubts as to whether or not anyone could come close to delivering such a magnificent cinematic speciman ever again! With that being said if any director could do it Kubrick could! So I popped "The Killing" into the machine, got comfy and sat back waiting for his brilliance to unfold! And I waited.. and waited and waited!

Finally after exasperation took hold I paused the film and looked up the movie online to confirm once again that this indeed was a Kubrick film and secondly that it was worth the tedium and the annoying and completely unnecessary narration!

Thank god Nolan had the good sense god gave him…