The Killing

"Kubrick's day at the races"

review of The Killing (1956)- Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick scored big with The Killing back in 1956. A heist film, like this, is difficult to be duplicated especially when you take the Kubrick 'feel' of it into account. Sterling Hayden plays the infamous Johnny Clay who puts together a team in order to knock off a racetrack, shortly after serving a 5 year sentence in Alcatraz. Johnny, the criminal mastermind, brings in several men seeking the $2 million financial gain to be earned at the end of the job. The heist is planned down to the minute and executed before the film even reaches it's climax.

While many Kubrick fans rate films such as 'A Clockwork Orange', 'Full Metal Jacket', 'The Shining', etc. to be his best films, I would easily swap one of them out for this film. The Killing redefined the film noir genre as a whole back in 1956, and paved the way for Kubrick's next major success: Paths of Glory.