Nominated for four Oscars, Robert Siodmak's The Killers expands on Hemingway's short story in classic film noir style, with a dense plot that ends in an unexpected double cross
The Killers (1946)
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Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 29
Rotten:0
Average Rating: 8.1/10
Synopsis: An insurance investigator digs up crime, betrayal, and a glamorous woman behind an ex-fighter's (and current gas-station attendant's) death. Classic Noir from a master of the craft, scripted from a... An insurance investigator digs up crime, betrayal, and a glamorous woman behind an ex-fighter's (and current gas-station attendant's) death. Classic Noir from a master of the craft, scripted from a story by Ernest Hemingway, with Burt Lancaster's sizzling film debut. [More]
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Edmond O'Brien, Ava Gardner, Sam Levene
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Edmond O'Brien, Ava Gardner, Sam Levene, Albert Dekker, Vince Barnett, Virginia Christine, Jack Lambert, Charles D. Brown, Donald MacBride, Charles McGraw, William Conrad
Director: Robert Siodmak
Director: Robert Siodmak
Screenwriter: Richard Brooks, Ernest Hemingway, John Huston, Anthony Veiller
Composer: Miklos Rozsa
Producer: Mark Hellinger
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Reviews for The Killers
Taken from Ernest Hemingway's story of the same title, picture is a hard-hitting example of forthright melodrama in the best Hemingway style. Performances without exception are top quality.
It's a classic by a supreme exponent of that genre, German emigre Robert Siodmak.
Only the first scene of Siodmak's classic film noir comes from the Ernest Hemingway short story; the rest is pure postwar fatalism from the pen of Anthony Veiller (and an uncredited John Huston).
Siodmak's crafty direction emphasizes shadows, dark rooms and the feel of stale cigarettes, booze and general hoplelessness.
As mere movie melodrama, pieced out as a mystery which is patiently unfolded by a sleuthing insurance man, it makes a diverting picture.
Siodmak captures both the romance and world-weariness of the post-WWII film noir with consummate skill.
Is it any surprise that Reardon – for that matter any character of this sort – comes most alive when brandishing a gun?
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