Classic Movie Review The Killers (1964)

The Killers (1964) 

Directed by Don Siegel 

Written by Gene L. Coon 

Starring Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson, Ronald Reagan 

Release Date July 7th, 1964 

Published July 14th, 2023 

1964's The Killers shifts away from Ernest Hemingway's source material while maintaining a little of the framing device used in the 1946 version of The Killers from director Robert Siodmak. Director Don Siegel's biggest change however, came from beefing up the role of the titular Killers. Where Siodmak sidelines the killers after they've served their purpose, killing Burt Lancaster's Swede, Siodmak hired Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager to bring attention to these killers who also take on the role of the killers but also the role of the investigators, the role played by Edmond O'Brien in 1946. 

That's not the only change to the story of The Killers. Don Siegel's vision of The Killers has a new protagonist as well. Johnny North (John Cassavetes) is a race car driver who partially loses his sight following a racing accident. Desperate for work, he's working demolition derby's under a fake name when his former lover, Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson), approaches him with an offer. Sheila's new lover, a gangster named Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan, yes THAT Ronald Reagan), needs a getaway driver for a heist he's pulling with a small crew. 

We know that Johnny agrees because by the time we see the heist coming together, in the modern timeline, Johnny is dead. While working as a shop teacher at a school for the blind, Johnny is approached by Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager), who kill him where he stands. Johnny seems to hardly react to his own death and his resignation in the face of life threatening danger and eventual death, haunts Charlie. Charlie becomes obsessed with knowing why Johnny was so willing to die at his hands? 

From here, Charlie, and a reluctant but loyal Lee, begin working backwards through the life of Johnny North to uncover Johnny's motivation while also, perhaps, seeking the whereabouts of the treasure that seemingly caused someone to hire Charlie and Lee to kill him. First on the interrogation list is Johnny's former partner and mechanic, played by Claude Akins in a haunting and soulful performance. Akins explains Johnny's relationship with Sheila and how he warned Johnny about her duplicitousness only to end up losing his friendship and his business partner. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review The Killers (1946)

The Killers (1946) 

Directed by Robert Siodmak 

Written by Anthony Veiller 

Starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Albert Decker 

Release Date August 30th 1946 

Published July 10th, 2023 

The Killers is both an apt and somewhat abstract title for this movie. On the one hand, the film is about two men who go to a small town to kill an ex-boxer over a debt he may or may not owe. On the other hand, the killers of the title are not central to the plot of The Killers. They put the plot in motion by murdering a seemingly random guy, but then they are mostly absent in the story until they are reintroduced late in the 3rd act. The title centers you on The Killers but the movie is more interested in the victim and how he came to be the victim. 

The movie is based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway, a short story that unfolds over the first 10 minutes of The Killers. Two men, Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw), enter a small town diner and have a tense back and forth with the diner owner. Over the course of their terse exchange, the two men reveal why they are here. They've come to the diner on this night to kill a man known by most as 'The Swede,' also known as Ole Anderson. The Swede eats at this diner every night at this time and they intend to kill him when he arrives. 

When The Swede (Burt Lancaster) doesn't show up, the killers leave to search for him. Nick, a patron of the diner and a co-worker of The Swede rushes to warn his friend that the killers are coming. In a moment of breathtaking despair, The Swede tells Nick that there is nothing that can be done to stop this and that Nick needs to leave and never look back. Soon after, the killers arrive at The Swede's door and he accepts their arrival with a heartbreaking resolve. 

Hemingway's story ended with Nick returning to tell the diner owner what happened and when the diner owner simply nods in a cynical acceptance of what has happened, the young, idealistic Nick leaves town in disgust. The conflict is between Nick and the diner owner and their dueling perspectives. The diner owner represents an old school mindset that would prefer to ignore the encroachment of the outside world into the insular world of a small town. Nick represents the future, an idealistic notion of right and wrong, justice versus injustice.            

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media