The Killing

The Killing: Sterling Hayden and Coleen Gray star in this 1956 heist caper directed in a revolutionary way by a young Stanley Kubrick at the outset of his famed career. Femme Fatale Marie Windsor practically steals the show along with a fine supporting cast that includes Elisha Cook Jr. and Ted DeCorsia. “The Killing” is tough, taut, tense, and one of the great heist thrillers. 84 minutes. CC. Here is a link to a fine intro to the film by TCM's Eddie Muller.

Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, who has just been released from prison after serving a five year sentence for robbery. While in prison he developed a plan for a really big job that would set him up for life. His plan is to steal the daily proceeds from a race track that would amount to a couple of million. For help he turns, not to criminals, but to track employees and other ordinary men down on their luck and in need of money. The plan requires split second timing and the heist is pulled off without a hitch. But then things start to go wrong.

Stanley Kubrick regarded this low-budget film as his real starting point. From there he would go on to become one of Hollywood's most noted and respected directors. The horse racing scenes are especially dramatic, and make you wonder why anyone would want to ride a race horse.

 The musical score of the film was composed and conducted by Gerald Fried, a boyhood friend of Kubrick's from the Bronx. Fried had studied oboe at the Julliard School of Music and accepted Kubrick's invitation without any prior experience. He would go on to a multi Emmy award winning career. I met the wheelchair bound Gerald Fried a few years before his death in 2023 when I presented The Killing as part of a film series at a local Senior residence. He was in attendance and we had a nice chat afterwards where he passed on a couple of anecdotes about Kubrick and the film. 

Elisha Cook Jr. and Marie Windsor