The Killing

The Killing is an intense, dark mystery which explores man's fallibility and how plans fall apart due to greed, corruption and human error. Small-time criminal, ex-convict Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) along with his partners, plans and successfully pulls off a race-track robbery. The get-away is complicated by a murder, and a scheming woman, Sherry Peatty (Marie Windsor) who pits the men against each other. Director Stanley Kubrick employs a raw, nervy narrative style, using flash-forwards and flash-backs, which, while interesting, sometimes seem overly complicated and forced. Despite this, Kubrick's unusual visual sense, which he will later develop to stunning effect in 2001: A Space Odyssey, is strikingly apparent. This film, well acted, particularly by Sterling Hayden, and Marie Windsor, as the scheming, unfaithful wife and strikingly directed, is an interesting experiment with the film noir style. The Killing will also be of interest to fans of Kubrick as he begins his exploration of the fallibility of "fail-safe" devices which he developed so eloquently in the extraordinary, hilarious Dr. Strangelove.