The Killers (1946 film)
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| The Killers | |
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 Theatre Lobby Card |
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| Directed by | Robert Siodmak |
| Produced by | Mark Hellinger |
| Written by | Story: Ernest Hemingway Screenplay: Anthony Veiller Richard Brooks John Huston |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster Ava Gardner Edmond O'Brien Sam Levene |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography | Elwood Bredell |
| Editing by | Arthur Hilton |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 28, 1946 |
| Running time | 103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Killers is a American film noir released in 1946 and directed by Robert Siodmak.[1]
The films stars Burt Lancaster, in his screen debut, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien, Sam Levene, and others.
The film is based on the Ernest Hemingway The Killers short story.
Tagline: Every kiss carved his name on another bullet.
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[edit] Plot
The story is about two hit men assigned to find and kill a man, Ole Anderson (Burt Lancaster), "the Swede," at a small-town dinner.
Impatient for his arrival, they kill him instead at a boarding house where he, resigned to his fate, awaits their arrival
[edit] Background
According to Hemingway's biographer, Carlos Baker, The Killers "was the first film from any of his works that Ernest could genuinely admire."[2]
The story, told in flashback, was created solely for the film by an uncredited John Huston, due to his contract with his Warners contract, and Richard Brooks.[3]
It was the first, and to date the only, screenplay of a Hemingway work to leave successfully intact the author's laconic dialogue. Producer Mark Hellinger paid $36,750 for the screen rights to Hemingway's story, his first independent production. Lancaster wasn't his first pick for the part of "the Swede," but Warner Bros. wouldn't lend out actor Wayne Morris for the film. Others considered for the part included Van Heflin, Jon Hall, Sonny Tufts, and Edmund O'Brien, who was instead cast in the role of the insurance investigator. In the role of the femme fatale, Kitty Collins, Hellinger cast Gardner, who had appeared virtually unnoticed in a string of minor films.
The opening chords of Miklós Rózsa's theme music was later memorably reused for the Dragnet television series.
The noir filming style was featured in the documentary Visions of Light (1992).
[edit] Cast
- Burt Lancaster as 'Swede' Andersen
- Ava Gardner as Kitty Collins
- Edmond O'Brien as Jim Reardon
- Albert Dekker as Big Jim Colfax
- Sam Levene as Lt. Sam Lubinsky
- Vince Barnett as Charleston
- Virginia Christine as Lilly Harmon Lubinsky
- Charles D. Brown as Packy Robinson
- Jack Lambert as 'Dum-Dum' Clarke
- Donald MacBride as R.S. Kenyon
- Charles McGraw as Al
- William Conrad as Max
- Phil Brown as Nick Adams
- Queenie Smith as Mary Ellen Daugherty
- Jeff Corey as 'Blinky' Franklin
- Harry Hayden as George
- Bill Walker as Sam
[edit] Adaptations
The Killers was director Don Siegel's remake in 1964 with an updated plot, starring Lee Marvin and a villainous Ronald Reagan, his last motion picture.[4]
Originally made for television around the time of Kennedy's assassination, Siegel's film was deemed too violent for the small screen and was released theatrically, first in Europe, then years later in America. Scenes from the 1946 movie were used in the Steve Martin film noir spoof Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982).[5]
In 1958, director Andrei Tarkovsky, as a film student, created a 19-minute short based on the story which is featured on the Criterion Collection DVD release.[6]
[edit] Awards
Wins
- Edgar Award: Edgar; from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture, Anthony Veiller (writer), Mark Hellinger (producer), and Robert Siodmak (director); 1947.
Academy Awards Nominations (1947)
- Best Director: Robert Siodmak.
- Best Film Editing: Arthur Hilton.
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture: Miklós Rózsa.
- Best Adapted Screenplay: Anthony Veiller.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The Killers (1946) at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Baker, Carlos. Hemingway, Princeton University Press; 4th edition (November 1, 1972).
- ^ Lethem, Jonathan. Criterion Collection, "The Killers: Robert Siodmak/Don Siegel" essay.
- ^ The Killers (1964) at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Ubiytsy (The Killers) at the Internet Movie Database.
[edit] External links
- The Killers at the TCM Movie Database.
- The Killers at Film Site by Tom Dirks; contains spoilers.
- Criterion Collection essay by Jonathan Lethem.
