The Killing
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Stanley Kubrick
Based on: Lionel White‘s novel Clean Break
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Ted de Corsia, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook Jr., Joe Sawyer

Plot:
Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) has big plans for himself and his girlfriend Fay (Coleen Gray). Since he just got out of prison, he wants to retire somewhere with her. But for that he needs money and that isn’t so easy to come by. So Johnny organizes a race track heist with the help of several accomplices. But the best laid plans won’t stand up to reality and so Johnny finds himself foiled at every turn.

The Killing isn’t particularly long, that’s why I thought that it might be my chance to see a Kubrick movie without falling asleep. Unfortunately that didn’t come true, despite the fact that it is not a bad heist movie.

I don’t know what it is but Stanley Kubrick and me is not a good combination, at least not with the films I’ve seen recently. It’s been a while that I saw the Shining (though I remember feeling disappointed because it was so unlike the book) or Clockwork Orange, so I might still like them. But Eyes Wide Shut, 2001: A Space Odyssey, even Dr. Strangelove (though that was less the film and rather the circumstances) and now The Killing all put me to sleep at one point (or several). But I really thought I stood a chance with this film: it’s short. I really like heist movies. I wasn’t tired going into the film. Nevertheless I did not manage to stay awake during all of it. I thought you should know that going into the review.

The parts of the film I saw, I mostly liked. There’s a certain wry humor to it (especially the ending) that I appreciated and as I said, I’m a sucker for heist movies.

There was the fact, though, that the female characters sucked a lot. Fay was mostly pretty and the perfect girlfriend, while Sherry (Marie Windsor) was your stereotypical manipulative bitch. Well, thank you for that virgin-whore dichotomy. That was really necessary.

But as I said, the film was enjoyable enough. It just didn’t make me very enthusiastic about anything really.

Summarizing: Eh.