Metro Cinema Society: Cult Cinema: The Killing

Cult Cinema: The Killing

USA 1956, 85 min, 35mm, Dir: Stanley Kubrick

At 27, Stanley Kubrick received studio backing for the first time to make his third feature, a heist film told in an inventively non-linear style. Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, an ex-con who puts together a crew of misfits to rob a racetrack on its biggest day of the year. But Johnny's almost perfect plan begins to unravel when one of the men spills the beans to his unfaithful wife, and she passes it on to her lover, who makes his own plan to hijack the loot. Tense, brisk, and inventive, and featuring an incredible cast of character actors, The Killing stands as one of the classic crime noir films and the first of Kubrick's major works.