The Killers

The first scenes, based on the short story, carry a terrifying sense of menace and pacing that the expanded back story, uncovered through an insurance investigation, fails to sustain. But the performances are good, and of course, it is all beautifully shot.

A movie like this only works if we believe that Burt Lancaster's character is truly infatuated with the femme fatale and in this case she happens to be Ava Gardner so, yes, I am convinced. Convinced isn't the half of it. He'd be insane not to get involved even knowing how much trouble she is.

Gritty old noir, with strong story devices for its time (piecing the past together through memories and recitals, asynchronous narrative) and a great build up. Book-ended by a violent, menacing start and conclusion. The middle is fairly introspective, which gave it a great mood. No doubt influenced by Double Indemnity and Citizen Kane, as it uses similar concepts and themes from both and mixes them well. If nothing else, it's a text book noir, that is a fun watch.

citizen kane meets double indemnity. a cool second tier noir, ava gardner makes a good doublecrossing dame and miklos rosza's music is top notch

The beginning(especially) and the end are great. They are tense, menacing, dangerous and make wonderful use of music. The middle part is pretty good, but a little jumpy and often too slow.

Incredible dialog for the first part of the movie and I wish the rest of the film kept the same tone. I want to be clear I'm not saying the rest is bad because it's very good, just the beginning is a little bit better. A sharp script, which borrows a bit from the masterpiece Double Indemnity, based on a great premise combined with a good cast, especially Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner in breakthrough roles, make for a very entertaining film noir.

A decent noir, but not enough oomph for me.

Unique narrative makes The Killers (1946) stand-out. Also Burt Lancaster's introduction to movies, playing "Swede" the murder victim, as we join a deep-dive investigation as to the circumstances surrounding his death. More than anything, it's feeling Hollywood becoming more mature for its post-war shake-up that's the true reward with this one!

Those first twenty minutes... Phew. But I don't think that the movie fully fleshes out the character of the Swede: What caused him to be so passive and resigned at the moment of his death? The flashback structure slowly reveals the double crosses and triple crosses propelling the narrative but never really provides insight into Swede's complicity in his own death. Given that this is the question motivating the whole investigation, the film's relative lack of interest in that is disappointing.

This was decent, but not one of the better film-noirs I've seen. I was into it to start off with, but my attention waned as it went on. I guess I just didn't find the characters or the story all that engaging. Still, the structure's cool and there's some really nice shots, with great black and white cinematography.

Starts off with an interesting mystery and throughout the movie more background and motivations are revealed, leading to a satisfying conclusion. Some scenes make nice use of shadow to create a moody atmosphere. Maybe not super memorable, but worth a watch for sure.

Watch for Ava Gardner. This is actually the film that launched her career. She steams up the screen. You can't look away. She & Burt Lancaster make quite a pair.

Burt Lancaster makes the mistake of falling in love and in with the wrong people, but can you blame him? Ava Gardner is a hell of a drug.

The structure is slightly unusual, but not astonishing by any means. Certainly a 'good' film, it just lacks anything especially tasty and in the end relies too much on stock noir characters and writing. The dialogue is especially detrimental, because that signature noir banter is only going to impress if its fresh.

I am always confused by these films featuring insurance agents acting like the police. Was insurance a different racket a century ago? I love film noirs because they make me feel like the stupidest person at the end when they explain what just transpired. "So the cops knew that Internal Affairs was setting them up?" This has a strange energy through its entire runtime.

Si bien se basan en el cuento de Hemingway que lleva el mismo nombre, es muy interesante observar que lo respetan en los primero diez minutos de la película y luego se va extrapolando y generando un marco para el argumento inicial.

The intro scene is ab-so-lu-te-ly phe-no-me-nal. Brilliant execution, pacing and acting, and rapidly growing suspence setting up the ensuing plot. Great pacing throughout the film, in fact, which seems to be a trademark of Siodmak's - Cry of the City was similar in that regard, very enticing. The cast is great too, with Lancaster always a pleasure to watch. The femme fatale is a right bitch here, but what wouldn't a man do "for the treachery of a girl's lips," as the trailer eloquently states.

This noirish police procedural takes a lot from Citizen Kane's structure, as we try to piece together why a random man from nowheresville was killed. Due to that structure, though, it feels a little more "talky" as it tells the protagonist's story through a different character. Still, the acting is powerful, and the shades of grey in the cinematography and in the story work well.

Dialogue isn't as spicy as a lot of other noir from this era, but the plot unraveling is pretty slick. And the femme fatale is as nasty as they come.

A great construction of the question, "why did this guy get killed?" The gumshoing is solid and everything seems completely plausible. Still, this is done in noir fashion with deep shadows and Ava Gardner being fantastic. The direction is absolutely top notch with stylish flashbacks to give a twisty narrative that pays off.

Ava Gardner's introduction is straight fire.

The use of light with the black and white to stage some of the scenes was fantastic. The story held my interest, and the acting was good with mostly believable characters.

The beginning is fun. Overall a solid murder mystery.

Obligatory noir viewing. As is well known, it's good movie-making and great entertainment, although it does lag here and there in the middle. It was Burt Lancaster's very first screen role--quite the debut!--and only William Conrad's second movie (of '70's TV "Cannon" fame). Ava Gardner is certainly sultry, but Virginia Christine gives a far more affecting performance... and who does she turn out to be but Mrs. Olson of the Folgers Coffee commercials from the '70's!

çok iyi başlayıp sonrasında biraz fazla sünüyor, fakat klasik bir noir hikayesine dayanarak güzelce sakin sakin açılıp keyifli bir seyirlik sunuyor.

A unique twist - not a whodunnit, but a who they dunnit to, and why they dunnit. Its flashback structure, dismal tone, and shadowy atmosphere make it a textbook, touchstone noir. All the pieces are there, and it is a fun movie, but even so it seems to be lacking one truly elevating element. O'Brien is a bit too limp to carry the picture, but what a group to support him: Lancaster, Levene, Dekker, Gardner, Lambert, McGraw, Conrad.

Great acting and i loved the way the story unfolded via interviews with witnesses, just collecting bits and pieces, sometimes out of chronological order, until it all made sense and came to a satisfying and violent conclusion.

Arguably far from the finest demonstration of Siodmak's skills, "The Killers" is an overall well-structured film noir in terms of the storyline but I personally thought it contained a lot more dialogue explaining the story than action showing us the story, and that kind of brought it down for me.

Virginia Christine > Ava Gardner

Star Rating: ★★★★

just another boring noir. move along.

(2nd watch, 1st: 80)

Normally a big fan of Siodmak's films, but there was just something missing about this one I could never quite put my finger on. It's still a great film with the trademark Siodmak atmosphere though.

I haven't seen this in a while, but I remember it involving a rarely seen triple-cross.

A trademark noir in multiple aspects, but more complicated and meandering than most others. The action is straightforward but contained through dialogue and a sizeable network of characters.

It completely misses the beauty of Hemingway's short story, instead using it as a springboard for a serviceable thriller that ultimately doesn't amount to much. The best part is Burt Lancaster, who even in his first film possesses that magnetic, engrossing screen presence.

kimligi belirsiz kisilerce öldürülen adami sigorta sirketi görevlisi, dedektiflik, unformal dedektiflik, femme fatale, soygun, soygun çetesi, kadinin oyuna gelen adam, boksör (heyecanli ve merak uyandiran film) Kasabaya gelen garip iki adam baska bir adami aramaktadir. Bu adamin öldürülmesinden sonra büyük bir miktar parayi bir otel calisanina birakmasi sonucu bir sigorta sirketi calisani olayin ic yüzünü arastirinca gecmiste olan bir dizi karmasik olayin içinde bulur kendini.)

A very gripping noir mystery, unusually easy to follow for its genre. One hardly sees anyone hold together a film nowadays as well as Lancaster did. Today's police procedurals wish they could maintain suspense as well as this does.

Good story and liked how it all slowly unraveled with those flashbacks. However I wasn't quite in the mood for it, so had a hard time concentrating. Kept forgetting the names and stuff

I don't know why the main guy is an insurance investigator rather than a PI or a cop. It seemed a little improbable for him to get to so involved over an insurance claim. O'Brien was kinda bland, too. But other than that, a good noir. The large cast means none of the actors really get a chance to impress, but the plot is interesting enough to compensate for that. Great use of music, especially when the eponymous killers are on screen, and Ava Gardner makes for a fantastic femme fatale.

Ava Gardner more than anything is the real star of this film, the most fatal(pardon the pun) of femme fatales I've seen yet. And you've gotta love that last salute from O'Brien, so out of place in a noir.

Pretty wonderful noir. Superb performances, especially from O'Brien and Gardner, great photography and a really well constructed story. A few too many flashbacks but they're well integrated so it's not too much trouble.

Lancaster is for me the very definition of a movie star (and of a man with a capital M), and Ava Gardner was one of his female equivalents. Here, a short by literary master Ernest Hemingway forms the basis, or the starting point, for the best film from one of the masters of noir, Robert Siodmak. But 'Cry of the City' is also a must-watch, and many of his other titles, such as 'Criss Cross', also featuring Burt, 'The Suspect' and 'Phantom Lady' are top-tier noirs as well.

Let me tell you boys, Ava Gardner is so damn good looking its ridiculous. Burt Lancaster is very convincing (and creepy), and the story is very interesting.

The Killers has a big problem. The protagonist, insurance salesman and all-around swell guy Jim Reardon, is just too boring to carry a 100 minute movie. The Swede was easily the best character, and he would have made a better lead. And if you axe the insurance man, then you could also cut out all those choppy flashback sequences. They ruined the pacing. This is a good story, but it isn't told properly. Overrated.

The bulk of the film relies on flashback interviews for its exposition, which tends to slow things down a bit after the very menacing and gritty opening act. It all works out in the end, though.

Good film.

Merely okay. It's beautifully shot, but other than that I don't find it all that special. Edmond O'Brien is good, but Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner only get a few moments to really shine. The fractured flashback structure is an intriguing and novel way of unraveling the mystery, but there's a slight sluggishness and lack of tension to the proceedings. It's a fine movie, especially at the chilling start and the fatalistic end... it just doesn't rev my engine that much.

Os assassinos do grande Robert Siodmak estreava há 75 anos em New York, talvez o melhor filme do diretor. O problema é que depois de Cliente Morto não Paga não dá pra ver esse filme e não rir em momentos inadequados. O remake do Don Siegel também é bom, mas ainda prefiro esse especialmente forque ele leva o cinema noir feito até então a um outro nível. Box Versátil Filme Noir Volume 11.

Tough and gritty noir film with a great performance from a young Burt Lancaster.