General info:
Credits:
Year:
1956
Director:
Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, based on the novel
Clean Break by
Lionel White
Production Company: Harris-Kubrick Productions
Producer:
James B. Harris
Cast:
Johnny Clay --
Sterling Hayden
Marvin Unger --
Jay C. Flippen
Sherry Peatty --
Marie Windsor
George Peatty --
Elisha Cook
Fay --
Coleen Gray
Val Cannon --
Vince Edwards
Randy Kennan --
Ted de Corsia
Mike O'Reilley --
Joe Sawyer
Running time:
83 minutes
Production Notes:
United Artists gave $200,000 to Kubrick and producer James Harris, after they got Sterling Hayden to star. With another $120,000 that Harris raised, they had a total of $320,000. This was a very small budget, but they managed to hire enough actors, crew and used studio sets.
Stanley Kubrick created a name for himself with The Killers, and his previous movie Killer's Kiss. With this name, he was able to create Paths of Glory, with a big name star Kirk Douglas. Douglas got him to direct Spartacus. And from there...
Plot:
Johnny Clay is an ex-convict, who has finished a 5-year sentence. Rather than continuing with risky, petty crimes, he schemes up a huge heist, 2 million dollars (1950s mind you). Not a bank robbery, but a race track robbery. The crime is complex, of course, and it's impossible for him to do it alone. He's got a collection of people all doing their *thing* to make this heist work out perfectly. Things don't, of course. Key player George Peatty tells his greedy, unfaithful wife about the plan. She tells her boyfriend, and they decide the money ought to be theirs.
Review:
Great noirish, non-linear heist fun for the whole family. This is an ignored and underrated Kubrick film, overshadowed by the big guns. Unlike most films in the noir category, this film is watchable. And by that, I mean, you don't have to be depressed to enjoy it, and you probably won't be depressed after watching it. Sure, it doesn't have a happy ending, but it isn't going to put you in a total funk. This is mostly due to the plot and characters. It's an interesting movie.
Tarantino has seen this movie. That's the first observation just about everyone makes. If you were to put The Killing and City on Fire in a blenderand put it on high, you would get an exact copy of Reservoir Dogs. Not to degrade Tarantino or anything, I mean, we all love Tarantino. But his style didn't come out of nowhere.
In my personal opinion, the heist scene is the most entertaining of the scenes. We finally see their beautiful plan in action. Reservoir Dogs stylishly left the heist scene out. It's a very good thing Kubrick didn't, because he pulled it off perfectly, of course. And the clown masks. I loved the clown masks.
Kubrick fan? Well then, you've (hopefully) already seen this. Tarantino fan? Well, you owe some respect, see the movie. Not either? Hell, see it anyway. It's a solid movie.
Sources
http://pages.prodigy.com/kubrick/kubtk.htm
www.imdb.com