The Killing

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The Killing (1956), one of director Stanley Kubrick’s earlier projects, starts with a horse race, something to gamble on. One wants to make a “killing,” that is, to win big when betting on something. That is the legal variation on the definition. The illegitimate side refers to scoring a large sum of money on an illegal act. Of course “killing” may also involve the non-wagering reference to ending someone’s life. All of these meanings are presented in this film. The movie has a Dragnet narrator like Jack Webb in the old TV series, who supposedly is just telling you “the facts.” But, the voice-over adds stylistic embellishments at times in this story. The narration lends a documentary feel to the story, but it can feel intrusive, and Kubrick inserted it when the studio insisted upon it, according to IMDb.

Marvin Unger (Jay C. Flippin) doesn’t care about gambling, but places a bet on every horse in a race, which usually means a person will lose money. His action is the opposite of what a person does to test one’s luck and skill at predicting an outcome. But his action shows early on that he has the cash to bet on something else, a robbery that is in the works. He goes to the track bartender, Mike O’Reilly (Joe Sawyer), and Unger gives the man an address and time written on the racing program, which stresses that what they are attempting, despite planning, is a gamble. Unger then gives the winning ticket to the cashier, George Peatty (Elisha Cook, Jr.), which has the same information written on it. The narrator says that Unger saw himself as a small piece in a jigsaw puzzle that can only be understood when all the pieces fit together, and the complete picture comes into view in a “predetermined” plan, just like the plot of a movie. But the unpredictability of people and events shows another theory of the universe at work, that is Murphy’s Law, which says whatever can go wrong probably will go wrong. (As IMDb points out, Kubrick revisits the theme of humanity’s failure to control existence through technology in Dr. Strangelove and 2001: A Space Odyssey).

Earlier that day policeman Randy Kennan (Ted De Corsia) goes to a club where he sees an acquaintance, Leo (Jay Adler), a loan shark. Kennan owes Leo $3,000 but says he is broke. Kennan says he has something in the works that will pay out big, like a slot machine. So, Kennan is also one of the cogs in the mechanism, but the reference to a slot machine shows how unreliable gambling can be, no matter the strategy one uses. He wants a two-week extension, which Leo grants. 

The narrator introduces Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) as the “the most important thread in the unfinished fabric.” He’s actually the designer. It is another metaphor that implies things are coming together, like the assembling of a puzzle. But that which is woven can unravel. The name Clay implies someone who can mold things, maybe people and events. But, there is the possibility of a religious allusion, since being made of clay suggests fallibility. He is talking to his girlfriend, Fay (Coleen Gray), who he helps dress, suggesting they had just slept together. He says how the men he has assembled don’t have any criminal records, which makes them difficult to investigate. He says, “They’ve all got jobs. They all lead seemingly normal, decent lives. But, they’ve got their problems and they’ve all got a little larceny in ‘em,” Thus, they are capable of illegal activity. Clay uses the word “seemingly,” and there is a theme in the film that appearances can be deceptive.

He notes that Unger owns the building Clay is staying at so he can run the operation from there. Unger is also a bookkeeper, which is one of those legitimate jobs Clay spoke of. Unger handled money the socially accepted way before now. But, he is using his capital in an illegal manner here, like Leo, the bookie, which shows how one can easily cross the line from abiding by the law and breaking it. Fay has known Clay since they were young, and has been waiting for five years for him to get out of prison. He says that people get locked up no matter what the crime, so one should go for the big score. His words may comment on how the justice system isn’t very just, if petty crimes are severely punished. But, he may also be saying that getting locked up is a terrible experience to endure, so one should take the risk of getting imprisoned for something worthwhile. She says he was locked away, but she felt “locked out.” She has low self-esteem, and says she isn’t pretty or smart, so she is all in, to use another gambling phrase. When it comes to Clay, she will “go along with anything” he says. (Their names even rhyme, showing the couplet connection between the two). He seems to really care about Fay, and wants her to stay away except to make a plane reservation (the getaway), and to tell her boss she is going away to get married, which is the couple’s intention. He reassures her that “Everything's gonna be alright,” but this turns out to be a promise that can’t be relied upon. Unger arrives and reassures Fay that there’s “nothing” he wouldn’t do for Clay, which resonates later in the story.

Earlier, O’Reilly the bartender, comes home to his wife, Ruthie (Dorothy Adams). She is asleep and there are medicines next to the bed, so his motivation is that he needs money to take care of his spouse. A little later Peatty, the racetrack cashier, comes back to his apartment. Sherry (Marie Windsor) is his wife, and she is very attractive, and one would think would be out of her husband’s league. She knows that, and as she leisurely lounges while reading a magazine, she is condescending and sarcastic to Peatty. He says his stomach isn’t feeling well (anxious about the robbery?), but she says maybe he has a hole in his stomach that matches the one in his head. She orders him to make her a drink because she is starting not to feel well, implying his presence makes her sick. He tries to tell her he observed a couple that were sweet to each other, suggesting how that is the way a husband and wife ought to be. She continually interrupts him and gives him odds, “seven to five,” that she knows how the story ends. Here is another reference to gambling, trying to use one’s knowledge of the past to take a chance on predicting the future. She is very witty in her comments, which is consistent with film noir dialogue. She basically is telling him he is giving her a headache, but then says, “if people didn’t have headaches, what would happen to the aspirin industry anyway?” He wonders why she married him, and she reminds him that he promised her a lavish lifestyle. When he says he will be coming into a large sum of money, she says he hopes he put the right address on his letter “to the North Pole,” equating his hopes of getting rich with the chances of having Santa Claus granting his wish (in other words, the odds are bad here). However, she knows he doesn’t lie to her, and she manipulates him by implying she will go out and possibly be unfaithful to him until he gives in and she gets him to tell her what he is up to. At this point, we don't hear the operation’s details, but we do know that telling them to Sherry is risky. The relationship between these two contrasts with the mutual affection between Clay and Fay. 

While Peatty goes out to meet with his co-conspirators, Sherry is also involved in another type of unethical arrangement. She visits Val Cannon (Vince Edwards), obviously the man with whom she is having an affair. (Does his name suggest his power and danger?) In this relationship, Cannon appears to have the leverage, as Sherry questions why she couldn’t reach him and notes he is out a great deal. He says he is his own man and doesn’t like being questioned about his activities. She says she loves him, so now she is the one wanting attention, although he suggests that she isn’t honest with him either, saying she told him she went to an afternoon movie and came home late at night. Again, appearances may be inaccurate as she may have another lover, too. There is some stylized dialogue here, as she shows she enjoys the passion between them. He tells her not to be greedy, but she says she is a “glutton” when it comes to him. He says it sounds like she is “going to eat” him “alive.” She then says she just might do that. She is the femme fatale character here, and the linking of eating and sex demonstrates the need to satisfy primal appetites, with her sounding almost like someone capable of devouring others. 

There is a break, which suggests the two were intimate between the scenes. Sherry tells Cannon that he found out from her husband that he's involved with a gang to rob the racetrack where he works. She says she has been preparing to leave her husband (although Cannon says she has been saying that for a while, so maybe she has been stringing him along). But now, she says she wants Cannon to get Peatty’s share after the heist. But, Cannon (the big gun) is thinking on a larger scale, wanting to find out more so he can rob the robbers. Sherry found the note containing the address of the meeting, which they can use for their purposes.

The meeting takes place between the men as they discuss the project. (The influence on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is evident in this film, not only in this scene where the perpetrators gather, but also, according to IMDb, in the non-linear plot). Clay says there are two more men that the others don’t know about but who are reliable and who will receive flat rates as they don't know about the details of the job. They still will be taking chances (gambling?) as to how well these other two men perform their tasks, one starting a fight, the other using a gun, and keep their roles secret. Unger is footing the bill up front and Clay hopes for a two-million-dollar payoff. Clay is meticulous and knows about the security involved. But as he ticks off all the blocks, his flow is interrupted by a sound at the door, which of course means there’s always that monkey wrench someone is ready to throw into the machinery. 

Clay goes to investigate. The other men hear a brief struggle and a slap. They find Sherry unconscious. Peatty acknowledges that it’s his wife, but despite threats, and Kennan smacking him, he lies by saying he told her nothing. Kennan gets off a good sarcastic film noir line by saying Sherry is really just the building inspector “measuring the keyhole.” The tear in that “fabric” the narrator noted is starting to open up. Kennan is the only one that strikes Peatty, showing his impulse to harm others. Peatty covers up by actually guessing that Sherry found the note with their location, but then makes it seem like she was checking up on him to make sure he wasn’t cheating on her (quite a reversal of the truth). Clay orders Kennan and O’Reilly to take Peatty home. Clay tells Unger to take a walk while he interrogates Sherry. This is one of the incidents that makes Unger feel useless except for the money he is contributing to the heist. Outside, Cannon waits in a car with another man, as the kinks are starting to appear in the plan.

As soon as she wakes up, Sherry, instinctively, puts her femme fatale tools to work. Clay compliments while he threatens, saying she has a pretty head on her shoulders, and it would be a shame if it were knocked off. She sees that he is interested and says wouldn’t it be better if her head was on his “shoulder.” She seems to corroborate her husband’s story, but Clay isn’t buying it. He knows, given her looks and Peatty’s mousy character, that she couldn't care less about the possibility that her husband was unfaithful. He says to her, “You’re a no-good nosy tramp.” But, he sees she is cunning and is right when he says he can “read” her “like a book.” He knows she’s interested in money and says she has “a great big dollar sign there, where most women have a heart.” He says that if she keeps her mouth shut, she’ll get her husband’s share. Clay knows Peatty will only keep enough money for a cheap cigar and spend the rest on her. Sherry shows the extent of her selfishness when she says she won’t even let her husband have the cigar. She’s like a monetary vampire. Clay says if she talks, they won’t pull off the job, and she’ll get nothing. She tries to seal their deal with a kiss, but he backs off, resisting her seduction, and tells her to leave. 

Sherry isn’t just Peatty’s Achilles’s heel, she stretches his weakness all the way up to his head. He is talking to Sherry back in their place, while she applies cosmetics to her face, like a carpenter sharpening the most efficient tool. He questions the intentions of his cohorts, given the way they turned on him. He shows his lack of self-respect when he asks what Sherry was really doing at the meeting, knowing full well she knows no other woman would take an interest in him. He is also worried that something happened between Clay and Sherry. His insecurity matches that of Fay, which causes both of them to allow the stronger partners to have control over them. Sherry dismisses his fears, saying that his partners wouldn’t hurt him or her because of his job at the racetrack. But he is too upset and says he’s dropping out. She urges him to stay part of it, and says that if he quits it shows he doesn't really love her. He’s her puppet and she knows how to pull his strings. She gets him to believe that she will always love him with a mind-blinding kiss. He agrees to not withdraw from the robbery. 

The narrator says it’s three days later and Clay is making “the final preparations.” He is at the Academy of Chess and Checkers, suggesting the moves and counter moves needed to win not only games of strategy but also contests between criminals and the law. He meets up with Maurice (Kola Kwariani), who is barking at the shortcomings of two men playing chess, revealing that Maurice knows how to play the game, but the movie shows that skill isn't always enough to win at life. Maurice is a bit of a philosopher and tells Clay that safety is in “mediocrity,” and Clay hasn’t learned that. He says for most of the world, “individuality is a monster and it must be strangled in its cradle” so that the rest of society feels unthreatened by the superiority of certain talented people. Maurice likens artists to gangsters, probably because they challenge restrictions placed on those with exceptional ways of expressing themselves. He warns, “They are admired and hero-worshipped, but there is always present the underlying wish to see them destroyed at the peak of their glory.” The implication here is that those that think outside the box are admired but also envied and feared by those living inside that box. Clay wants the burly Maurice to start a fight with the bartender O’Reilly to distract the racetrack cops. Maurice wants a piece of whatever the enterprise is, but Clay says the $2,500 is enough to keep Maurice in the dark and assure him of a relaxing time for his brief jail sentence for disorderly conduct if used wisely. Maurice accepts the offer.

Clay then visits Nikki (Timothy Carey) to hire him as the gunman. Nikki lives in a secluded, run-down place which shows his poverty. But at least he doesn’t get into trouble there, he says. It does not stop him from being interested in what Clay has to say. Nikki lets Clay try out a high-powered rifle, and he provides targets to practice on. Yet this peddler of violence carries a cute little puppy, possibly an ironic touch. Especially since his job is to shoot the favorite horse in a high stakes race from a somewhat remote location. The idea is to not have the favorite win so the racetrack won’t pay out on bets because the race will be invalidated and there will be more cash on hand to steal. Also, there will be a major distraction. Clay convinces Nikki the $5,000 is worth the risk.

Clay rents a cabin from a friend of his roommate in Alcatraz. Four days later, the day of the robbery, Sherry is acting nice to Peatty to encourage her husband to follow through on the heist. But, she is also working an angle to get Peatty to not trust Clay so she can keep a hold on her power to manipulate him. She implies that Clay forced himself sexually on her, as she tugs on those puppet strings that control her husband’s jealousy. 

The narrator offers a possibility that this day may be Clay’s last, which adds to the theme of the unpredictability of events. He visits Unger and tells him everything is in place. He does, however, allow for the possibility that things can go sideways, so he tells Unger the same thing he told the others, that is, to keep silent. Unger says he wishes he could do more and says he sees Clay as being like a son to him, and tells Clay he’s had bad luck and maybe made a few mistakes, but he can start new after he gets his share of the money. He tells Clay he will have a rich and fulfilling life afterwards. (To make sunny forecasts is foolish, since the film is saying that predictions are unreliable in a chaotic world). Even though Clay says they won’t see each other after they split up their stash of cash, Unger says he wishes that the two of them could go off together. One gets the feeling that Unger has led a lonely, boring life and participated in this caper for some excitement and a chance to connect with Clay. Unger also seems to warn Clay that getting married can be risky because it is difficult to find the right person to share life with. He sees Fay as his competition (could there be a gay attraction subtext at work here?). The offer of the two of them sticking with each other is dismissed good-naturedly by Clay. He just smiles and rubs the older man’s head, as Unger looks sad as Clay leaves.

Clay confirms his reservation at the airport for him and Fay. He goes to the florist to pick up a box that will hold the rifle he received from Nikki. He tells the motel operator that Kennan will drop off a “bundle” later. He then puts the flower box containing the rifle in a storage locker at a bus station. Clay then puts the key to the bus locker in O’Reilly’s apartment mailbox. 

O’Reilly is very attentive and sweet toward his sick wife, urging her to eat her breakfast to keep her strength up. He says someday they will have a nice house and she will get the proper medical care (another wish that will not be granted). Their love is seen in details as he promises to bring home magazines to read and she says he should not drink too much beer when he has a get-together with some friends later that day. All of these men are trying to fix what has gone wrong in their lives and there is a tender side in each of them, except possibly the one who should be the most caring about others, the cop Kennan. But they try to rectify their lives at the expense of the laws that are supposed to protect others.

O’Reilly takes the key from his mailbox and goes to the bus station, picks up the flower box, and takes a bus to the racetrack before starting his bartending shift. As he tells fellow workers in the locker room that the flowers are for his wife, Peatty is in another row pulling a handgun out of his lunch box, (another deceptive container) which shows he has plans of his own, derived from the lie that Sherry told him. Another seam opening up in the fabric of the scheme occurs when a drunk Unger appears and approaches O’Reilly’s bar counter. Kennan calls into the precinct to say his car radio isn’t operating properly so he’ll have an excuse for not being reached. A woman approaches his police car asking for help, saying people are trying to kill each other. Kennan ignores her and coldly drives away, showing his lack of caring about anybody but himself, but also demonstrating how the plan’s timetable has priority over other people’s lives. 

Earlier in the day, Maurice tells the man running the Academy of Chess and Checkers to call a number if he does not return at a designated time. When the man asks about the mysterious request, Maurice says with a smile on his face that asking questions is like looking into the sun for too long and becoming blind. It is said as an anecdote, but it is really a threat underneath the pleasant surface, just like the rifle inside the flower box, and the seemingly meek Peatty. There is a suggestion here that when humans try to control their fate because they are arrogant and fly too high toward the realm of the gods, they will be like Icarus, and will fail.

Maurice and O’Reilly start their fight and Maurice draws all of the guards to take his beefy body away. While the security force leaves their office to stop the fighting, Peatty allows Clay to sneak into the area reserved for employees only. Nikki shows up at the parking lot where he’s supposed to shoot the horse. Even though the lot is closed, he convinces the parking attendant (James Edwards) to let him park there and watch the races because he is a wounded war veteran, and he gives the man a good tip. He is nice to the man after finding out the attendant served in the military. But the fellow keeps coming around, telling Nikki how he appreciates the way Nikki treated him. In order to get rid of him Nikki tells the man harshly to get lost and uses the “n” word since the man is an African American. The attendant had brought him a horseshoe for good luck, another reference to gambling and how nothing is a sure thing. After the ethnic slur, the attendant angrily leaves, throwing the horseshoe on the ground, possibly signifying that Clay’s chances of success are dwindling. Nikki gets off his shot, but he has trouble backing up his car. A security cop, one of those variables not accounted for, shows up and shoots Nikki, killing him. The horseshoe had punctured the tire of his car as it ran over it, demonstrating the bad luck now affecting the crime. 

Clay retrieves the rifle from O’Reilly’s locker and puts on a clown mask, but there is nothing funny about Clay’s true intentions beneath the harmless surface. (Earlier, when the men discover Sherry outside their door, Kennan calls Peatty a “clown”, implying he is a fool. As the story unfolds, Clay turns out to be the real clown for trying to pull off this heist, and the joke is on him). He enters the room where the money is and gets the employees there who have no security to protect them to give him the cash. He makes them stay behind another door, takes off outer clothing, and has a different set of clothes underneath. (Appearances again are deceptive). He hides the removed apparel, his mask, and the gun in the large bag holding the cash and throws the bundle out of the window where Kennan is waiting to retrieve it. However, when Clay exits the door leading out to the public area, a guard stops him, another unexpected occurrence, and Clay knocks him out and blends into the crowd. 

The men are waiting for Clay at the agreed upon time and place following the robbery. Kennan dropped the money at the motel where Clay was staying so it wasn’t in the cop’s patrol car when he went back to the police station. They hear on the radio that two million dollars was stolen from the track. Peatty complains that the punctual Clay is strangely late for the dividing up of their shares and walks into another room for a drink. Then Cannon and his pal show up with guns, as they know about the plan from Sherry. Peatty comes in with the gun we saw earlier in the locker room. He shoots Cannon, guns then go off, and everyone gets killed, except Peatty, who is seriously wounded. 

Clay was late because of traffic. He goes to the wrong cabin at the motel before correcting himself. The incident shows how even the cool Clay can be shaken and is making mistakes. When he arrives at the meeting place, the shooting has already occurred, and Peatty stumbles out, bleeding, as he goes to his car. If it wasn’t for an unforeseen event, the traffic, Clay could have been on time for the meeting and might have been killed, too. It’s just another factor that couldn't have been taken into account, and just happened by chance. There was an arranged consideration among the robbers that if anything didn’t go as planned, then whoever had the money should hold onto it. Clay drives away and buys a large suitcase which he stuffs with the stolen money. However, the key doesn’t lock the bag, another glitch in the machinery. 

Peatty arrives home and asks why Sherry double-crossed him. She starts to lie, then drops the pretense, saying he should have just let things play out, and he better go away because she is expecting Cannon. When he asks her to get him an ambulance, she cruelly tells him to leave and get a cab. Peatty shoots and kills Sherry before he dies, so her scheme also ends in failure.

Fay greets Clay at the airport. There are cops there staking out the area to see if anyone suspicious is trying to leave following the robbery. When the couple go to check in under assumed names, Clay runs into another unexpected problem. The bag holding the money is too large to be carried into the passenger section of the airplane. Clay is now very rattled and has to let the airline check the bag. There is a woman with a dog on the tarmac waiting for her husband and the dog unpredictably jumps out of her arms and causes the man driving the luggage tram to swerve so as not to hit the animal. The dominoes keep falling as these unexpected events lead to the unlocked cash bag falling off of the vehicle, spilling the money all over the ground, and the wind blows the loot around the area. Clay looks like he has been blind-sided, and Fay tries to lead them out of the airport. But, she can’t even get a cab to stop for them (another stumbling block) before the police hear from an airline employee that the bag of money belongs to Clay standing just outside the doors. 

Fay tells Clay he has to run. He stays still as the cops come through the doors. His comment is, “What's the difference?” The film appears to be saying that no matter the effort, trying to impose one’s order onto a world filled with multiple, incalculable possibilities is a fruitless act.

The next film is The Asphalt Jungle.