The Killers

Please Note: This review is for the'44 version; This tense B/W crime thriller ranks as one of German director Robert Siodmak’s all-time best. Being hunted out of Germany by mounting **** pressure - this Universal International film earned him an Oscar nomination. Working with Burt Lancaster in his impressive movie debut and beautiful Ava Gardner in her first dramatic role, Siodmak brought Ernest Hemingway’s detailed heist story to vivid life. The opening is classic drama at its eerie best and the cast is peppered with a noteworthy ensemble of dramatic reliables - keeping the mystery alive to the fast-paced surprise finale. Cinematographer Woody Bredell works well with Siodmak, creating a complex moody atmosphere, adding extra style to this above-average noir. This version stands head and shoulders above the rather dismal, ‘64 color remake. The newly cleaned-up Shock DVD transfer gives improved on-screen image and sound but stops short of a full HD remastering. Criterion may have an HD vers.

A confused hybrid of a film that's got one foot in the future and the other in the past, both in terms of story and technique. Lee Marvin steals the show as the brains behind a two-man assassination outfit, confounded by the willingness of a recent target to meet his maker. With time and money at their disposal, the hitmen decide to investigate what kind of circumstance could make a man happy to see them and, eventually, uncover a complex heist-gone-bad. Marvin and his permanently sunglassed cohort play sympathetic bad seeds, two charismatic characters who aren't afraid to take what they want when they see it. Unfortunately, they also play second fiddle to a series of recklessly crisscrossed flashback sequences that range from redundant to confusing to outright dull, without a central character half as interesting as the killers themselves. Painfully bad special effects, a phoned-in performance by Ronald Reagan (in his final film role) and a flat, unfulfilling ending drop this one far short of its potential.