Kubrick's Fatalistic Heist Thriller

THE KILLING (1956)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Stanley Kubrick's heist drama "The Killing" is one of the finest noir films of the 1950's, a film so deliberately wire-tight that it will leave exhausted and exhilarated. Its one of the most tense thrillers of all time, and likely to leave you gasping for air after it is all over.

The film introduces us immediately to a host of characters, all involved in a big-time upcoming heist of a racetrack. Kubrick introduces the device of the omniscient narrator, a sort of "Dragnet"-like voice-over that is essential in understanding and following the structure of the story, particularly the time shifts in "Rashomon" style, atypical for that time. The narrator also comments on the actions of the characters, their timed schedules and documentary-like shot scenes of their initial preparations an

d confrontations with others while planning and partaking in this heist.

Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) is the leader of this heist, a witless though direct and thorough professional thief and ex-con. He is ready to rob San Francisco's Bay Meadows Race Track of a cool two million dollars. This prodigious amount of money is to be split up between Clay and a crew that includes a former Greek wrestler and chess player, Maurice (Kola Kwarian); a psychopathic sharpshooter with a thick accent of some kind, Nikki (Tim Carey); a patrolman deep in debt (Ted de Corsia); a wimpy track cashier, George (Elisha Cook, Jr.); a track bartender, Mike O'Reilly (Joe Sawyer); and a wise old drunk, Unger (J.C. Flippen) - the latter has a touchingly real scene where Unger admits to Clay that he sees him as his own son. It is a motley crew to be sure, and the narrator makes it clear from the outset that this will be a botched, messy robbery, which they often are in the movies anyway.

Kubrick was already beginning to show a smooth handling with his actors. Hayden says his lines with such dexterity and a fast-paced alertness that you must listen closely to keep up with him, as was the case later with Hayden's similar role in Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." He is tall, commanding, and takes no prisoners. Elisha Cook, Jr. has many great scenes, a handful of them are with his conniving wife, Sherry (played by the fabulous Marie Windsor). Their relationship shows a genuine love-hate bond where money is the driving issue, and there are the customary put-downs of her husband's behavior by Sherry (You've got a hole in your head.")

I also enjoyed the scenes between the track bartender, Mike, and his invalid wife whom he promises to take better care of. All these scenes indicate not only the level of financial desperation in these men but also how far they are willing to go to protect their families. In the case of the stocky cop, his needs are to pay off a loan shark. The cashier George simply wants to give his wife a better life, and is thus dismayed to learn that money is all she cares about.

"The Killing" has many twists and turns, and slowly the machinations of the plot become tighter and unfold faster once they approach the climactic robbery itself. We know the planned robbery will go wrong, but the steadfast pacing and controlled tension makes it amazingly tense to watch. The narrator knows what will happen and so do we, and part of the pleasure of the film is seeing the racetrack robbery from different perspectives. This was all unusual for its time, and led the way to Tarantino's own pulp stories, particularly "Reservoir Dogs," its most direct influence.

There are so many great scenes and dialogue of such color and distinction that this film bears close relation with the classic noir "Double Indemnity" (Example: "You've got a big dollar sign where others have a heart.") "The Killing" is simply a huge improvement over Kubrick's former noir tale "Killer's Kiss." The music by Gerald Fried tightens the narrative screws and keeps us in suspense. The performances are extraordinary (including Vince Edwards as another small-time hood). The camerawork is astoundingly good (shot by Lucien Ballard, who used the widest camera lens at the time, a 25mm, for heightened reality). "The Killing" is high on my list of the most fatalistic of all noir tales, guaranteed to keep your stomach in knots from start to finish.

Catch Me, Please!

PENELOPE (1966)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

A phosphorescently lit romantic comedy from the 1960's always has a nostalgic hold on anyone who loved watching them, even if some felt like warm do-overs from the Marilyn Monroe and Doris Day 1950's relics. But when it comes to a powerhouse actress like Natalie Wood, it is either fittingly funny (as in her so-so "Sex and the Single Girl") or full of slapstick gags left and right as in "The Great Race." Natalie rarely disappoints so I was delighted to see a frothy confection with sugary residue glue me to the screen. This is no great movie comedy nor is it nearly as roaringly funny as it should have been, but it is a classy, spirited movie with Natalie shining on screen like the captivating movie star she was.

The plot could've been mined for more laughs than it gets in its first half-hour or so. Penelope is married to a wealthy banker (Ian Bannen) and since she's not getting any attention from him (he shamefully fools around with other women right in front of her!), she decides to start robbing his bank. First, she convincingly pretends to be a wrinkly old woman who wants a few thousand dollar bills, you know the ones with Grover Cleveland on them. Then she starts teasing the cops and detectives, almost as if she wants to get caught. One bright detective (played by pre-"Columbo" Peter Falk) knows Penelope is behind it yet contains his delight in how she doesn't even try to deceive anyone. It turns out, through a series of flashbacks, that she is something of a kleptomaniac. Some flashbacks feel ill-timed and hardly memorable, especially a cringe-inducing cameo by Jonathan Winters as a lecherous chemistry teacher (not to be seen to be believed - you have been warned). Far better are flashes of Penelope's developing romance with the banker where it turns out she was some sort of fun-loving hippie (her singing of the song "The Sun is Grey" is eye-poppingly groovy in its slight nod to psychedelic colors of the time) rather than the mink-loving, Givenchy-dress wearing Penelope we see through most of the film.

"Penelope" is mutely spirited and not too free-floatingly funny in the first half of the film - it just merely amuses. Then it becomes a bit of a laugh riot especially the shenanigans involving Penelope and her smitten psychiatrist (a hilariously over-the-top Dick Shawn), or Peter Falk's bemused concern at Penelope's crying fits and her disbelief that the police can't catch the real thief. We get a few oddball characters like a wealthy couple (Lou Jacobi, Lila Kedrova) who discover Penelope is the thief and try to bribe her. And through and through, Penelope wants to get caught and keeps thinking that her husband will eventually see she is not lying. Then we get a sequence at a cocktail party where she starts returning jewels and pearls to friends who don't want them and they insist they never had anything stolen. Huh? I still don't get the point of that sequence unless Penelope only imagined stealing from her group of friends but not from the bank? Were those flashbacks real? Or do these rich folks simply not care because it is only money? 

"Penelope" is a wonderful if slightly off balance comic vehicle for Natalie Wood. With truly gorgeous array of costumes by Edith Head, Natalie burns the screen fast with her charm and sophisticated elegance that also allows for a little girlishness. The film flopped at the box-office but I will take it over "Sex and the Single Girl" any day.