Kill Me Again
BIFF! Next week’s Film Club will be Stanley Kubrick’s THE KILLING. High time I saw it again, and it seems like one where we can have fun debating the good versus the bad, since Kubrick hasn’t become perfect yet. But it’s a terrific, excoriating* film, and anybody who hasn’t had the pleasure yet is in for a two-fisted treat.
*had to look it up.
shadowplay 
August 25, 2009 at 3:50 pm
How timely you should choose this of all films, since its influence on a certain “QT” seems more than a little apparent. Looking forward to it.
August 25, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Yes, this might trigger a reappraisal of Resevoir Dogs or Jackie Brown!
Much as I disliked the experience of Inglourious Basterds, I sort of wish other big releases gave us as much to discuss, either formally or in terms of intent. I doubt Die Hard 4 would lead to 100+ comments, and I doubt even Avatar will.
August 25, 2009 at 6:00 pm
The Killing is a fairly nice variation on The Asphalt Jungle. But aside from establishnig the fact that Kubrick is very talented, it doesn’t at all suggest what was to come.
August 25, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I recall years ago seeing THE KILLING for the first time, although thinking beforehand I was getting ready to watch THE ASPHALT JUNGLE, which I’d already seen once. Once I started watching it was then that I realized that there were TWO good heist films with Hayden in the lead, and had gotten them mixed up.
August 25, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Melville was asked why he liked The Killing so much, since it owed so much to The Asphalt Jungle (a film he liked so much he duplicated a set exactly in Le Doulos, I think). He replied, “Yes, it is almost the same film. But it’s even better!”
The main difference is the unorthodox chronology, which Kubrick never really used again — Lolita’s opening is the only other example that comes close.
August 25, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Welles preferred THE KILLING over THE ASPHALT JUNGLE.
I completely disagree but it’s a damn good film. THE KILLING is a good genre variation but that’s what it is, whereas the Huston transcends the genre.
August 25, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Maybe I need to rewatch both, actually.
August 25, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Just watched LOLITA again the other night, for the umpteenth time. It never fails to charm the hell out of me, I delight in just about every single aspect of that film, casting, cinematography, dialogue, structure, Nelson Riddle’s music…
For me the most significant difference between THE ASPHALT JUNGLE and THE KILLING is in the sympathy we feel for the characters in the former, we end up caring for these losers in a way that just isn’t quite there for those of the latter. No doubt Huston had a lot to do with that, even though as you’ve stated in the past Huston as a person wasn’t the most likable of men. Charming, but not the most likable.
August 25, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Anjelica would agree with you.
August 25, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Huston did have a fatherly affection for his characters, however messed up they are.
The Killing is greatly influenced by Jim Thompson’s script contribution, and he’s not really a big guy for sympathy. And certainly neither is SK.
It does seem that Kubrick was a more successful dad than Huston. I mean, for a start, he was THERE.
August 25, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Great idea, David C. since only the cropped VHS version of ANATOMY exists here .
August 25, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Damn, that’s criminal! You need to start illegally downloading on a massive scale! Preminger in the wrong ratio is like Bardot in thick, baggy clothing.
August 26, 2009 at 3:00 am
Kubrick was the rare director who succeeded in uniting his work and his life…what makes him so unique is that he did this as a major director working for a big studio who gave him creative control an pretty much left him alone.
LOLITA along with BARRY LYNDON are my favourites of his films. And the reason for that is that regardless of what the characters do, Kubrick makes them very empathetic in those films at various moments. Especially LOLITA in that beautiful scene at the end when Humbert’s romanticism is shattered by Sue Lyon.
August 26, 2009 at 4:37 am
IN HARM’S WAY is available widescreen at a local music store, though. A few weeks back I did get a cropped A&E version of Sirk’s INTERLUDE that a friend in Paris had seen in lettetrbox and got much more out of it as a result. I’ll try ordering ANATOMY ivia our University but it will arrive too late for FILM CLUB so I’ll just read what will be very informed comments
August 26, 2009 at 4:47 pm
The Huston Charm:
August 26, 2009 at 8:32 pm
The Pearl Harbor sequence in In Harm’s Way is pretty incredible — long take camera moves with exploding buildings. But I’m not too keen on the movie.
Hmm, maybe we should make this penultimate weekly Film Club about Asphalt Jungle AND The Killing. You can watch either or both.