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I Did Something Wrong...Once:
The Killers (1946)
Review Copyright Roger Zotti,
2000
Adapted from Ernest Hemingway's short story, The
Killers opens with two hit men, Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles
McGraw), arriving in the small town of Brentwood. Their intended target
is Ole "Swede" Anderson (Burt Lancaster, in his film debut), a professional
prizefighter.
Before they kill Swede, Nick Adams (Phil Brown), who has overheard the
killers' plan, warns him.
The prizefighter's reaction stuns Adams. "I did something wrong...once,"
he says. Tired of running, Swede makes no attempt to escape.
The two killers arrive at the sleazy rooming house where Swede is staying,
enter his dim room, and summarily execute him. Satisfied that they've
done their job, they leave.
Tough insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmond O'Brien), obsessed
with finding out why Swede was murdered, doggedly conducts an investigation,
and through a series of Citizen Kane-like flashbacks reconstructs
the prizefighter's world of betrayal, violence, and murder.
In addition to Swede, Reardon learns about Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner,
in her first important dramatic role).
Foster Hirsch, in Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen, writes
that "Swede is one of the most elusive of noir's anti-heroes, and Kitty
is one of the genre's most masked spider women; and the films own devious
structure, its conflicting points of view, its choppy handling of time,
reinforce the enigmatic aura that enshrouds the two main characters."
That Swede fell in with a gang of thieves, became intoxicated with the
sensual, duplicitous Collins and was triple-crossed by her, fuels Riordon's
desire to see that justice is done.
But justice is rare in a world where Kitty Collins and her gangster
boyfriend Big Jim Colfax (Albert Dekker) exist.
The cast of The Killers is excellent. Lancaster and Gardner
ignite the scream, and few actors are better at portraying a relentless
investigator than the talented but underrated O'Brien. Dekker is menacing
as Colfax. The reliable Sam Levene is nearly perfect as a police detective.
Siodmak's taut direction, use of fragmented flashbacks, and multiple
points of view give the film mood and texture.
Anthony Veiller's screenplay (assisted by an unbilled John Huston) is
on dead on.
Notable, too, is Miklos Rosza's musical score, later used in the Dragnet
TV series.
Best Line: "I'm poison to myself and everyone around me."
--Kitty Collins
Principal Players:
Burt Lancaster. . .Ole "Swede" Anderson
Ava Gardner. . .Kitty Collins
Edmond O'Brien. . .Jim Reardon
Albert Dekker. . .Big Jim Colfax
Sam Levene. . . Det. Sam Levinsky
Charles McGraw. . .Al
William Conrad. . .Max
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