Criterion digitally restores this earlier release, a combination offering of Robert Siodmak’s 1946 film noir masterpiece The Killers paired with Don Siegel’s retro 1964 remake. Famed adaptations of Ernest Hemingway’s short story, both filmmakers take liberties with the original material to create aggressively different products. Siodmak’s version is not only the German ex-pat’s enduring masterpiece, it’s a definite cornerstone of classic American film noir. Though Siegel’s 60s rehash is considered tacky pastiche of the era, it’s brutal, hard boiled B-grade pulp, notable for its own significant instances.
Siodmak’s version arrived during a golden era of noir, premiering a year after WWII officially ended, with cinematic masculine representation on the eve of an overhaul as method acting would soon reign supreme. Hemingway’s spare story gets a face life from Anthony Veiller (The Stranger; Night of the Iguana), using the murder as a jumping...
Siodmak’s version arrived during a golden era of noir, premiering a year after WWII officially ended, with cinematic masculine representation on the eve of an overhaul as method acting would soon reign supreme. Hemingway’s spare story gets a face life from Anthony Veiller (The Stranger; Night of the Iguana), using the murder as a jumping...
- 7/14/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Killers
Written by Anthony Veiller
Directed by Robert Siodmak
USA, 1946
Written by Gene L. Coon
Directed by Don Siegel
USA, 1964
Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story, “The Killers,” inspired to varying degrees the 1946 and the 1964 screen versions of the same name. To varying degrees because the story is less than 3,000 words and essentially only covers the opening of the two films. A man—Ole “The Swede” Anderson (Burt Lancaster) in the first film, Johnny North (John Cassavetes) in the remake—is hunted down by two hired killers. Right before they shoot him, Ole and Johnny do something strange, or rather, they don’t do something they should: they don’t run, they don’t really move, they don’t even seem to care. Before Ole is killed, he admits he “did something wrong, once” (in film noir, that’s all it takes), and when Johnny is told two men are...
Written by Anthony Veiller
Directed by Robert Siodmak
USA, 1946
Written by Gene L. Coon
Directed by Don Siegel
USA, 1964
Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story, “The Killers,” inspired to varying degrees the 1946 and the 1964 screen versions of the same name. To varying degrees because the story is less than 3,000 words and essentially only covers the opening of the two films. A man—Ole “The Swede” Anderson (Burt Lancaster) in the first film, Johnny North (John Cassavetes) in the remake—is hunted down by two hired killers. Right before they shoot him, Ole and Johnny do something strange, or rather, they don’t do something they should: they don’t run, they don’t really move, they don’t even seem to care. Before Ole is killed, he admits he “did something wrong, once” (in film noir, that’s all it takes), and when Johnny is told two men are...
- 7/14/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
To mark the release of The Killers on 24th Feruary, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on Blu-ray.
There is more than one way to kill a man…
“I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he’d rather die.”
So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny’s associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role).
Loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story, and directed by Don Siegel (whose many other taut, efficient thrillers include Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), The Killers was commissioned...
There is more than one way to kill a man…
“I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he’d rather die.”
So muses hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) after his high-priced victim Johnny North (John Cassavetes) gives in without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed associate Lee (Clu Gulager) track down Johnny’s associates, and uncover a complex web of crime and deceit involving his femme fatale girlfriend Sheila (Angie Dickinson) and ruthless mob boss Jack Browning (Ronald Reagan in his last screen role).
Loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story, and directed by Don Siegel (whose many other taut, efficient thrillers include Dirty Harry and the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers), The Killers was commissioned...
- 2/24/2014
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
(Don Siegel, 1964; Arrow Academy, 18)
Hemingway's 1927 story The Killers is set one evening in a Chicago diner where two hitmen arrive to kill a washed-up boxer, Ole Andreson, who dines there regularly. This night he doesn't show, but when informed of their visit reveals neither surprise nor any intention of running. It's a lean, ironic, funny tale of fate, confronting death and grace under pressure that inspired Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks and was turned into a classic 1946 film noir that made a star of Burt Lancaster. John Huston co-wrote a screenplay in which an insurance investigator discovers why Andresen decided to die rather than flee.
Don Siegel's remake, the first film planned as a full-length TV movie, turned the doomed victim into racing driver Johnny North (John Cassavetes), kept the basic plot of a heist gone wrong, but looked at the story from the viewpoint of ageing hitman Charlie Strom...
Hemingway's 1927 story The Killers is set one evening in a Chicago diner where two hitmen arrive to kill a washed-up boxer, Ole Andreson, who dines there regularly. This night he doesn't show, but when informed of their visit reveals neither surprise nor any intention of running. It's a lean, ironic, funny tale of fate, confronting death and grace under pressure that inspired Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks and was turned into a classic 1946 film noir that made a star of Burt Lancaster. John Huston co-wrote a screenplay in which an insurance investigator discovers why Andresen decided to die rather than flee.
Don Siegel's remake, the first film planned as a full-length TV movie, turned the doomed victim into racing driver Johnny North (John Cassavetes), kept the basic plot of a heist gone wrong, but looked at the story from the viewpoint of ageing hitman Charlie Strom...
- 2/23/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Director: Don Siegel. Review: Adam Wing. Commissioned as the very first 'TV movie', Don Siegel's compelling thriller would be forgiven for being utterly forgettable. As it turns out, The Killers is a bit of a gem, complimented by great casting, strong performances and sparkling dialogue. "I gotta find out what makes a man decide not to run. Why all of a sudden he'd rather die." And so it begins. Hitman Charlie (Lee Marvin) can't quite work out why his high-priced victim, Johnny North (John Cassavetes), gives up without a fight. Obsessed with the answer, Charlie and his hot-headed partner, Lee (Clu Gulager), track down Johnny's associates, including Ronald Reagan in his last screen role, uncovering a complex web of crime and deceit along the way. The Killers is loosely inspired by the Ernest Hemingway story of the same name. It's the second Hollywood adaptation, first brought to life in...
- 2/13/2014
- 24framespersecond.net
Arrow Films’ Arrow Academy label is pleased to announce the release of The Killers, coming to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on 24th February. Probably best known as the film that was intended to be the first TV movie, but pulled by broadcasters due to what was seen as overtly graphic violence, The Killers, most importantly, is the film that established Lee Marvin. This feature-packed disc will be released as a deluxe Blu-ray featuring original and newly commissioned artwork, an archive interview with director Don Siegel, new and exclusive interviews with Dwayne Epstein, author of 'Lee Marvin: Point Blank' and Marc Eliot, author of 'Ronald Reagan: The Hollywood Years', alongside an exclusive collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mike Sutton, extracts from Don Siegel’s autobiography and contemporary reviews. Not only that, you can now enjoy the film in both the...
- 1/24/2014
- 24framespersecond.net
Arrow Films’ Arrow Academy label is pleased to announce the release of The Killers, coming to Blu-ray for the first time in the UK on 24th February. Probably best known as the film that was intended to be the first TV movie, but pulled by broadcasters due to what was seen as overtly graphic violence, The Killers, most importantly, is the film that established Lee Marvin. This feature-packed disc will be released as a deluxe Blu-ray featuring original and newly commissioned artwork, an archive interview with director Don Siegel, new and exclusive interviews with Dwayne Epstein, author of 'Lee Marvin: Point Blank' and Marc Eliot, author of 'Ronald Reagan: The Hollywood Years', alongside an exclusive collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Mike Sutton, extracts from Don Siegel’s autobiography and contemporary reviews. Not only that, you can now enjoy the film in both the...
- 1/24/2014
- 24framespersecond.net
In the credits to his masterpiece "Unforgiven," Clint Eastwood included a dedication: "for Don Siegel and Sergio Leone." Leone was a no-brainer, one of the great filmmakers who worked with Clint on a trio of films ("The Good The Bad And The Ugly," "A Fistful Of Dollars" and "For A Few Dollars More"). But Siegel was less beloved of cinephiles. A cosmopolitan Chicago native who studied at Jesus College, Cambridge, he started directing montages at Warner Bros. (including the opening scene of "Casablanca"), before breaking into features, with a string of B-movies with everyone from Robert Mitchum to Elvis Presley (the latter on 1960's "Flaming Star"), but became most notable for his work with Eastwood on five pictures from 1968's "Coogan's Bluff" to 1979's "Escape From Alcatraz."
Siegel was an unpretentious, unprecious director, best known for tough, muscular crime movies, but he never became an auteur favorite, despite his obvious...
Siegel was an unpretentious, unprecious director, best known for tough, muscular crime movies, but he never became an auteur favorite, despite his obvious...
- 4/20/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
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