The second adaptation of an Ernest Hemingway short, the Killers is the latest release from Arrow’s Academy label. The first adaptation was the feature acting début of Burt Lancaster and is regarded as a film noir classic; this 1964 adaptation directed Don Siegel is a much more traditional crime thriller, prominent for being Ronald Reagan’s final role before his political career, playing a villain no less. The subtext that history has given us is just too delicious.
Hitting a school for the deaf, Hitmen Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager) gun down Johnny North (John Cassavetes), usually Charlie’s marks run but not Johnny, he accepted his fate. This is the first time this has ever happened to Charlie, that and the amount paid for a hit on a teacher seems disproportionate. These two facts see Charlie and Lee trace who Johnny was and who put the hit on him, an investigation made all the easier thanks to the rumour of a $million job bubbling around the grapevine. This leads the two titular killers to three people who had recent contact with Johnny North, finding out that he was a race driver who turned to crime after a nasty crash. Make no mistakes; Charlie and Lee’s roles are that of an extended framing device. This is the story of Johnny North.
the real worth of the Killers comes from the passages that trace the downfall of Johnny North – his doomed romance is the true measure of Gene L. Coon’s screenplay.
THE KILLERS (1964)
The remake (or re-adaptation) is a fatigued trend in modern cinema, and although Don Siegel’s adaptation of Hemmingway’s rises way above that, something has been lost in moving from film noir into the broader crime thriller. Siegel’s film has all the unmistakable tropes of the 1960s and 70s [mainstream] crime entertainment, take away the lightly applied claret and this would be perfect fodder early Colombo or lesser Hitchcock. The prior makes perfect sense when one considers that this was initially planned to be released as a TV movie. This all leads towards the Killers (1964) feeling a little on the safe side, like the danger of Hemmingway short and Siodmak’s noir have been washed away in pursuit of accessibility.
That observation doesn’t make this iteration of the Killers bad. These discrepancies are at their most prominent through the framing device, whenever Charlie or Lee put the squeeze on someone it is reigned in. Of course, there is also the strong possibility that the extreme evolution of the crime genre makes Siegel’s film appear positively quaint. Possibly. However, the real worth of the Killers comes from the passages that trace the downfall of Johnny North – his doomed romance is the true measure of Gene L. Coon’s screenplay.
Three actors are centrifugal in making the Killers a great piece of crime fiction. The first and smallest role belongs to Claude Akins, he plays Sylvester – he is the first storyteller, setting the ball rolling in the recounting of Johnny’s life. His role could be filled with anyone, but he makes it his own his showing the first and only bit of sadness and remorse over the death of his friend, for everybody else Johnny North was just a tool to be manipulated. A few seconds of raw emotion are worth way more than their weight in gold. Johnny North is played with the same class and gravitas that made John Cassavetes’ name, he is both the figurative and literal heartbeat of the film if he didn’t play such a large role the film wouldn’t have anywhere such a beloved legacy. Completing that trio is Lee Marvin. Even if Charlie is a self-interested character, Marvin inadvertently becomes a towering avenger through; it’s a near-perfect match of character to an actor.
While not one of the best 1960′s thrillers, Don Siegel’s The Killers is a consistently entertaining reminder that a light touch can be just as effective.
THE KILLERS (1964) IS OUT NOW ON ARROW ACADEMY BLU-RAY
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