| Director: | Robert Siodmak |
|---|---|
| Production: | Universal Pictures |
| Running Time: | 102’ |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
| Year: | 1946 |
| Main Cast: | Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brian, Albert Dekker, Sam Levene, John Miljan, Virgina Christine, Vince Barnett, Charles D. Brown |
| Screenplay: | Anthony Veiller |
| Cinematographer: | Elwood Bredell |
| Editor: | Arthur Hilton |
| Production Designer: | Jack Otterson, Martin Obzina |
| Costume Designer: | Vera West |
| Music: | Miklos Rozsa |
| Sound: | Bernard B. Brown |
| Visual Effects: | David S. Horsley |
| Restoration: | Universal Pictures |
| Notes: | The screening will be preceded by a video introduction from Martin Scorsese |
Cinema
The Killers
Venice Classics
Synopsis
Some hitmen kill their designated victim, who puts up no resistance. Investigator Reardon uncovers the truth.
Director’s Statement
I always preferred purely fictional gangster films to the documentary-style one [...]. The times when the crime movie started with banner headlines and police cars speeding down main streets with sirens blaring are over. They are a gift from cinema to television! These “headline pictures,” as they were called, portrayed types, not characters. What I find more interesting than anything else, though, are characters. The first gangster film I made in Hollywood was called The Killers. Here the criminals were not just an anonymous mob. Each man was an individual, an independent and separate being. For a director, I think the best way to tackle this genre of film is to let the audience work out its secret. Not in such a way that they have to ask themselves who did it, but to get them to follow the story from the viewpoint of a character.
Robert Siodmak in Films and Filming, vol. V, no. 9, 1959. The passage has been translated from the Italian version.
Production/Distribution
PRODUCTION: Universal Pictures
100 Universal City Plaza
91608, Universal City - United States
Tel. +1 818 7774727
michael.daruty@nbcuni.com
PRODUCTION WHEN THE FILM WAS MADE: Universal Pictures
WORLD SALES: David Bristow, Executive Director - United International Pictures, Bldg. 5, Chiswick Park,
566, Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5Y5
Tel. +44 (0) 203 184 2536
david_bristow@uip.com
PRESS OFFICE: Aaron Rogers, Senior Director Sales and Marketing,
NBCUniversal, 100 Universal City Plaza, Bldg. 4250, Universal City, CA 91608
Tel: 818-777-2352
aaron.rogers@nbcuni.com
