Product Details

• Actors: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Special Edition, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Criterion
• DVD Release Date: February 18, 2003
• Run Time: 196 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007ELDG
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,426 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Killers (The Criterion Collection)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 02/18/2003 Run time: 196 minutes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

86 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If they had a chance they ran... but he just stood there..., May 3, 2003

By 

Paul Fogarty "Hopeless film addict!" (LA, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Killers (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

The first thing I would like to say is that "The Killers," is a superb production from the people at Criterion. Long renowned for the excellence of their titles, they really have outdone themselves this time `round. Not only do we have the two feature length versions of Hemmingway's story, from 1946 and 1964 respectively, but we have a wonderfully atmospheric audio reading of the original by Stacy Keach, a 1949 radio adaptation, AND Andriie Tarkovsky's 1956 student film version; "The Killers" x 5!!! Of the rest of the extensive "extras," the jewel in the crown is an interview with Clu Gulager, filmed in 2002, in which he tells some great stories about the 1964 production, and Lee Marvin in particular!

As much as I'm a huge fan of Film Noir, and Burt Lancaster, I have to admit I'd never even heard of the original 1946 version... shame on me! No, I bought this for the masterful Don Siegel version, staring Marvin, Gulager, Angie Dickenson, John Cassavetes, and in his only "bad guy" role, the future President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan! Indeed, it was one of the first films I looked for on DVD when I got my shiny-disc machine, and this is somewhat surprising, as I'd only ever seen the film once, sometime back in the 70's, on British TV!

This film, especially its electrifying final scenes, featuring an incredible performance by Marvin, seared itself into my memory for the better part of 30 years, and watching it again after all this time has NOT been a disappointment! The character of hit man "Charlie Strom" was, for me, the defining image of Lee Marvin. Tough - damn, forget "tough," we're talking hard-as-nails here! - menacing, cold, logical, world weary, and brutal, when the situation warrants it. His presence drives the film, a powerhouse performance; he commands the screen every minute he's up there on it, something Clu Gulager talks about in detail. And Clu's character, "Lee," is as different from Marvin's as it's possible to get. Younger and "hipper," he wears his shades because they make him look cool, and not just to disguise his identity. He's a health nut, always ready to crack a joke, but he has a sadistic streak, he enjoys the fear he instills in people, and whereas "Strom' uses violence as a tool, "Lee" enjoys it for its own sake.

Separated by nearly 20 years in the making, the films are, in reality, light years apart in everything but the name. The 1946 version starts strong when two hit men, Max and Al, played by William Conrad - anyone remember "Cannon?!" - and Charles McGraw respectively, breeze into town, then park themselves in the local dinner. They spit out wonderfully hard-boiled Hemmingway dialogue almost verbatim from the original story, terrorize the staff, and then go off to kill "The Swede." And that is where the original story ends, and it's exactly here that the film runs out of steam, with a dogged insurance investigator, played by Edmond O'Brian, spending the next hour or so trying to piece together what happened to "The Swede." It's effectively done, using flashbacks from various characters, but in comparison to those first 15 minutes or so, it seems pretty lightweight.

Don Siegal's "The Killers," on the other hand, is altogether much stronger meat. He takes the basic premise of Hemmingway's story, a man accepting his own death at the hands of two paid hit men, and runs with it in an entirely different direction. Told entirely from the perspective of the hit men themselves, the story really takes off when Marvin's character starts to think about what just happened, why the mark, ex-racing driver "Johnny North," didn't try to escape, didn't plead for his life. "If they had a chance," he says of all his previous hits, "they ran... but he just stood there and took it." Just as the original film used the device of flashbacks to tell the story, "Strom" and "Lee" set about joining the dots as they track down the various players in this dark morality tale concerning the missing dough from a robbery, a triple-crossing dame, and a love-sick fall-guy. There isn't a wasted line of dialogue or a superfluous frame of celluloid in the whole production, every part is played to perfection, including Claude Akins as "North's" old racing partner, and a wonderfully slimy Ronald Reagan, all pomaded hair, pursed lips, and cocked eyebrow, as crime boss "Jack Browning."

Siegal's "The Killers" was planned as the original TV Movie, but, possibly, in the aftermath of JFK's assassination, the film was deemed to be too violent, the subject matter of two gunmen committing cold-blooded murder just too much for network television. By today's standards, however, the violence is minimal, although the actual hit itself is very effectively staged. But then again, what makes it work are the performances of Marvin, Gulager, and Cassavetes, and the setting, a school for the blind where "North" is a teacher; there's no graphic, blood splattered, "dance of death!"

As a piece of modern Noir, I think Siegal's "The Killers" is exemplary, as is the magnificent production from The Criterion Collection... this really IS Essential Cinema, buy it today, you won't regret it!

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First rate Film Noir, March 28, 2004

By 

Gregory Olsen "renaissance man" (San Ramon, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Killers (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

The Killers from 1946, Burt Lancaster's debut movie, is fantastic. It is one of the finest in the noir genre. Ava Gardner is a truly devilish femme fetale. The plot is full of twists and turns. The film begins with the ending so to speak, like Sunset Boulevard. The mise-en-scene is stylish and dark. I highly recommend this film for fans of film noir.

The DVD is an excellent print. It is sharp and the soundtrack is well restored.

The "remake" for TV (1964) starring Lee Marvin and co-starring Ronald Reagan (as a heavy no less) is included. It bears little resemblence to the original. The film focuses on the killers this time, rather than an insurance detective. The killers are a preview of the kind of characters we would see thirty years later in Pulp Fiction.

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars unlikely pairing -- rewarding package, February 22, 2003

By 

Clark Dimond (Gardner, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Killers (The Criterion Collection) (DVD)

Despite the commonality of the source material, one would not expect these movies to be joined at the hip like Siamese twins. The 1946 Siodmak is definitive noir: black and white, contrasty, artfully lit, with William Conrad and Charles McGraw in the title roles, played almost as extras -- shadowy figures spouting Hemingway dialogue in an Eisneresque diner in a mythical New Jersey. The 1964 Siegel version, brightly-lit in color, casts the killers as the central characters, played not-quite-for-laughs in over-the-top characterizations by a prime-of-life Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, (a very funny actor, who has also recorded a sensitive commentary) the philosopher hit-man and the health-food nut -- precursors perhaps of the Travolta and Jackson characterizations of Pulp Fiction. There's an excellent and knowledgeable reading of the Hemingway story by Stacy Keach, a poorly read excerpt from Don Siegel's autobiography, an interview with Siegel's biographer, a radio play with Lancaster and Shelley Winters (!) and for completists of Tarkovsky, a risible but competent student film. All in all a grab-bag that even includes an uncredited appearance of Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton as the farmer in the 1947 version. Marvin is hot, Gulager is a hoot, Lancaster a hunk and Ava a beauty. Then there's an Edmund O'Brien performance that's as subtle as the one he would give in The Wild Bunch. And for the political, John Cassavetes decks Ronald Reagan, who gives a cold, professional performance, and gets to slap Angie Dickinson. A great package, the sum worth more than the parts.