score by Miklós Rózsa
Ah, those were the days when life insurance investigators were sharper and sexier than both policemen and their adversaries. Or, at least, their male adversaries. This classic 1946 film noir stars then virtually unknown Ava Gardner — born 100 years ago today — as the femme fatale Kitty and, in his cinematic debut, Burt Lancaster as a handsome and not too bright ex-boxer, “The Swede”. However, it’s Edmond O’Brien (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance) as Jim Reardon who is the best actor here. Vince Barnett appears in a small but memorable role of Charleston, the astronomy-loving thief.
Reardon: How well did you know the Swede?
Charleston: Me? Mister, I guess me and the Swede were about as close as two guys can get. For nearly two years we weren’t more than eight and a half feet apart. That’s how big the cell was.
Reardon: When was the last time you saw him?
Charleston: Mister, did you say “when?”
Reardon: Yes.
Charleston: Mister, when it comes to dates, 1492 is the only one I can remember.
Some curiosities: like Double Indemnity, another classic of the genre, The Killers was nominated for a bunch of Academy Awards but didn’t win any. Next one: although the film was promoted as “Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers”, it’s only the opening sequence that it based on the Hemingway’s 1927 short story. And, as I’ve just learned, the same story was adapted ten years later by Andrei Tarkovsky for his first picture, Убийцы, where “The Swede” was played by Vasily Shukshin, also in his film debut.
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