The Killers is a 1964 neo-noir crime film directed by Don Siegel.
Professional hit man Charlie Storm (Lee Marvin) and his partner Lee (Clu Gulager) track down their latest victim, former race car driver Johnny North (John Cassavetes). They dispatch him with ease; in fact, he simply stands there and takes it, almost as though he'd been waiting for them.
Afterwards, Charlie and Lee commiserate about the job. They are very curious about the fate of the $500,000 that Johnny is said to have taken in a big heist. Charlie is more philosophically curious about why a man, any man, wouldn't try to run. They investigate, and discover a story that involves Johnny's affair with sexy athlete groupie Sheila Farr (Angie Dickinson), who just happened to be the mistress of the brutal crime boss turned real estate developer Jack Manning (Ronald Reagan), who planned the big heist.
The second screen adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway short story, following the iconic 1946 version. Famous as the last acting role for future 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan; also famous as an extreme Playing Against Type role for Reagan (reportedly he was reluctant to do it). It ran in theaters two years before Reagan was elected governor of California in 1966.
Tropes:
- Adapted Out: In the first movie the guy who unravels the story was an insurance investigator. In this version the insurance guy is eliminated and it's the hitmen who uncover the heist story.
- Adaptational Name Change:
- Ole Anderson to Johnny North
- Kitty Collins to Sheila Farr
- Big Jim Colfax to Jack Browning
- Al and Max to Charlie and Lee
- Blinky Franklin to Mickey Farmer
- Almost Dead Guy: Charlie lives long enough to kill Jack and Sheila, before he finally keels over dead.
- Anyone Can Die: Of the first seven characters listed in the credits, only two, Mickey and Earl, survive.
- Ascended Extra: In the 1946 film the hit men are minor characters. In this version they are elevated to protagonists.
- As You Know: Lee feels it necessary to describe their victim as "Johnny North, hotshot race car driver" right after they kill him.
- The Caper: Diverting a mail truck, then holding it up and stealing the large bankroll within.
- Creator Cameo: Don Siegel as a cook in a diner.
- Death by Adaptation: Kitty survives (but is presumably imprisoned) in the 1946 film, but Sheila is shot by Charlie in this one.
- Dutch Angle: Some sharply tilted shots as Charlie and Lee stalk the school for the blind, looking for Johnny.
- Face Death with Dignity: The hitmen are shocked by how Johnny approached his death, noting that he stood there and didn't run away or scream. It is this which leads them to investigate their own contract and unearth Swede's backstory.
- Flashback: While the 1946 film had eleven separate flashbacks that resorted in a weird Anachronic Order structure, this film has a more standard structure, with the Johnny-Sheila-Jack story unfolding in a straighter series of flashbacks as the hitmen ask people about it.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Charlie has to take a swig from a bottle before he tells the killers about the sad story of how his relationship with Johnny North played out.
- I Was Never Here: After getting the story of the robbery from Mickey, Charlie tells him to forget everything and also to forget that the two hit men visited him. Mickey, who seems to like being alive, agrees.
- Number Two: Mickey (Norman Fell) is Jack's sidekick in crime. Unlike the five main charcters, he doesn't die.
- One Last Job: Charlie admits to Lee that he's getting weary of killing people and hopes if they find the money Johnny North stole he can pass the contract killing business onto Lee and then retire. Three guesses how that turns out.
- Only in It for the Money: The reason that brings Charlie and Lee to investigate the reasons behind a murder commited by themselves is to get a bigger profit out of it.
- Pet the Dog: Lee pets a guide dog in the garden of a charity center for blind people... Just before terrorizing and hitting the crap out of a blind old lady.
- Plot-Triggering Death: Johnny's strange acceptance of his own murder sets Charlie and Lee off investigating why.
- Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Sheila launches into her usual BS about how she didn't want anything that Jack did and he forced her and blah blah blah. Charlie says "Lady, I don't have the time," and shoots her. There's a double meaning in the line: it's a snappy Pre-Mortem One-Liner but it's also literally true, as Charlie is rapidly bleeding to death.
- Remake Cameo: Virginia Christine, who plays Ole's first girlfriend in the 1946 movie, is the secretary at the school for the blind in this one.
- Sinister Shades: Charlie and Lee wear the standard intimidating hitman sunglasses. In fact the first shot of the movie is a closeup shot of Charlie wearing his, reflected in Lee's lens.
- The Sociopath: Lee shows quite a crazy, childish and violent attitude in contrast to his mentor/partner Charlie, a tough, rough but level-minded professional.
- Soft-Spoken Sadist: Jack Browning is a vicious, murderous criminal, but he's always calm and collected and never raises his voice. When Sheila refuses to stop caressing Johnny, saying simply "I like it here" when Jack tells her to leave, he calmly says "Well I can fix that." Then he slaps her across the face.
- Something Else Also Rises: As Johnny is taking Sheila for a joyride in his race car, she deliberately puts her hand on his thigh. He slams the gas pedal down and the speedometer needle flips over.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Mickey Farmer survives, unlike Blinky, his counterpart in the original movie.
- There Are Two Kinds of People in the World: When the gang traces Johnny to his Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job as a mechanic fixing race jalopies, Mickey says "There are two kinds of kooks: the ones who race these wrecks, and the ones who watch them."
- This Is What the Building Will Look Like: Jack Browning, who is apparently trying to go legit with the "Browning Development Corporation", has models of construction developments in his swanky office.
- Villain Protagonist: The two killers are the protagonists, with Lee Marvin as the main lead.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Sheila the scheming Femme Fatale convinces Johnny to betray Jack and take all the money, a plan which requires Johnny throw Jack out of a speeding car. Then she betrays Johnny, leading him to a hotel rendezvous where Jack, lying in wait, shoots Johnny. It is not at all clear why Sheila and Jack didn't simply shoot Johnny to begin with.
- Would Hit a Girl: Jack Manning slaps Sheila across the face hard when she's openly canoodling with Johnny. Pretty famously, it's Ronald Reagan that does it.
