I'd give this movie an 11 if I could. I never thought it would be possible to improve on Robert Siodmak's 1946 classic "The Killers," but this 1964 classic from Don Siegel is that rare case of a remake that was better than the original. If it lacks the 1940s noir glamour of the original, it makes up for it with 1960s cool, rivalling other cult classics from the period--"Blood and Black Lace," "Casino Royale"-in capturing the swinging 60s ambiance. The original "Killers," made in 1946, was a brilliant distillation of the film noir ethos and the disillusionment of post-war America; the remake, in contrast, embodies the pervasive violence of American society that was one of the hallmarks of the 60s experience, along with the growing climate of conspiracy theories and paranoia. It's incredible that in 1963, the year of the Kennedy assassination, they would be filming a movie starring Ronald Reagan in which a man is shot by a high-powered rifle from a high-rise office building. Ironically, this film was released only two years before Ronald Reagan became the first of two actors to be elected governor of California as a Republican, and unlike a certain Teutonic knucklehead who shall remain nameless, the man could really act. He brings a natural air of authority and unspoken menace to every scene he has. Angie Dickinson is just as sexy as Ava Gardner and a better actress; John Cassavetes brings his usual neurotic edge to the role of the victim; and Lee Marvin, as always, is the intense, driven professional whose brain is always ten minutes ahead of his opponents. Clu Galager, as Marvin's geeky colleague, bears an unnerving resemblance to Detective Robert Goran (Vincent D'Onofrio) of "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." Together with such old pros as Claude Akins and Norman Fell the cast gives a master class in screen acting. If this movie had never been made, Martin Scorscese would have become a priest and Quentin Tarantino would still be a video store clerk. It's impossible to imagine what contemporary cinema would be like without its influence.
Review of The Killers
