Killing Them Softly
| Killing Them Softly | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Andrew Dominik |
| Produced by |
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| Screenplay by | Andrew Dominik |
| Based on |
Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jonathan Elia & David Wittman |
| Cinematography | Greig Fraser |
| Edited by | Brian A. Kates John Paul Horstmann |
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Production
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| Distributed by | The Weinstein Company |
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Release date
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Running time
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97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $37.9 million |
Killing Them Softly is a 2012 American neo-noir crime film directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, based on the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins. On May 22, 2012, the film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, receiving positive early reviews. The film is about three small-time crooks who rob a Mob-protected illegal gambling operation, which prompts the Mob to send in two hitmen, Jackie (Brad Pitt) and Mickey (James Gandolfini) to deal with the perpetrators.
In the fall of 2008, during both the American financial crisis and the presidential election campaign, an older man named Johnny "Squirrel" Amato plans to rob an illegal poker game. He enlists two younger men to do the robbery: Frankie, a former business associate, and Russell, a heroin-addicted Australian expatriate who is stealing purebred dogs for money. Markie Trattman, the proprietor of the poker ring, is revealed to have previously orchestrated an inside job by paying two men to rob his own illegal poker room. He holds up under rough questioning by the hitman Dillon, though later he openly admits his involvement to various criminals who laugh it off, and Markie suffers no retaliation. Squirrel anticipates that the Mafia will automatically blame Markie for the heist.
Frankie and Russell, though obviously amateurs, do the holdup and leave with the money. However, Driver, an emissary for the Mob, discusses the recent robbery with an acquaintance of Dillon, a hitman and mob enforcer named Jackie Cogan. Although Jackie understands Markie was uninvolved in the recent heist, he believes Markie should be murdered in order to restore the mobsters' confidence in the local illegal gambling scene.
Upon completing the crime, Russell travels to Florida to sell the dogs. While in Florida, he inadvertently informs a man named Kenny Gill of his involvement in the heist while trying to recruit him as a drug dealer. Kenny informs Jackie, who deduces that Russell, Frankie, and Squirrel are the perpetrators.
Jackie carries out the hit on Markie himself, killing him in his car, but brings in another older hitman, Mickey Fallon, who is on parole in New York, to kill Squirrel. Jackie explains to Driver how he prefers "killing them softly"—shooting his victims from a distance, without warning, giving them no opportunity to experience fear or despair—and that his acquaintance with Squirrel risks complicating this approach.
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