The Killers (1964 film)
| The Killers | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Don Siegel |
| Produced by | Don Siegel |
| Screenplay by | Gene L. Coon |
| Based on | "The Killers" by Ernest Hemingway |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Richard L. Rawlings |
| Edited by | Richard Belding |
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Production
company |
Revue Studios
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Killers, released in the UK as Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers", is a 1964 crime film written by Gene L. Coon, directed by Don Siegel, starring Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Angie Dickinson and Ronald Reagan, and released by Universal Studios. The movie remains notable for being future U.S. president Reagan's last theatrical film before entering politics, as well as the only one in which he plays a villain.
The picture was the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story of the same name, following a 1946 version starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner.
At the time of release, Marvin said that it was his favorite film. The supporting cast features Clu Gulager, Claude Akins, and Norman Fell.
One morning, hit men Charlie (Lee Marvin) and Lee (Clu Gulager) enter a school for the blind and terrorize the principal until she reveals the whereabouts of a teacher, Johnny North (John Cassavetes). As the hitmen walk toward North's upstairs classroom, the teacher receives a call warning him of their arrival. Johnny sadly responds, "It's okay. I know them." As he calmly waits at his desk, Charlie and Lee enter and shoot him multiple times.
As they depart by train, Charlie is bothered that North refused to flee, and that they were paid an unusually high fee for such a simple hit. He and Lee run through what they know about the man they have just killed. Johnny was once a champion race car driver whose career ended in a violent crash. Four years before his death, he was involved in a million-dollar robbery of a mail truck. Tempted by the missing million, Charlie and Lee visit Miami to interview Johnny's former mechanic.
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