The Killers is a genre film, a thriller. It was an A-picture (destined for the top of a double bill in the movie theaters of the time), but it was made on a limited budget, by one of the lesser studios (Universal), and without pre-established stars. (The film was Burt Lancaster's screen debut; Ava Gardner had appeared in several earlier films, but was not yet very well known. Indeed, it was The Killers that first propelled both Lancaster and Gardner into stardom).
Consider what sorts of suppositions we bring to the film. How does this movie let us know that it is a thriller? What kind of genre expectations do we have as we watch it, and how does it fulfill or frustrate these expectations? Consider expectations in terms of plot, character, and theme, as well as in what might be called the overall look and feel of the film.
How can The Killers be classified in terms of style? Does the style just suit the story, or does it have additional functions? To what extent does the film's style seem unique, and to what extent does it seem to fit into our general notions about its genre and the period in which it was made? The Killers could be thought of as being part way between a traditional thriller, and that particular subgenre known as film noir. Noirsare known for their urban settings, their nighttime cinematography with heavy use of shadows, their general air of dread, conspiracy, and paranoia, and their emphasis on male loner characters and on female characters who are femme fatales, sexy, amoral, and leading the men to ruin. How does this film adopt, play with, or contradict such devices?
This is an opportunity to take a first look at a number of aspects of filmmaking that we will be examining more closely in the course of the quarter. Consider both the film's visual style--particularly its use of lighting and the way it sets up urban scenes--and its storytelling style--the heavy use of flashbacks, which leads to telling the story piecemeal, in fragments, and to juxtaposing a second story (Reardon's investigation) over the first one (the life of "the Swede", his love for Kitty, his involvement in the big stickup, and his eventual murder).