The Killers

The first 10 minutes of this film are incredible. Easily one of the best openings in movie history.

Two strangers come into a diner looking for "The Swede" in a very History of Violence kind of way. They take the owner, chef, and patron hostage until they cough up the whereabouts of the man in question - Burt Lancaster in his film debut. They go looking for him but not before one of the hostages is able to warn him.

Surprisingly, The Swede doesn't care that the men are looking for him and seems resigned to his fate. The rest of the film is told through flashbacks while insurance investigators try to piece together the story.

While the rest of the movie doesn't quite live up the glorious beginning, it still holds its own. If the remaining 90 minutes were as good as the first 10 minutes, this would be the best film noir ever!

The remake of this film from 1964 is pretty darn good too.

Robert Osborne mentioned in his introduction on TCM that that this was Ernest Hemingway's favorite film based on his writing. However only the first part is based on one of his short stories - I need to track that story down.

Line of the movie: "Don't ask a dying man to lie his soul into Hell" which was uttered at a key dramatic moment.

And oh yeah - Ava Gardner is scrumptious.

Directed by Robert Siodmak
1946
TCM