Kubrick’s first official film and I’d never seen it until now. Great flick. Even at this early stage, the directing is just jaw-dropping. Every scene is perfectly framed and lit. There’s so many great characters here as well.
The Killing is a heist film that inspired many more after it. I guarantee Christopher Nolan used the clown masks as inspiration for the beginning of The Dark Knight. There’s double-crosses galore, plot twists, an extremely non-linear narrative style (that was a huge influence on Pulp Fiction and many other films later on), and a big plot twist at the end that’s just perfect.
I also love, like so many other films of that era, that it shows a clear moral compass (unlike films of today) where crime doesn’t pay. Highly recommended.