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Killer's Kiss

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Killer's Kiss
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStanley Kubrick
Screenplay byHoward Sackler (uncredited)
Story byStanley Kubrick
Produced by
  • Stanley Kubrick
  • Morris Bousel
Starring
CinematographyStanley Kubrick
Edited byStanley Kubrick
Music byGerald Fried
Production
company
Minotaur Productions
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • September 21, 1955 (1955-09-21) (New York City)
  • October 1, 1955 (1955-10-01) (United States)
Running time
67 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$75,000[1]

Killer's Kiss is a 1955 American independently-produced[2] crime film noir directed by Stanley Kubrick and written by Kubrick and Howard Sackler. It is the second feature film directed by Kubrick, following his 1953 debut feature Fear and Desire. The film stars Jamie Smith, Irene Kane, and Frank Silvera.

The film is about Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith), a 29-year-old middleweight New York boxer at the end of his career, and his relationship with his neighbor, taxi dancer Gloria Price (Irene Kane), and her violent employer Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera).

Plot

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In New York, veteran welterweight boxer Davey Gordon lives in the same building as taxi dancer Gloria Price. Their windows face each other, and they steal glances at one another. The two leave their building at the same time to report to their jobs-Davey prepares to fight newcomer Kid Rodriguez, and Gloria is picked up by Vinnie Rapallo, her boss. Davey's fight with Kid Rodriguez is televised, and Rapallo brings Gloria to his office, both to watch the fight, and to make sexual advances. Davey is knocked out, goes home, and takes a phone call from his uncle, who wants Davey to return to the family farm near Seattle. Davey is awakened from a dream by Gloria's screaming, and sees that Rapallo is assaulting her. Davey runs across the roof of the building to reach Gloria's apartment, finding her unharmed.

The next morning, Davey and Gloria share breakfast. Gloria describes her family history: her older sister Iris was an accomplished ballerina, and their mother died while giving birth to Gloria. Gloria's father favored Iris, and Gloria resented Iris. Shortly after their father's death, Iris committed suicide. Davey and Gloria fall for each other, arrange to go to Seattle, and also to collect their final payments at Gloria's dance hall.

Outside the dance hall, street thieves steal Davey's scarf and Davey chases them, just as his manager arrives to hand off final payment. Inside, Rapallo initially refuses to give Gloria her final payment, believing that she will leave with another man. When Rapallo's henchmen see Gloria standing with Davey's manager outside the building, they mistake him for her lover, and entice Gloria back into the building to collect her payment. Davey and Gloria reunite, and leave with Gloria's collected payment. Rapallo's henchmen kill Davey's manager. At the apartment building, Davey vacates his unit and crosses the roof to Gloria's, finding it empty as well. Looking across to his old window, Davey observes police searching for him, suspecting him in the murder of his manager.

Davey stalks Rapallo and forces him to drive to a hideout, where Gloria is being held. As Davey attempts to free Gloria, the gangsters overpower him. Davey escapes, pursued by the gangsters, and uses a fire escape to climb onto a rooftop. Rapallo pursues him into a mannequin warehouse, and they fight to the death. Rapallo wields an axe, the two hurl mannequin parts at each other, and Davey kills Rapallo.

At Penn Station, Davey awaits his train to Seattle and reminisces over the events of the past few days. He and Gloria were questioned separately, and once the police concluded that Davey acted in self-defense and was not responsible for his manager's murder, he was freed. Gloria finds Davey waiting for his train, and the two embrace.

Cast

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  • Frank Silvera as Vincent Rapallo
  • Jamie Smith as Davey Gordon
  • Irene Kane as Gloria Price
  • Jerry Jarrett as Albert
  • Mike Dana as Gangster
  • Felice Orlandi as Gangster
  • Shaun O'Brien as Landlord
  • Barbara Brand as Taxi Dance Lady
  • David Vaughan as Conventioneer
  • Alec Rubin as Conventioneer
  • Ralph Roberts as Gangster
  • Phil Stevenson as Gangster
  • Arthur Feldman as Policeman
  • Bill Funaro as Taxi Driver
  • Skippy Adelman as Owner of mannequin factory
  • Ruth Sobotka as Iris

Background

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This was Kubrick's second feature. Kubrick removed his first film Fear and Desire (1952) from circulation over his dissatisfaction with it. Kubrick directed that film between the ages of 23 and 24, and had to borrow $40,000 (equivalent to $459,000 in 2023) from his uncle Martin Perveler, who owned a chain of drug stores in Los Angeles.[3]: 78  Killer's Kiss, originally titled Kiss Me, Kill Me,[4] was also financed privately through family and friends, but because Fear and Desire did not recoup its production budget, Perveler did not invest this time. Most of the initial budget was covered by Morris Bousel, a Bronx pharmacist who was rewarded with a co-producer credit.[3]: 95 

Kubrick began to shoot the film with sound recorded on location, as was common practice in Hollywood. However, frustrated by the intrusion of the microphone into his lighting scheme, Kubrick fired his sound-man and decided to post-dub the entire film as he had with his first film.[5] The film is notable for its location shots in the old Penn Station, which was demolished in 1963, as well as Times Square, and the run-down streets of both the Brooklyn waterfront and of Hell's Hundred Acres – the nickname at the time for Manhattan's SoHo neighborhood.

Ballerina Ruth Sobotka, Kubrick's wife at the time, was the art director for this film, as well as for Kubrick's next, The Killing. She is also featured in a long dance solo, playing the role of Iris. Then-model and future writer and television journalist Chris Chase, using the stage name Irene Kane, made her acting debut as the female lead.

Against Kubrick's wishes, United Artists required the film be recut with a happy ending.[6] United Artists paid $100,000 for the film and also agreed to provide $100,000 for Kubrick's next, The Killing.[7]

The film features the song "Once", written by Norman Gimbel and Arden Clar.[8] It is one of Gimbel's earliest contributions to a film, although his lyrics do not actually appear in the final version.[8]

Reception

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Critical response

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Killer's Kiss film trailer

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 29 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[9]

When released, the staff at Variety magazine gave the film a mixed review, and wrote:

Ex-Look photographer Stanley Kubrick turned out Killer's Kiss on the proverbial shoestring. Kiss was more than a warm-up for Kubrick's talents, for not only did he co-produce but he directed, photographed and edited the venture from his own screenplay [originally written by Howard Sackler] and original story...Kubrick's low-key lensing occasionally catches the flavor of the seamy side of Gotham life. His scenes of tawdry Broadway, gloomy tenements and grotesque brick-and-stone structures that make up Manhattan's downtown eastside loft district help offset the script's deficiencies."[10]

In a 2003 review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote:

Killer's Kiss brought the director onto more conventional territory, with a film noir plot about a boxer, a gangster and a dance hall girl. Using Times Square and even the subway as his backdrop, Mr. Kubrick worked in an uncharacteristically naturalistic style despite the genre material, with mixed but still fascinating results. The actress playing the dance hall girl, billed as Irene Kane, is the writer Chris Chase, whose work has frequently appeared in The New York Times. Jamie Smith plays the boxer, whose career is described as 'one long promise without fulfillment.' In the case of Mr. Kubrick's own career, the fulfillment came later. But here is the promise."[11]

Awards

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Wins

Adaptation

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In 1983 Matthew Chapman directed Strangers Kiss, a film that portrayed the making of Killer's Kiss.

Home media

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The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray as a special feature of The Criterion Collection's release of Kubrick's The Killing.[13] A UHD Blu-ray was released by Kino Lorber on June 28, 2022.

References

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  1. ^ Stafford, Jeff. "Killer's Kiss (1955) - Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  2. ^ The Criterion Channel's July 2023 Lineup|Current|The Criterion Collection
  3. ^ a b LoBrutto, Vincent (1999). Stanley Kubrick: A Biography. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80906-0.
  4. ^ Castle, Alison; Kubrick, Stanley (2005). The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Taschen Deutschland GmbH. p. 76. ISBN 978-3-8228-2284-5.
  5. ^ Hughes, David (2000). The Complete Kubrick. Virgin Publishing Ltd, pp. 26-27.
  6. ^ Merritt, Greg (2000). Celluloid Mavericks: The History of American Independent Film. Basic Books. p. 139. ISBN 9781560252320.
  7. ^ Tino Balio, United Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, University of Wisconsin Press, 1987 p. 157
  8. ^ a b Gengaro, Christine Lee (2012). Listening to Stanley Kubrick: The Music in His Films. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 15, 18. ISBN 9780810885646.
  9. ^ "Killer's Kiss". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved February 21, 2023. Edit this at Wikidata
  10. ^ "Killer's Kiss". Variety. January 1, 1955. Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
  11. ^ Maslin, Janet. Ibid.
  12. ^ "Winners of the Golden Leopard". Locarno. Archived from the original on July 19, 2009. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  13. ^ "The Killing". The Criterion Collection.
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