Tonight's movie was "The Killers" (1964), a crime caper with a stellar though unusual cast : Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Clu Gulager, Ronald Reagan, Norman Fell and Claude Akins. How's that for an oddball ensemble? The film has no main star, but Cassavetes is the protagonist, playing a race car driver who gets in over his head with a woman and her criminal associates. The story begins with Cassavetes getting bumped off by two professional hit men (Marvin and Gulager). As an aside, folks on IMDB have speculated that the "homicidal cool" given off by the Marvin/Gulager team must certainly have influenced the Travolta/Jackson combo in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction, and I would agree with that assessment. No doubt QT is a fan of this flick.
Following the hit, Marvin can't understand why Cassavetes just stood there and took his medicine. "Never had a target that didn't try to run", he tells Gulager, his sociopathic cohort. They muse about the reasons for his passivity, and also about the contract itself. Neither can understand why a has-been racer was worth 25 Grand to kill. Rumor has it that Cassavetes knew about a high stakes mail robbery that netted it's planners a million bucks. But he was working for chump change as an auto shop teacher when they found him. He couldn't have been party to the heist. So why the high price on his head? Marvin and Gulager head over to his ex-partner's automotive garage on Ventura Boulevard to find out. The partner, played by Claude Akins, has nothing to say to the duo......that is, until they smack him around a bit. Faced with a life or death choice, he reveals everything he knows about John Cassavetes, and from there the story unfolds in flashback.
One day a couple of years prior, Cassavetes was taking practice laps at Riverside International Raceway, when out of the blue a red hot woman in a brand new sedan pulled up to watch him drive. She was Angie Dickinson (and now I will switch to present tense because it's easier to navigate). Angie is very forward. She introduces herself to Cassavetes and begins flirting with him right away. She tells him she's a fan who's been following him on the racing circuit, but knocks him down a peg for the practice she just witnessed. "Looks like you'll be fighting for fourth place in that wreck". It's her way of exciting his interest, by challenging his ability to compete. So of course he fights back - he's John Freakin' Cassavetes after all - by daring her to get in the car and ride with him, on another practice lap around the speedway. She does, and he floors it, taking the car to it's limit. This creates all the sexual tension necessary to have them in bed together in the next scene, at Cassavetes' motel. That is how Angie met John, as Claude Akins tells Lee Marvin and Clu Culager. They demand to know more, so Akins continues....
Soon, Cassavetes (and I'm gonna call him John because it's quicker to type) is spending all his time with Angie, and his racing is beginning to suffer because he isn't getting any sleep. He's got a big race coming up against all the top drivers in the world. Akins is worried that John won't be able to contend, and it turns out he's right. John wipes out while woozily trying to pass a car. His own vehicle is totaled and he is left partially blind by the resulting fire. His racing days are over. John sinks into a funk, which is only made worse when Akins breaks some more bad news ; during the race, he saw Angie Dickinson in the stands talking to another man, well-dressed and important looking.
The plot switches back to the present while Marvin and Gulager track down this well-dressed man. He turns out to be Ronald Reagan, in his last motion picture role before he became Governor of California. Reagan plays Jack Browning, a wheeler-dealer who's got Angie on a string. He pays her way, with a nice apartment, fancy clothes and a car, and plenty of spending money. "Whataya think he gets in return"?, Akins asks John, who is by now furious at Angie's deception. But he can't shake his feelings for her, and when he confronts her about Reagan, she says it's nothing but a business relationship. "Yeah, and there's a word for that kind of business"!, John retorts. But Angie swears she loves only John, and ultimately he believes her. "But what could you want with me"?, he asks her. "I don't have more than fifty bucks to my name, unlike Mr. Moneybags". She tells him she doesn't care about money, but his self-esteem is shot. After some more back and forth, Angie offers to get John a job, a good one that will pay a hefty sum. This is when she lets him in on the secret of her relationship with Reagan. He is a criminal mastermind whose wealth comes from grand larceny. They are planning a major-league robbery of a mail truck that will net them a million bucks. But they need a getaway driver, which is where John comes in. Will he take the job? Nothing can go wrong, Angie assures him. Reagan's a genius who's got all the details worked out.
Okay fine. Marvin and Gulager are beginning to get the picture, so Claude Akins is off the hook. The hit men then pay a visit to an old pal of Marvin's, a hoodlum played by Norman Fell of "Three's Company" fame. Marvin believes he knows Jack Browning. They find Fell in a steam room and turn up the heat on him. What they want is the million bucks from the mail robbery. It's a classic double-cross. Under pressure, Fell tells them where they can find Reagan, which will lead to a final showdown. In between all of this, we get a flashback of the meticulously planned robbery, with some fantastic driving sequences up on Mulholland Highway, with Reagan and then John behind the wheel. Ronald Reagan is an absolute bastard in this movie, lol. John Cassavetes is terrific as the hot-headed but gullible racer, and Angie Dickinson is perfect as the femme fatale. Clu Gulager turns in one of the most memorable (though minor) parts in the film, however, as the grinning but diabolical assassin who eats health food and constantly works out. Lee Marvin is as laconic as ever, deep-voiced, droll and deadly. I was shocked to discover he was only 40 years old in this film, because he looks 60, and it's not makeup I don't think. His hair is already steel grey and his face lined. Well anyhow, he was great in everything he ever did, and we love him.
"The Killers" would be a Noir if it were in black and white. Instead, it's filmed in brilliant color, but it's still as hard-boiled as any flick from the 40s. Man, it's downright brutal and mean-spirited, but it's directed by Don Siegel (of "Dirty Harry" fame) so you expect that. See it for President Reagan's performance alone, haha. He really is top notch as the evil mastermind Jack Browning. Angie Dickinson also stands out as his two-timing moll, and Claude Akins gives the story some much needed humanity. He was an underrated actor, known mostly for television, who was very good in a number of movie roles. I loved "The Killers" and give it Two Big Thumbs Up. I found it at Northridge Libe during a quick shelf scan yesterday afternoon. :)
Well, that's all for the moment. It's a beautiful afternoon, so I'm gonna get in a quick walk and then head back to Pearl's. See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love, as always. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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