Director: Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, dialogue by Jim Thompson, based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Colleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Jay C. Flippen, Elisha Cook Jr., Marie Windsor
Running Time: 85 minutes
Genre: film noir, crime, thriller
Career criminal Johnny Clay (Hayden) puts together a meticulously planned robbery of a racetrack. The plan seems to be foolproof and everything initially goes to plan, but greed, betrayal, and plain bad luck conspire to ruin everything.
This was Stanley Kubrick's third film, but his first one to make a real splash. It is a genuinely tense, exciting noir thriller. Like many heist films the first part of the film is devoted to putting the plan together and setting it all in motion, with the second half of the film being devoted to the robbery itself and its aftermath. The story jumps around in time, sometimes showing the same events from different perspectives. The film is well-performed, with some great hardboiled dialogue provided by crime novelist Jim Thompson, and has some very strong moments, such as the scene where a parking attendant (James Edwards) is subjected to racist abuse from someone who had previously been kind to him. The look of shock, disgust and contempt on the attendant's face speaks volumes. This is a fine example of film noir.
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