Product Description

Stanley Kubrick's second feature film, Killer's Kiss, made the world take notice. The young moviemaker won acclaim for this dazzling film noir about a struggling New York boxer (Jamie Smith) whose life is imperiled when he protects a nightclub dancer (Irene Kane) from her gangster boss (Frank Silvera). "Using his camera as a sandpaper block, Kubrick has stripped away the veneer from the prizefight and dancehall worlds," the New York Mirror proclaimed. Killer's Kissnot only lends considerable insight into future Kubrick classicssuch as The Killing and Full Metal Jacketbut it is also a remarkable film in its own right: the boxing match may bethe most vicious this side of Raging Bull, and the famed final battle remains an action tour-de-force. "An ambitious photographer...challenges the movie capital with Killer's Kiss," theNew York Daily News enthused. "The suspenseful venture augurs well for young Stanley Kubrick!"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19999 in DVD
• Brand: SILVERS,FRANK
• Released on: 1999-06-29
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Full Screen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 67 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Stanley Kubrick wrote the story and produced, edited, shot, and directed his second feature like a one-man studio, and his developing cinematic intelligence turns an otherwise unremarkable story into a memorable if slight film, a hint at masterpieces to come. Jamie Smith is a washed up prizefighter who rushes to the rescue of his platinum blonde dime-a-dancer neighbor (Irene Kane) when she's attacked by her dapper hoodlum boss (Frank Silvera). Smith and Kane fall in love, but their plans to leave gritty New York for a simpler life in Seattle are jeopardized when jealous Silvera sends his thugs to lean on Smith. Mistaken identities and an overzealous beating lead to murder, kidnapping, and a desperate confrontation between Smith and Silvera in an eerie warehouse full of mannequins. Disembodied heads, swinging hands, and the blank stares of rows of lifeless dummies become a cold counterpoint to the sweaty, almost primal fight as Silvera wields an ax and Smith counters with a pike like gladiators in an abstract arena. The gray cityscape of New York (shot on location) turns into stark black and white and the city looms over the characters as the tension tightens. Kubrick's sophisticated use of sound and austere visual style creates a hyper-realistic atmosphere, which he would put to even better use in his follow-up film, the heist classic The Killing. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Early Stanley Kubrick film is a preview of things to come...
When Stanley Kubrick was making Killer's Kiss, he was only 26. At this time, he was still writing his own stories and post-dubbing his films. However, though many Kubrick fans dismiss this film as an early effort, I consider it to be one of his great films. The plot is simple (and the story of a boxer borrows heavily [in both plot and imagery] from his first film, a documentary called Day of the Fight [1951]) and concise (at 64 minutes, it is his shortest feature-length film), but packs a punch that transcends his career.

Davey Gordon is a has-been boxer who still fights, but rarely wins. Across the street, lives a girl by the name of Gloria Price. Gloria is disillusioned and pessimistic (her sister, Iris [played in flashback by Kubrick's second wife, Ruth Sobotka] committed suicide on the same day her father died) and dancer with men for money. Her boss, Vincent Rapallo is desperately in love with her, but, when he advances on her in her apartment, she screams and Davey runs to help her. They fall in love and decide to move away to live with Davey's family. However, when Gloria goes to collect her check from Vincent, Vincent tells his thugs to beat up Davey, who is waiting outside. However, when Davey runs after some Shriners who steal his scarf, the thugs beat and kill Davey's manager, Albert, who was scheduled to meet Davey. Davey is framed and Gloria has been kidnapped. Davey confronts Rapallo, who takes him to Gloria, but Davey is knocked unconscious by the thugs. When he recovers, he sees Gloria trying to get Rapallo to spare her but leading him on. Depressed, Davey escapes by jumping out a window. A chase ensues, leading up to a brutal fight between Davey and Rapallo in a mannequin factory...

The movie itself contains many elements that Kubrick will utilize in his later films. One is Davey's dream sequence, which mimicks the Star Gate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Another is the mannequin fight between Davey (with a long poker) and Rapallo (with an axe), with is very similar to the fight between Spartacus (with a Thracian knife) and Draba (with a trident and net) in Spartacus (1960). As said before, both the preparation for the boxing match and the fight itself are direct recreations of sequences from Day of the Fight (1951). Also previously mentioned is the post-dubbing, which caused Irene Kane (Gloria Price) to be completely dubbed over by another woman when she got tired of repeating her lines over and over again. Irene later became TV journalist Chris Chase and had a brief cameo in All That Jazz (1979). Frank Silvera (Vincent Rapallo) was the star of Kubrick's first feature, the rare Fear and Desire (1953).

All in all, this is a marvelous film. You will get swept up in the plot itself, and Kubrick's camera, as always, is right on track, capturing emotion and drama at the same instant. Upon viewing this film, one is able to clearly see that Kubrick, who went on to so much better, was destined for fame from the start.

Killer's Kiss on DVD
Being an avid Stanley Kubrick fan, I was very frustrated to find there were no copies of "Killer's Kiss" for sale or rent where I live. The day I bought my DVD player I found a copy of it on DVD, and I had to have it.

"Killer's Kiss" is the so-so film noir tale of a boxer who loses a fight and is ready to return to his home, where his family is, until he gets entangled with the dark life of a dance-hall girl. Through falling in love with this girl, he gets caught up with her jealous ex-lover, a crime king-pin. The story and the dialogue here are weak, but the film is redeemed by its own quirkyness and the beautiful black-and-white camera work.

The DVD of "Killer's Kiss" has only one extra feature... A trailer of the film. It's nothing special, but it is somewhat interesting for historical purposes. The redeeming quality of this DVD ends up being the clarity of the picture, which, I feel is very good for an obscure 1955 film.

It all really comes down to don't buy the "Killer's Kiss" DVD unless you love Kubrick, or have seen the movie and know you like it. You really have to wonder if this was the "Pi" or "Being John Malkovich" of its day.

Don't miss it
I rented this movie a little while back because it was a Kubrick film. I love Kubrick's work. This is the only of his I haven't seen. The movie is just great. This movie really shows you what talent is. It doesn't have to wow you with mindless violence, it just does it with a great script. It works great as Noir because it has that quick and dirty feel of the great noir films. Like Detour. It does move fast, but at the same time it doesn't make you feel like your just along for the ride. Don't blink because you'll miss something great.