BY STEVE RAMOS

The Killers (1964)

Twin Killings
The Killers
Unrated

1946 and 1964, Criterion

One story worthy of two film adaptations is Ernest Hemingway's crime thriller, The Killers. Director Robert Siodmak, best known for the suspenseful Christmas Holiday (1944), starring a sultry Deanna Durbin as a shady lounge singer, took the first shot at Hemingway's short story. While not a noir landmark, Siodmak's 1946 Killers remains a seamy entertainment. Siodmak replaces Hemingway's mesmerizing dialogue with a pair of hard-hitting lead performances and shadowy photography. Personally, I consider it a fair exchange. You literally feel Ava Gardner's performance as the film's femme fatale. She makes every scene count. Her man appeal also makes it easy to understand why Burt Lancaster's boxer would allow his life to break apart at her ankles.

Siodmak places his Killers in the post-World War II murkiness that was home to classic noirs like Out of the Past and The Strange Love of Martha Ivers. Eighteen years later, Siegel's 1964 adaptation finds its home in the sunny confines of California and the Baby Boom era. Siegel's Killers takes dramatic advantage of its Technicolor palette and matter-of-fact, made-for-TV photography. As a result, Siegel's Killers has a bright sense of terror that makes it even scarier. Siegel and screenwriter Gene L. Coon take even more liberties with Hemingway's tale. This time, the film's anti-hero (a perfectly deadpan John Cassavetes) races cars instead of boxes. Angie Dickinson brings a sun-drenched look to her fatale siren. Her pin-up curves match perfectly with a cloying performance. Cassavetes only has to flash his downturn eyes and bitter grin to grab one's attention. Lee Marvin shows the right amount of moral ambiguity as a hit man in search of the truth. Still, the film's best scenes belong to not-yet-a-politician Ronald Reagan, who turns his natural blandness into a creepy asset. When Reagan slaps Dickinson in Siegel's 1964 version, the crack of his palm hitting her face shocks us more than any gunshot.

Like their cultish noir colleagues, Anthony Mann, Jules Dassin and Edgar G. Ulmer, Siodmak and Siegel are names known mostly to film buffs. Deservedly, this twin re-issue of The Killers, complete with extra features like Andrei Tarkovsky's 1956 student film based on the same story, as well as a radio adaptation, starring Lancaster and Shelly Winters, casts both directors in a modern-day spotlight. This twin re-issue of The Killers is worth more than a pile of books on film noir, and that's really saying something.

The Killers (1946) grade: A.

The Killers (1964) grade: B.

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