Killer's KissIs it love that makes us plunge headfirst into danger, or does it just awaken something more primal within us? Killer's Kiss is a suspense film about an unsuccessful boxer named Davey Gordon (Jamie Smith) who falls in love with a fellow apartment tenant named Gloria Price (Irene Kane) after he saves her from the unwanted advances of Vincent Rapallo (Frank Silvera), an obsessive sleazeball who runs the dance hall where she works. When the young lovers plan to flee New York City for his aunt and uncle's ranch in Seattle, Rapallo's jealousy is unleashed, and his mania threatens their very lives.
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Killer's Kiss opens at the end of the story, with Davey waiting at the train station for Gloria, contemplating the insane turn of events that led him there. Davey's priorities a few days earlier were preparing for his prize fight and feeding his pet fish. It's never explored just how long Davey has lived across from Gloria's apartment, but he can clearly see into her place--which is almost as miniscule as his own--so it's hard to imagine that his pretty neighbor never caught his attention before. When they both happen to leave their shared apartment building at the same time--with Rapallo eagerly waiting out front to give Gloria a ride to work--none of them have any suspicion that their fates will be inexorably bound over the next few days. Rapallo is selfishly possessive of Gloria, and presumes that because she leaves with Davey that they must be seeing each other. He is threatened by the younger, handsome boxer; when he tunes into the fight from the television in his office, he drags Gloria in to watch Davey get pummeled in the ring--a thrill that arouses him and drives him to molest his employee, understandably leading to Gloria's resignation. Yet the unctuous Rapallo's lust has only just been awakened; he visits Gloria's apartment later that night ostensibly to apologize but in reality to coerce her into further relations. Her scream yanks the punch-drunk Davey out of a nightmare and sends him racing to her rescue, while Rapallo slips away. Davey subsequently watches over the beleaguered Gloria; in the morning, she opens her heart to Davey--a rare sympathetic soul who listens to her tragic past without judgment or expecting anything in return. The two young people find understanding in each other, and plan to leave the city together, putting their painful experiences in New York City behind them. Before they do, Davey reaches out to his manager, Albert (Jerry Jarrett), for his final wages, while Gloria foolishly does the same by revisiting Rapallo, who takes the opportunity to seize Gloria for himself one last time. Due to a mix-up outside of Rapallo's dance hall, Albert is murdered by Rapallo's henchmen, and Davey is suspected of the killing. Davey must confront Rapallo not just to save Gloria from his villainous clutches, but to clear his name, forced to fight for something more important than a title.
What stands out about Killer's Kiss is how New York City itself is portrayed, both in the direction by Stanley Kubrick and through the main characters. Made over sixty years ago, the film is a kind of time capsule, depicting life in the Big Apple at that time--the dance halls, the storefront windows, hot dog vendors, and the bright city lights of Times Square. Before Davey reads the letter from his Uncle George en route to the prize fight, it becomes clear that he comes from rural living by the photos kept on the mirror in his apartment. It is suggested that Davey came to New York City to "make it" as a boxer...or at least he became a boxer while trying to become a success, but never quite found his footing in the asphalt jungle. Gloria's story is not that dissimilar; she recalls how her father bore her a grudge--or at least preferred her older sister, Iris (Ruth Sobotka)--because Gloria's mother died in child birth with her. Iris loved ballet, but felt compelled to marry a wealthy man she did not love because their father became terminally ill. When her father died, Gloria blamed Iris for her father's death, and Iris subsequently committed suicide. Gloria's work in the "depraved" dance halls is a parody of Iris' love of dance, and is a kind of penance performed from feelings of guilt and remorse. Both Davey and Gloria are sensitive souls, even if they awkwardly try to mask it--Davey in his quiet stoicism, and Gloria through her sarcasm. Both of them exploit their gender roles to make a living--Davey fights for money, while Gloria uses her beauty to entice men to dance with her. City living is like a prison sentence for them--a purgatory they desire to escape. Davey and Gloria are both a bit naive about the ways of the world--despite their experiences--and make rather foolish mistakes that lead to more trouble. (Gloria should never have gone back to Rapallo for her severance after he attacked her twice before, and Davey should have let his scarf be taken by a pair of clowns, knowing full well that Albert would be arriving with his money at the dance hall any minute.) While Davey and Gloria seem at odds with the city, Rapallo is a scion of the sinister environment. He represents the promise of dreams that are never fulfilled, and he exploits those around him to get his way, despite the suffering it causes others. Though Davey and Rapallo do not know each other for long, the insidious dance hall proprietor becomes a "nightmare" version of what life might be like for Davey if he remained in New York City. Like Davey, Rapallo has pictures of his family in his office, and might have even had dreams of making it big like Davey did before coming to the city. Before Davey is awoken by Gloria's screams when Rapallo attacks her in her apartment, he dreams of racing through the streets of the industrial district. After Davey escapes Rapallo's clutches following a failed attempt to rescue Gloria, it is through these same streets that Rapallo chases him, forcing him to run for his very life.
Killer's Kiss was one of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films--made after his first feature film, Fear and Desire--and heralds many motifs found in his later films. Consider the film's climax, where Davey and Rapallo viciously fight in a warehouse exclusively stocked with female mannequins--both men use the "bodies" of women as weapons, who are in turn "damaged" from their duel. This speaks to the underlying theme in Kubrick's adaptation of Lolita, where "women" are destroyed through the careless actions of the protagonist and antagonist. Both men swing makeshift weapons at one another, with Rapallo wielding a fire axe. As Rapallo flails around, his hair becomes increasingly disheveled, and he resembles another axe-wielding maniac: Jack Torrance from Kubrick's The Shining. (As an added bonus, the climax in The Shining is set in a labyrinth with the snorting Jack playing the role of a "minotaur" hunting Danny; Kubrick's production company for Killer's Kiss is called "Minotaur".) The surprisingly endowed mannequins stare on impassively as the men do battle, reminiscent of similar feminine "objets d'art" from the moloko milk bar from A Clockwork Orange. When Davey is recovering from his failed prize fight and is moping over his loss, he watches Gloria undress while he sits in darkness, clearly aroused by the neighbor he doesn't yet know. His voyeurism continues after he saves Gloria from Rapallo, when he goes through her personal possessions--including admiring her stockings--as she sleeps. Davey's sexual stimulation from observing Gloria is a sketch for the themes of voyeurism and impotence explored in Eyes Wide Shut. And a pervading leitmotif in all of Kubrick's films is how the antagonist is often a dark reflection of the main character--a shadow self that embodies the worst traits hinted at in the protagonist. Davey becomes enraptured by Gloria--despite barely knowing her--and at one point even seems to forget her name while confronting Rapallo in the pre-dawn industrial sector of the city. The unspoken question that lingers is whether Davey is fighting for Gloria or to regain his fleeting masculinity by confronting Rapallo.
Recommended for: Fans of a noir thriller that moves quickly--as befits its svelte running time of just over an hour--and for fans of the films of Stanley Kubrick, since Killer's Kiss foreshadows several motifs found in virtually all of his later works. For those looking to track down a copy of Killer's Kiss, note that it can be found as a "supplement" on Criterion's blu-ray release of Kubrick's The Killing; thanks to a friend of mine for pointing this out!
What stands out about Killer's Kiss is how New York City itself is portrayed, both in the direction by Stanley Kubrick and through the main characters. Made over sixty years ago, the film is a kind of time capsule, depicting life in the Big Apple at that time--the dance halls, the storefront windows, hot dog vendors, and the bright city lights of Times Square. Before Davey reads the letter from his Uncle George en route to the prize fight, it becomes clear that he comes from rural living by the photos kept on the mirror in his apartment. It is suggested that Davey came to New York City to "make it" as a boxer...or at least he became a boxer while trying to become a success, but never quite found his footing in the asphalt jungle. Gloria's story is not that dissimilar; she recalls how her father bore her a grudge--or at least preferred her older sister, Iris (Ruth Sobotka)--because Gloria's mother died in child birth with her. Iris loved ballet, but felt compelled to marry a wealthy man she did not love because their father became terminally ill. When her father died, Gloria blamed Iris for her father's death, and Iris subsequently committed suicide. Gloria's work in the "depraved" dance halls is a parody of Iris' love of dance, and is a kind of penance performed from feelings of guilt and remorse. Both Davey and Gloria are sensitive souls, even if they awkwardly try to mask it--Davey in his quiet stoicism, and Gloria through her sarcasm. Both of them exploit their gender roles to make a living--Davey fights for money, while Gloria uses her beauty to entice men to dance with her. City living is like a prison sentence for them--a purgatory they desire to escape. Davey and Gloria are both a bit naive about the ways of the world--despite their experiences--and make rather foolish mistakes that lead to more trouble. (Gloria should never have gone back to Rapallo for her severance after he attacked her twice before, and Davey should have let his scarf be taken by a pair of clowns, knowing full well that Albert would be arriving with his money at the dance hall any minute.) While Davey and Gloria seem at odds with the city, Rapallo is a scion of the sinister environment. He represents the promise of dreams that are never fulfilled, and he exploits those around him to get his way, despite the suffering it causes others. Though Davey and Rapallo do not know each other for long, the insidious dance hall proprietor becomes a "nightmare" version of what life might be like for Davey if he remained in New York City. Like Davey, Rapallo has pictures of his family in his office, and might have even had dreams of making it big like Davey did before coming to the city. Before Davey is awoken by Gloria's screams when Rapallo attacks her in her apartment, he dreams of racing through the streets of the industrial district. After Davey escapes Rapallo's clutches following a failed attempt to rescue Gloria, it is through these same streets that Rapallo chases him, forcing him to run for his very life.
Killer's Kiss was one of Stanley Kubrick's earliest films--made after his first feature film, Fear and Desire--and heralds many motifs found in his later films. Consider the film's climax, where Davey and Rapallo viciously fight in a warehouse exclusively stocked with female mannequins--both men use the "bodies" of women as weapons, who are in turn "damaged" from their duel. This speaks to the underlying theme in Kubrick's adaptation of Lolita, where "women" are destroyed through the careless actions of the protagonist and antagonist. Both men swing makeshift weapons at one another, with Rapallo wielding a fire axe. As Rapallo flails around, his hair becomes increasingly disheveled, and he resembles another axe-wielding maniac: Jack Torrance from Kubrick's The Shining. (As an added bonus, the climax in The Shining is set in a labyrinth with the snorting Jack playing the role of a "minotaur" hunting Danny; Kubrick's production company for Killer's Kiss is called "Minotaur".) The surprisingly endowed mannequins stare on impassively as the men do battle, reminiscent of similar feminine "objets d'art" from the moloko milk bar from A Clockwork Orange. When Davey is recovering from his failed prize fight and is moping over his loss, he watches Gloria undress while he sits in darkness, clearly aroused by the neighbor he doesn't yet know. His voyeurism continues after he saves Gloria from Rapallo, when he goes through her personal possessions--including admiring her stockings--as she sleeps. Davey's sexual stimulation from observing Gloria is a sketch for the themes of voyeurism and impotence explored in Eyes Wide Shut. And a pervading leitmotif in all of Kubrick's films is how the antagonist is often a dark reflection of the main character--a shadow self that embodies the worst traits hinted at in the protagonist. Davey becomes enraptured by Gloria--despite barely knowing her--and at one point even seems to forget her name while confronting Rapallo in the pre-dawn industrial sector of the city. The unspoken question that lingers is whether Davey is fighting for Gloria or to regain his fleeting masculinity by confronting Rapallo.
Recommended for: Fans of a noir thriller that moves quickly--as befits its svelte running time of just over an hour--and for fans of the films of Stanley Kubrick, since Killer's Kiss foreshadows several motifs found in virtually all of his later works. For those looking to track down a copy of Killer's Kiss, note that it can be found as a "supplement" on Criterion's blu-ray release of Kubrick's The Killing; thanks to a friend of mine for pointing this out!