The Hitmen!!! - The Killers (1946) Discussion

[–] mastrmeb 15 years ago

They were truly menacing how they played with the diner folk. I would put them at the top of my "Best Hit Men" list. Such a short appearance, yet so good.

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[–] boneman4 15 years ago

I agree!! I've watched this scene innumerable times at the movie's beginning,
and always enjoy it.Of course as all know, this scene was the entire 1927
short story by Hemingway.In addition to Conrad and McGraw,the veteran character
actor and acting teacher,Harry Hayden(the counterman)helps bring the dynamics seamlessly together.

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[–] rogueforte 15 years ago

Indeed, I've always thought that opening sequence with Al (Charles McGraw) and Max (William Conrad) were the inspiration for the opening sequence with the Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent (John Travolta) characters in Tarantino's Pulp Fiction when they're talking with their victim.

Al and Max, along with Jules and Vincent, are easily in the top five of great movie hitmen teams.

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[–] freakyfelix 15 years ago

Agreed. Best scene of the movie. Those hitmen were the coolest.

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[–] Navaros 14 years ago

Of course as all know, this scene was the entire 1927
short story by Hemingway

I didn't know that but I'm glad I do now because that goes a long way towards explaining why all the scenes in this film after the opening sequence are complete crap that is totally incongruent with the excellent opening sequence.

Shame on them for bastardizing Hemingway's story by adding ~95 minutes of crap to it.

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[–] AliciaHuberman59 14 years ago

Hemingway was never happy with Hollywood's tinkering, but supposedly this was his favorite adaptation.

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[–] WarpedRecord 14 years ago

Well, writers are rarely if ever happy with Hollywood's adaptations, usually with good reason, and Hemingway was an especially tough audience. The written word often conflicts with the filmed image.

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[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

Hemingway's short story was less than 3,000 words if I remember correctly. It's hard to make a feature film using only THAT material.

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

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[–] WarpedRecord 13 years ago

If Hemingway's piece was fewer than 3,000 words, it was an extremely short story -- barely an outline. No wonder a lot was fleshed out and changed. They had no choice if they wanted to make a full-length film.

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[–] Prismark10 13 years ago

Well as noted by a few others, the hitmen were an influence on Tarantino.

Its that man again!!

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[–] hockeyhrs 8 years ago

So were the hitmen (Lee Van Cleef & Earl Holliman) in "The Big Combo" (1955).

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[–] jgroub 13 years ago

I agree with you Navaros. This opening scene was excellent - it was intense! The rest of the movie, meh.

I didn't buy the whole insurance investigator angle to the story.

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

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[–] mike-osullivan3 10 years ago

I would call them particularly incompetent killers. Acted in a threatening and intimidating way in the diner, ensuring that they would be identifiable, then leaving witnesses alive.

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[–] Pervy_Grin 7 years ago

The cook should have drowned Charles McGraw in a pot of soup.

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[–] alistla 13 years ago

Stupendous opening sequence, indeed. I don't understand why they didn't incorporate those excellent characters into the rest of the film. They could have been part of the gang that knocked off the hat factory. That would have strengthened their motivation and integrated them into the whole plot.

It was as if Tarantino opened Pulp fiction with Vincent and Jules's first sequence and then they vanished until the last scene.

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[–] 13 years ago

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[–] rogueforte 12 years ago

In addition to Tarantino, the Coen brothers may also have been influenced by this scene in No Country for Old Men when the killer in that movie has a similiar conversation with a convenience store attendant. In that scene, like the one in The Killers, mindless chit-chat holds the potential for someone losing their life and it's literally dependent on the flip of a coin whether that person lives or dies.

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[–] The_Obsolete_Librarian 12 years ago

My Fave line between the 2 hitmen: "Bright boy here thinks he's smart"--William Conrad "Well he's not. He's DUMB!"--Charles McGraw... LOL! classic line! Scary yet funny as hell because its deadpan and serious! I can see that the 1st 30 mins are the word for word from Hemingway's shortstory... the rest is a melodrama and strictly amateur hour... Still a great movie! :)

*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´When You Save One Life, You Save the Entire World!

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[–] brucedgo 11 years ago

Another movie made by extending a short story was Total Recall. And I think they did an excellent job.

The Philip K. Dick story, "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," was basically the whole first part of the movie up until Quaid first starts running from the gang. Quaid (Quail in the story) is not only bugged for tracking, he actually has two-way voice contact and the story comes to a quick -- and very cool -- ending after that.

... and the rocks it pummels.
- James Berardinelli

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[–] Xcalat3 11 years ago

the Diner scene at the beginning was brilliant.

When there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...

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[–] ZevII 11 years ago

I agree, Conrad and McGraw were chilling. They set the tone for a great movie.

Having grown up while Conrad was starring on TV as the roly-poly Cannon, his performance was stunning for me.

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[–] koko-10 10 years ago

And they were so well-dressed compared with today's on-screen killers! Of course, everyone was well-dressed back then, at least according to films of the times.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

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[–] Woodyanders 9 years ago

Those two guys were splendidly menacing.

I am the Duke of IMDb bio writers! I am A#1!

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