This is Part 2 of a 3-Part Series called Rewatching Stanley, whereI re-watch and reflect on Kubrick's early films, sharing observations and reactions that I have while watching. My companion guide will be The Stanley Kubrick Archives, edited by Alison Castle.
Film
The Killing 1956
The Perfect Plan, The Fallible Man
"[T]he novel touches on a theme that is a frequent preoccupation of Kubrick's films: the presumably perfect plan of action that goes wrong through human fallibility and/or chance" (p. 102).
The above quote is a fitting summation of the theme that shone through my viewing of The Killing. The lead character, Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) serves as the metaphorical placeholder for the mastermind director of Kubrick himself, and no matter how well laid a plan is there is always something surprising that awaits you outside of your control. Later in his life, we have the advantage of knowing that Kubrick will gain the reputation of being a controlling perfectionist when it came to the craft and execution of his movies. And there is an interesting irony that so early in his career we see him semi-blatantly grappling with the struggle of working within a studio system. This movie's final scene reminded me of a frustrated man finally giving up and resigning himself to his fate. The despair in Hayden's eyes that Kubrick captures gives us the perfect visual of the despair that most likely motivated Kubrick to eventually position himself as not being under the control of studios. This won't fully come to a head until the end of the production of Spartacus (the tipping point if you will), but in the Killing we're given a perfect metaphor of a man who has an amazingly laid out plan thwarted by outside influences that he couldn't control.
