Killer's Kiss (1955) Review & Ratings

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Killer's Kiss (1955) Review

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 (1955) Overview

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!"

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