The Killers (1964)

Where the 1946 version was shadowy, voluptuous, and doomily romantic, the 1964 remake is shiny, hard-edged, and nihilistic.

The shift in tone reflects the decision to dump 1946's earnest insurance investigator and have his role as detective-figure filled by the two ruthless hit men (Marvin, Clu Gulager), whose curiosity and greed are aroused by their victim's inexplicable refusal to run. Gulager's fidgety hotshot plays beautifully off Marvin's stone-cool old-timer in the role that defined the Lee Marvin persona. Rounding out the cast are John Cassavetes as the patsy (here a racecar driver rather than a boxer), Angie Dickinson as his femme fatale, and, in his final screen performance, Ronald Reagan, acquitting himself quite well as a villainous mobster with a sour streak beneath his façade of cordial menace. New 4K DCP digital restoration. (MR)

"Siegel's terse, seething, and stylish direction glows with the blank radiance of sheet metal in sunlight."

— Richard Brody, The New Yorker