movie review the killers 1946

, , , and ). He selected a sharply-written script from screenwriters Anthony Veiller and collaborator John Huston (uncredited) that was loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1927 short story of the same name.

, , , and ), but this was reportedly the famous author's most favorite and praised adaptation.]

TV series.

- but they are different in form. They only reveal the story (clues and pieces of the puzzle) in disjointed fashion rather than portray varying perspectives on the main character. The narrative is composed of two strands - a journey into the dark noir world by an obsessive insurance company officer investigating an unwarranted, mysterious killing (of the Swede) and a hat factory heist, and the reconstructed story of the dead man's enigmatic and troubled past - and why he passively and quietly accepted his fateful, sacrificial death without resistance when delivered by two evil emissaries from his past. The emphasis on flashbacks underlines the influence of the past upon the present.

. The remake starred Angie Dickinson as the deceitful , Lee Marvin and Clu Gulagher as the hit men, and Ronald Reagan (in his last feature film role) as the gangster. And acclaimed Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky adapted the Hemingway story for his first student film in his film school days - a short 19-minute ).

) and Al (Charles McGraw), sent to the small rural town to track down a Tri-State Oil Co. attendant. Finding the filling station closed, they cross the street to Henry's Diner where George (Harry Hayden), the manager unobligingly tells them that none of the dinners on the menu that they wish to order are ready until 6 pm, about ten minutes away. Al is upset and begins the playful taunting: "Everything we want's on the dinner. That the way you work it, huh?" They deliberately harass and terrorize the proprietor:

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Review: robert siodmak and don siegel’s the killers on criterion blu-ray.

Criterion’s beautiful assemblage of all things Killers -related remains a vital packaging of several flawed, intense, historically notable noirs.

That’s all that happens in Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story, “The Killers,” which is a marvel of implication and showing rather than telling. In a few thousand words the author says more about America than many could in a sprawling novel, offering a diamond-sharp microcosm of a society’s pecking order. The killers casually uproot the power of the comparative innocents, who insidiously wield control over people like the black cook or the Swedish ex-boxer, who’re perceived to be outliers to the divine American experience. “The Killers” is also a crackling, greatly influential suspense story, with Hemingway’s legendarily pared prose melting in your mouth like butter. You can retrospectively discern the entire future of the American crime genre within this story, from Raymond Chandler to Donald Westlake to Elmore Leonard to countless more in between and afterward.

“The Killers” doesn’t yield enough narrative to fill out three acts’ worth of a conventional feature film, however, at least not one that moves and behaves like an American crime movie of the 1940s. Robert Siodmak’s 1946 film of the same name opens with a beat-for-beat adaptation of the Hemingway story that neatly functions as a self-contained short, elegantly alluding to the oppression that’s evident in the nooks and crannies of the lunch counter’s interiors, which suggest a figurative diner of America’s collective imagination more than any singular restaurant. (It’s difficult, for instance, to watch this movie and not think of Edward Hopper’s iconic Nighthawks .) The dialogue is delivered with a perfectly blunt staccato that’s ideal for the story, particularly the lines uttered by the killers (superbly played by William Conrad and Charles McGraw), and Siodmak’s leisurely, unpretentiously modern, prismatic long takes connote a sense of evil that’s gathering in claustrophobic real time.

Unfortunately, Hemingway, despite a possessory acknowledgement in the title, can only be credited with the first quarter-hour of the movie’s running time. The remainder of the film’s 102 minutes were cooked up by screenwriters Anthony Veiller, Richard Brooks, and John Huston (the latter two uncredited), who filled in the specifics of the Swede’s (Burt Lancaster) downfall. The Swede, or Ole Andreson, is shown to be murdered shortly after the hostage situation at the diner, the film subsequently backtracking to dramatize his blossoming involvement with gangsters in a tricky narrative that inescapably recalls Citizen Kane ’s chronologically scrambled structure.

Siodmak’s The Killers earns significant points for ambition and influence, but the incessant flashbacking doesn’t command our attention as it does in the Orson Welles film, which has an obsessive, neurotic undertow that renders the rickety plot beside the point. The American crime genre is generally a forward-moving beast driven by a terse, heavily symbolic sense of present tense, but Siodmak’s film is forever filling in details that we accept as a given. The Swede fell on hard times, became infatuated with a traditionally duplicitous “dame,” Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), and was pulled into a troublesome heist. You wait for the film to put a bow on all this background detail so as to move forward , but it keeps retreating back in time to further belabor the obvious. The Killers is a svelte, vividly directed film, with a remarkable grasp of physicality, both human and locational (particularly displayed in a breathtaking heist scene that’s staged in one long master shot), but the fancy plot gymnastics keep needlessly cluttering up Hemingway’s original, evocatively streamlined setup.

Don Siegel’s 1964 remake somewhat attempts to smooth out its 1946 predecessor’s convolutions of plot. Siegel’s direction is elegantly inelegant, favoring ostentatiously quick cuts and bluntly canted angles to Siodmak’s lush, proto-noir craftsmanship. The colors are alternatingly bold and washed out, to the point of resembling certain 1960s-era comic strips or productions made directly for TV (the medium this film was originally intended for), with reds and yellows that particularly sing to the eyes. This Killers has an overheated, self-consciously nihilistic intensity, which is immediately signaled by the filmmakers’ bold decision to dump Hemingway’s story altogether for a new opening set in an institute for the blind, which culminates with the titular hit men (now played by Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager) assaulting and nearly strangling a blind woman so as to discern the location of their prey, Johnny North (John Cassavetes). The assassins find North and gun him down, but something troubles them: This was too easy.

That’s the best, funniest touch to this newer Killers : the idea of a couple of rent-a-hoods investigating a murder they themselves committed. It’s a sly, anti-authoritarian deviation from the Siodmak film, which had a square insurance man (played by Edmond O’Brien, with too much relish) looking into a murder for reasons that never made much sense. And the final scenes, with Marvin’s character killing the bad guys before suffering his own inevitable, memorably pathetic death, represent a classic fusion of Siegel, Marvin, and Hemingway’s sensibilities. (Siegel was originally considered for the version that Siodmak helmed.) Yet the director’s modernist touches ultimately scan as grace notes dotting another unconvincing, flashback-riddled dude-meets-dame story. Siegel’s film goes to sleep at the same place that Siodmak’s does, because the victim at the heart of these narratives isn’t interesting; both narratives lose something when their killers recede from the limelight. Lancaster’s physical grace gives the Swede majesty, but he barely has a character to play, and Cassavetes is palpably uncomfortable, as always, playing an uncomplicated patsy. One senses his constricted desire to bring something weirder to the party.

The Killers redux packs one lasting, significant, retrospective jolt of perversity that far eclipses any possible artistic intentions on the part of its creators though: the sight of future American President Ronald Reagan playing a baddie in his last film role before entering politics. History has turned Reagan’s excellent performance into a surrealist joke in which pop culture appears to collapse in on itself, offering a subliminal X-ray vision of one of our most divisive leaders as a banal, vindictive, business-suited agent of terror. This inadvertent punchline is as good as anything that Hemingway dare dream.

Image/Sound

Robert Siodmak’s The Killers is a thing of formal beauty—a significant title in our blossoming awareness of collected stylistics that are now called “film noir.” The blacks of this transfer are rich and luscious, which is of great importance to a film that’s essentially a painting of shadows. Whites can be a little shrill on occasion, but it’s not a big deal, and probably inherent to the source materials. Close-ups are also occasionally soft. But, generally, this image is clean with good density and a terrific sense of dimension that’s due to remarkable interplay between the foreground and background details. Don Siegel’s Killers isn’t meant to be as attractive, as his film is a cynical rebuke to the sort of studio professionalism that Siodmak’s picture notably embodies. But this transfer gracefully honors the film’s curt, hothouse poetry, particularly in terms of primary colors, which emit a fevered intensity. Grain is well-modulated, and textures are detailed, sometimes startlingly so (look at the pained, creased faces of John Cassavetes or Lee Marvin’s characters as they die). The monaural soundtracks for both films are clean, though the Siodmak sounds richer than the Siegel—a distinction that, once again, scans as inherent to the diverse source materials. These are tip-top restorations of key American crime films.

These are the same supplements that were included in the DVD that Criterion issued in 2003, with the exception of the disappointing absence of Paul Schrader’s “Notes on Film Noir.” Otherwise, this is still a wonderful package that justifies the carry-over into Blu-ray. The most significant inclusion, of course, is Andrei Tarkovsky’s adaptation of the titular Ernest Hemingway story, which he co-directed while in college. The film is stiff, unsurprisingly for such an early work, and Hemingway’s pared dialogue doesn’t quite have the same punch in Russian (for an American, at least) that it does in English. But Tarkovsky and his co-directors confidently play with cinematic frames-within-frames, and the atmosphere is distinctly grubby and surreal.

Also included is the Screen Directors’ Playhouse radio adaptation from 1949 of the 1946 film, starring Burt Lancaster and Shelley Winters, which is to say that this single disc features a total of four adaptations of one story, inviting a potentially informative game of compare and contrast. If that isn’t enough, actor Stacy Keach is on hand to read aloud the story itself, reminding viewers that he would’ve made a great “killer” himself. The interview with Clu Gulager and the audio excerpt from Don Siegel’s autobiography offer pungent slices of Hollywood self-mythologizing. Rounding out this package is an assorted collection of trailers for other Robert Siodmak films, an interview with writer Stuart M. Kaminsky, and essays by Jonathan Lethem and Geoffrey O’Brien.

There are no new supplements on hand, but Criterion’s beautiful assemblage of all things Killers -related remains a vital packaging of several flawed, intense, historically notable noirs.

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Chuck Bowen

Chuck Bowen's writing has appeared in The Guardian , The Atlantic , The AV Club , Style Weekly , and other publications.

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The Killers (1946)

This is one of those movies I wasn’t sure about watching but then the opening was so great it could’ve turned into a round table discussion of agriculture subsidies and I probly would’ve kept with it. It starts with two out of town assholes walking into a diner and giving the proprietor a bunch of shit. They sit there in their coats and fedoras, ridiculing the menu, the policies, the customers, keep calling everybody “bright boy” and ask them condescending questions. It soon comes out that they’re not there for the steak sandwiches, they’re hired killers waiting for “the Swede” (Lancaster) who works at the gas station across the street to come in for lunch so they can ply their trade on him. (That means kill him. They are killers.)

He doesn’t show up, though, so the killers leave, and the “bright boy” customer who happens to work with Swede races to his house to warn him. But the Swede already knows, and he just lays in bed, resigned to his fate. So they show up and kill him.

Ava Gardner plays the girl whose charms Swede can’t resist, makes him put his brain on standby and switch over to “dick” mode. She doesn’t seem like a terrible person, but I guess technically she’s still a femme fatale, because she’s laying on a bed as bait while the men convince Swede to come in on a payroll robbery. She’s kicking her pantyhosed feet around like a kitten pawing at a ball of yarn. She knows what she’s doing.

She’s actually pretty smart about finding excuses to just be laying around all the time, so men don’t have to imagine what she looks like horizontally. It’s pretty over the top but at least she’s not bending over to pick things up or doing the Sharon Stone leg-spread or anything like that. I wonder if she had to do any furniture re-arranging though?

“Well, see you later Kitty, we have that hat factory payroll robbery to plan.”

“Well, that would be weird. Not enough room in there. Besides, we were gonna go play cards at Colfax’s, that’s a good place.”

“Well, is there a bed I can move into the living room?”

“Uh, I guess.”

Come to think of it, the Swede chooses to face his maker laying in bed, it might be an homage to Kitty. Or this might just be a movie about beautiful lazy people.

The cinematography is real good, very film noir. One of the extras on the DVD says it just looks like TV, but man I didn’t think so. Subtle things like when they’re at the coroner’s office and the room is bright so there’s a light background, but the light’s not on the people so they’re a dark grey. It looks good and very moody, not your usual shine-a-light-on-the-actors-and-shoot-them approach.

Apparently Richard Brooks and John Huston worked on the script, but it’s credited to this guy Anthony Veiller. I guess the opening 20 minutes comes straight from Hemingway’s story and the rest is made up. It’s a good mystery, even if it never matches the strong mood of that opening scene, with those guys talking down to everyone because they know nobody’s gonna mess with The Killers.

But it ends on a fun note. I like how it’s not a cop or private eye on the case, or even a guy who needs to solve the mystery. In fact, Reardon’s boss doesn’t care what happened and tries to move him on to something else. He just becomes obsessed, it’s like a puzzle to him and he doesn’t want to give up on solving it. When he finally has it all figured out, having gone far beyond the call of duty, he goes home for the weekend. Then he’ll be back Monday for some other case.

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41 Responses to “The Killers (1946)”

November 23rd, 2009 at 2:03 pm

Good stuff. You should check out KISS ME DEADLY, which is also pretty damn good.

November 23rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm

I’ve had this (and the Marvin version) on my Netflix queue forever. Maybe your recommendation is finally the push I need to pull the trigger and move it up to the top.

Siodmak made a really cool horror/thriller movie called THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, which is stylisitcally reminiscent of Argento’s giallos in many ways, only he did it in the 40’s. It’s a interesting oddity.

November 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Swede’s death was turned into probably the funniest scene in DEAD MEN DON’T WEAR PLAID:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPmcKTNS-6g

November 23rd, 2009 at 5:24 pm

This movie’s great. The Don Siegel version isn’t as good, but it does feature a scene where John Cassavetes punches out Ronald Reagan, which is goddamn awesome. That’s an image I’d really like to get printed on a T-shirt. Just thinking about it makes me feel proud to be an American.

November 23rd, 2009 at 5:59 pm

The scene you described with the killers in the diner reminds me of the sequence in History of Violence where those two crooks sort of brag about how hardcore they are right before Viggo rips their faces off.

November 23rd, 2009 at 6:20 pm

As a matter of fact, I’d like to see a whole line of T-shirts along that theme of art-house directors beating the shit out of asshole politicians. There could be one with Jean-Luc Godard drop-kicking Nixon, Jim Jarmusch beating Bush (either) with a baseball bat, and I’d really like to see Hitchcock in a sumo match with Cheney (advantage: Hitch).

Get to work people who do these things.

November 23rd, 2009 at 7:12 pm

Ooooh… you don’t know how happy I would be if you ever did something like a Vern Noir Winter. Think of it as a sort of proto-Badass Studies!

November 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 pm

Just out of curiosity, is this the earliest movie you’ve reviewed? I took a cursory glance at the index and racked my brain, but all I could think of for pre-rock & roll films was that blurb you did on ROPE (1948) and that hilarious bit on ALL ABOUT EVE (1950). Some other Hitchcock film, maybe? No other “classic” noirs that I can recall.

Not that I’m pounding down your door for you to review BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN or anything (“these pricks make those sailors eat rotten meat, in my opinion”), but looks like there’s still an untapped vein of Cinema lookin’ for that special Vern needle. Or pickaxe, if you want a different metaphor.

November 23rd, 2009 at 8:53 pm

Yeah, I don’t do many pre 1970 even, but here’s a 1932:

https://outlawvern.com/2005/01/01/the-old-dark-house/

November 23rd, 2009 at 10:12 pm

Battleship Potemkin is not a bad idea, considering its influence on action editing, and Vern’s opinions on action editing…

November 24th, 2009 at 4:44 am

White Heat is the most badass film noir ever, in my opinion.

November 24th, 2009 at 6:36 am

Strangely, although classic crime novels (particularly hardboiled detective fiction) are my bread and butter, I never really got into the film noir genre that was inspired by them. I think so much of what I love about the novels is the lean, mean, ostensibly unsentimental (but really just heartbroken and hoping nobody notices) language of the writing. I like walking around inside the characters’ heads, seeing the world through their eyes, and responding to it as unflappably as they do. Due to the necessarily voyeuristic nature of the medium, I don’t really get that from the movies, although I still give them a chance every now and then, and clearly I recognize the effect they had on so many of the later movies I love. I’ll put this one on the list for further study. Other recommendations?

By the way, if there are any other detective fans out there, do you feel as betrayed as me that DiCaprio might play Travis McGee? The role should be played by 1981 Nick Nolte and no one else. A case for motion capture?

November 24th, 2009 at 8:18 am

**As a matter of fact, I’d like to see a whole line of T-shirts along that theme of art-house directors beating the shit out of asshole politicians. ** I’d love to see Katherine Bigelow take a crack at Sarah Palin. Though I think I’d give the nod to Palin. Maybe Chris Nolan could win that one – he handled Bale already….

November 24th, 2009 at 8:26 am

Maybe we’d better let that kickboxing chick who directed Punisher War Zone take a crack at Palin instead.

November 24th, 2009 at 8:49 am

Mr. Majestyk: If you haven’t seen them already, Wilder’s DOUBLE INDEMNITY and SUNSET BLVD (the one with Gloria Swanson and William Holden, not the Glenn Close musical), Fritz Lang’s M, and Carol Reed’s THE THIRD MAN are, in my opinion, outright classics. I don’t know if they typify “noir” as well as KISS ME DEADLY, but part of the fun of film noir is that it is a really flexible concept. And I find that even the weaker noir films are almost compulsively watchable.

Also, THE BIG COMBO (not to be confused with a promotion at your local Burger King) has some great moody climax and good dialogue:

“Joe, tell the man I’m gonna break him so fast, he won’t have time to change his pants. Tell him the next time I see him, he’ll be in the lobby of the hotel, crying like a baby and asking for a ten dollar loan. Tell him that. And tell him I don’t break my word.”

There’s also some fairly frank sexuality and a torture scene with a hearing aid that calls RESERVOIR DOGS to mind.

November 24th, 2009 at 9:05 am

Jareth, I have seen M and The Third Man and I love them both. I never really thought of them as noir, due to their European-ness, but I suppose they have lots of similarities. Double Indemnity is a movie I’ll have to see eventually. It’s like eating your vegetables. I actually have Sunset Boulevard on DVD, but the girl who gave it to me broke up with me rather suddenly afterward and I’ve had a grudge against it ever since. I’m sure I’ll get over it eventually. I will definitely check out The Big Combo, though. That’s some nice tough guy patter.

November 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am

Mr. M: The opening sequence of SUNSET BLVD has to be one of the most compelling introductions to any film I’ve ever seen. Just masterful film-making. You’ll have forgotten your ex three sentences into Joe Gillis’ monologue.

I consider any film of the 1930s, 40s or 50s with obvious roots in German Expressionism to be noir, or to at least have strong noir leanings. I don’t think noir would have existed without Fritz Lang. But I’m pretty loose with the terminology here. Some scholars call Lang’s stuff “proto-noir,” but I think FURY and YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE don’t require such qualifications. I think it’s Lang’s occasional lapse into melodrama that puts him at a distance to the bulk of the genre for some critics.

Likewise, I have no reservations about including LES DIABOLIQUES and DRUNKEN ANGEL on a noir list. It’s obvious that the French and the Japanese were influenced by the Americans with these films.

I like DOUBLE INDEMNITY a lot, especially the performances, but I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece like SUNSET BLVD.

THE BIG COMBO has some great lines:

“You must have done something pretty fine to get as high as you are, Mr. Brown. I’m looking into that. I’m gonna open you up, and I’m gonna operate. I hate to think of what I’ll find.”

“You’re a cop, Leonard. There’s 17,000 laws on the books to be enforced. You haven’t got time to reform wayward girls. She’s been with Brown three and a half years. That’s a lot of days… and nights.”

Rita: “When will I see you again?” Leonard Diamond: “Well, if I’m not dead, you’ll find me where I always am. In jail.”

November 24th, 2009 at 9:45 am

Jareth, have you seen Manhunt? It was one of the first films Lang made after he came to Hollywood. It’s interesting because it was made in the period after World War II had started but before America joined in. There were actually some fairly strict anti-propaganda laws at the time that prevented artists from making pro-war statements (strange to think of how America has changed since then) so Lang had to tapdance a lot to make a film that was basically urging Americans to get involved and stop the Nazis. It’s a cool film with a great ending that sort of reminded me of Inglourious Basterds in reimagining the end of the war, only from before the fact.

November 24th, 2009 at 10:09 am

Vern, have you seen another good “Hitmen drinking stuff” movie, IN BRUGES? Not a mystery, but a very black comedy with Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Feinnes?

November 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am

My memory of MAN HUNT is a bit foggy because I saw it years ago, but I’ll watch anything with Lang’s name on it. If he made a bad film, I haven’t seen it yet.

If I remember correctly, Lang put the main character through one hell of a wild ride, sort of like TEMPLE OF DOOM. Didn’t he fall off a cliff at one point? I wonder if those action/chase scenes hold up.

I also remember he has a MCGYVER moment near the end, where he fashions a crossbow out of a hair clip. And there was some crazy-ass propagandistic narration at the end, wasn’t there?

If I remember correctly, the studio thought that Lang had crossed a line into “hate speech” with this film and locked him out of the editing room.

Shameful admission: I haven’t seen INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. I don’t mind Tarantino, but I don’t rush out to see his stuff. I usually wait for video.

I don’t know if it was you who recommended Bergman’s HOUR OF THE WOLF in another thread. Man, that was a good one.

November 24th, 2009 at 10:22 am

That’s funny, the same girl who ruined Sunset Boulevard for me was the one who showed me In Bruges. The association didn’t hurt that film, which I like a lot more than I thought it would. Fookin’ Bruges.

She also showed me Boondock Saints. Let us never speak of it again.

November 24th, 2009 at 10:53 am

I don’t know where I was, but this whole BOONDOCK SAINTS thing completely passed me by. I only learned about the first one when they started advertising the second one. I’m not going to let it distract from my mission of seeing BALLISTIC: ECKS VS SEVER.

Mr. Majestyk, Roger Ebert always said that the most important quality you can find in a partner is compatibility in movie tastes. So if I ever meet a girl who’s into TETSUO THE IRON MAN I’ll have to think twice about letting her slip away.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:04 am

I’ve come close so many times. I’ve known girls who like kung fu, girls who like classic American action, girls who like horror movies, girls who like weird artsy shit, and girls who like bad B-movies, but I’ve never met the girl who likes all of them. When I do, I’m impregnating her immediately. Our DNA must be combined for the greater good.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:07 am

You’re going to have a tough time finding a girl who likes all those things. My advice: find a girl who likes some of those catagories and then TOLERATES all of the others.

It’s been a workable dynamic with my girlfriend so far.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:08 am

Interesting, i knew the short story, but didn’t know they made a movie out of it.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:19 am

I’m asking for more than toleration. I’ll go out of my way to meet her halfway on her shit (For a different girl, I saw Legally Blonde in the theater. If that’s not love…) so she’s got to do likewise. She doesn’t necessarily have to like what I like, but she has to understand why I like it, and furthermore, she’s got to like that I like it. My love of stupid action movies is in my blood like sickle cells. If she doesn’t think that’s cute, there’s some basic values that are out of whack.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:29 am

Years after I dragged a girlfriend to a midnight screening of PULSE (KAIRO) she repaid the favor by insisting I sit through one whole season of SEX & THE CITY. After that, I re-evaluated the importance of seeing a film with other people.

Keep striving for excellence, Mr. M. A female friend who saw LIMITS OF CONTROL with me is a bigger fan of Lee Marvin than any guy I know. She also liked BLACK DYNAMITE but complained that it didn’t quite kick her ass hard enough. So there are some good ones out there.

November 24th, 2009 at 11:35 am

One Guy From Andromeda: The film version of THE KILLERS suffers a drop in quality at the exact moment where the short story ends (the Swede resigned to his death). That’s the down side of lifting Hemmingway’s dialogue verbatim. All of the “bright boy” stuff is right out of Hemmingway.

November 24th, 2009 at 1:41 pm

Man, I did have a girl that liked all the movies I liked. Just not in the same quantities. Now she’s gone and I’ve had little luck finding another one with such exceptional taste. :(

November 24th, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Gwai Lo, man, that is the saddest story I ever heard. I always had it halfway. One liked Friday the 13th but called me a sicko for taking her to see House of 1000 Corpses. Another liked Return of the Living Dead but made fun of me for liking Italian movies. Another loves Tony Jaa but won’t watch anything with stabbing. Then I had two in a row who flat out refused to give Die Hard a chance. But to have it all and then lose it? My heart goes out to you, amigo.

November 24th, 2009 at 2:25 pm

One of my favorite times with The Girl I’m not with anymore was a quite evening we spent watching Army of Darkness. She was sort of laughing at it for the first chunk, but by the time Bruce growled “Hail to the King, Baby” she was cheering right along side me. Goddammit.

*quiet. I hate myself sometimes.

November 24th, 2009 at 2:55 pm

Lee Marvin Girl just sent me an email. She accused me of ruining a perfectly good badass web site with “all this weepy relationship bullshit.” She also said that she’s going to publically kick my ass if I ever mention LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD again.

Gotta love a girl like that.

November 24th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

I first flirted with my Girl I’m Not With Anymore over a raucous discussion of zombie lore. She got married last year. I spent the whole reception making out with her maid of honor, who ended up being the Sunset Boulevard girl.

Girls + movies = life

November 24th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

And Jareth, tell Lee Marvin Girl that we’re engaging in a little thing called “badass juxtaposition.” She may have heard of it.

November 24th, 2009 at 6:23 pm

Dames = Badass Kryptonite.

This is why people like Humphrey Bogart so much.

November 24th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

Majestyk – this girl apparently called me her soulmate after seeing my DVD collection for the first time. After 3 years (two of them lazy university years that involved a lot of shared film classes) we basically had identical taste in film. Anything from The Hills Have Eyes to Jules and Jim was fair game. She turned me on to Freaks, The Battle of Algiers, Stalker. We shared a fanatical appreciation for Werner Herzog. She sent me dirty pictures with Betty Page style poses in front of A Clockwork Orange poster. Our song was “I Fooled Around and Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop, after watching The Devil’s Rejects. One time after seeing Days of Heaven on the big screen she candidly explained the religious allegory to me with the detail and authority of a Criterion Collection commentary. Of course like any movie watcher she’d occasionally put her foot down against something with no rational reason: United 93, anything with Bruce Willis (sorry Vern, I tried). I hate Abel Ferrara. Nobody’s perfect. But I still only personally know maybe five people total that can keep up with her on a film buff level.

By the end she complained that I watch too many movies, many of them bad. And perhaps she was right about at least one of those things. But the only time I really skeezed her right the fuck out was with Cannibal Holocaust. Bad judgment call altogether, on that day, in that moment. Relationship! Failing! Must! Play! Cannibal! Holocaust!

Anyway suffice to say fuck the dumb broad at this point, neither of us are exactly standing outside the other’s house with a boombox playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes”. But in two years I haven’t had sex with someone with real taste and interest in film. Some young padawans maybe, but just as many with taste that was just shockingly bad. I had three years with nary a romcom in sight, and I took how rare that is for granted. Ebert is fucking right. I know what it’s like on the other side man. I can’t go back man! It’s kind of bizarre when you get right down to it, but when I meet a beautiful woman, and discover that her taste in film sucks, I generally decide it’s not meant to be unless it’s meant to be in a way that involves sex without guilt. Whatever that means. Yes indeed girls and film, that’s what life’s about, here’s to doing it as a career and getting the two into the same room more often.

I hope nobody I know is reading this.

November 24th, 2009 at 7:23 pm

Gwai Lo – That’s got to be something special if you can proudly show all your DVDs to a girlfriend. I don’t even own that many, yet I still end up hiding one or two, depending on who is visiting. I’m sure we’ve all got a title or two that we don’t like to advertise. For me, ATTACK GIRLS SWIM TEAM VS THE UNDEAD is the most obvious candidate. Vagina lasers just aren’t something my mom needs to know about.

Of course, when Lee Marvin Girl visits, I have to hide AMELIE.

Speaking of whom: Mr. Majestyk, Lee Marvin Girl reads this site compulsively. I think she’s got a little crush on Vern. Anyway, Lee Marvin Girl tells me: “just because Oprah is quitting that doesn’t mean we should let Vern’s comments section fill the void.” Then she took my cigarettes and punched my cat.

November 24th, 2009 at 9:48 pm

Personally, I prefer women who have somewhat different tastes than I do, provided they have an active enough mind to discuss a range of things which they may not necessarily love. I briefly dated a girl who had very similar taste and range as me, and it was fun watching movies with her, but meh. I don’t need to hang around another me. I want someone who has some interests and abilities which I lack or don’t understand. My wife and I overlap on some things but we also vary enough that we can expand each other’s horizons rather than just agreeing on stuff all the time. I think the key is that we both love movies, not necessarily that we love the SAME movies.

November 24th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

Mr. S, I think you’re right. Whenever I get involved with someone, I always love finding out the shit they’re into. I take it as an opportunity to learn about new things that I probably wouldn’t care about otherwise. You get this weird mosaic of things that for the rest of your life will remind you of this one girl. I just want the same interest in return. There’s clearly a reason I am attracted to old school hip hop and 70s car crash movies and Ross Macdonald novels. Someone who’s interested in me should be interested in finding out what makes my brain buzz. My tastes shouldn’t just be tolerated. Tolerating is something you do to that guy at work, not someone you see naked.

November 27th, 2009 at 11:05 pm

“I don’t know if it was you who recommended Bergman’s HOUR OF THE WOLF in another thread. Man, that was a good one.”

It might have been me. Don’t thank me for it being good, though. I promised Ingmar I’d let him take all the credit for that part. In return, he helped me clean my garage. Now I have a clean garage, and he’s dead. You tell me who came out ahead.

Yes, compatibility is crucial. Do you really want to have to “trade” points and waste half of your moviegoing time on garbage? Or to watch stuff alone? What kind of life is that? Moviegoing may be the single most important thing in a relationship, after the first month is over and you quit having sex.

If she likes Hate Hudson movies, dump her. Unless she’s rich. Then you marry her and leave roller skates on the stairs.

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Review “the killers” (1946).

“The Killers” is an excellent film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, and Edmond O’Brien. It starts with two contract killers who come to a small town to kill a man working at the local gas station. When a friend tries to warn him, he makes no attempt to escape or hide, merely lies on his bed and waits for them to come. This starts the film with a mystery, which is then uncovered by an insurance investigator during the course of the film.

Burt Lancaster stars as Ole ‘The Swede’ Andersen, in his first film. He is the murder victim at the start of the movie, whose story is told in flashbacks during the course of the investigation. He gives a solid performance in spite of his inexperience, in what is a staple character type of film noir, the doomed man drawn into the darkness.

Edmond O’Brien is the insurance investigator, the ‘point-of-view’ person whose investigation draws out the story. O’Brien’s stolid performance keeps the film moving, as the outsider putting together the pieces of the mystery.

Ava Gardner is very good in her role in another staple noir character type, that of the femme fatale. As Kitty Collins, she is responsible for Andersen’s fate, by tricking and double-crossing him. Gardner is very convincing as she moves between different personas, sultry and sexy, to innocent and wide-eyed, to crocodile tears of helplessness. She’s great to watch in this.

The plot is structured in a compelling way, juxtaposing the investigation with flashbacks to past events. In this way, the audience is in the shoes of the investigator, seeing different pieces of the mystery before it all comes together at the end.

The director, Robert Siodmak, made many other noir films, and was an expert at this kind of film, The cinematography of darkness and shadows is used to great effect to highlight the mystery and fear of the plot. The insurance investigator is the main character in terms of screen appearance, however the main characters of the story are Andersen and Kitty. In a sense they gain in mystery due to their lesser time on screen. Ultimately we are never told why Andersen accepts his death as he does. Maybe he feels foolish for falling for Kitty, or just regretful for the bad things he has done. Or maybe he is just tired of hiding and wants to die. This is never made clear, and I think this is an effective way of keeping some mystery.

The beginning of the story, with the killers coming to town, is based on an Ernest Hemingway short story of the same name. While the short story merely dealt with that part of things, the film then uses this as a step off point to weave a tale about what might have been behind it. it’s a great way to start a movie, with suspense, violence, and so many questions. What is going on? Who is this man? Why were hired killers sent to kill him? Why did he just lie there and wait for them? It’s an effective way to ensure the audience is going to keep watching to find out the answers.

“The Killers” is a solid example of classic film noir. It has all the hallmarks of the genre – the night shots, the light and shadow, the impending doom. A solid cast, and a plot that keeps you guessing, make for an entertaining watch.

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By Bosley Crowther

• Aug. 29, 1946

Back in the gangster-glutted Twenties, Ernest Hemingway wrote a morbid tale about two gunmen waiting in a lunchroom for a man they were hired to kill. And while they relentlessly waited, the victim lay sweating in his room, knowing the gunmen were after him but too weary and resigned to move. That's all the story told you—that a man was going to be killed. What for was deliberately unstated. Quite a fearful and fatalistic tale.Now, in a film called "The Killers," which was the title of the Hemingway piece, Mark Hellinger and Anthony Veiller are filling out the plot. That is, they are cleverly explaining, through a flashback reconstruction of the life of that man who lay sweating in his bedroom, why the gunmen were after him. And although it may not be precisely what Hemingway had in mind, it makes a taut and absorbing explanation as unreeled on the Winter Garden's screen.For the producer and writer have concocted a pretty cruel and complicated plot in which a youthful but broken-down prize-fighter treds a perilous path to ruin. Mobsters and big-time stick-up workers get a hold on him, and a siren of no mean proportions completely befouls his career. In the end, we perceive that the poor fellow—who is bumped off in the first reel, by the way—was the victim of love misdirected and a beautiful double-cross.This doesn't prove very much, obviously, and it certainly does not enhance the literary distinction of Hemingway's classic bit. But, as mere movie melodrama, pieced out as a mystery which is patiently unfolded by a sleuthing insurance man, it makes a diverting picture—diverting, that is, if you enjoy the unraveling of crime enigmas involving pernicious folks.With Robert Siodmak's restrained direction, a new actor, Burt Lancaster, gives a lanky and wistful imitation of a nice guy who's wooed to his ruin. And Ava Gardner is sultry and sardonic as the lady who crosses him up. Edmond O'Brien plays the shrewd investigator in the usual cool and clipped detective style, Sam Levene is very good as a policeman and Albert Dekker makes a thoroughly nasty thug. Several other characters are sharply and colorfully played. The tempo is slow and metronomic, which makes for less excitement than suspense.

'The Killers'THE KILLERS, screen play by Anthony Veiller, based on a story by Ernest Hemingway; directed by Robert Siodmak; produced by Mark Hellinger for Universal. At the Winter Garden.Swede . . . . . Burt LancasterKitty Collins . . . . . Ava GardnerRiordan . . . . . Edmond O'BrienColfax . . . . . Albert DekkerLieut. Lubinsky . . . . . Sam LeveneDum Dum . . . . . Jack LambertBlinky . . . . . Jeff CoreyKenyon . . . . . Donald McBrideCharleston . . . . . Vince BarnettPacky . . . . . Charles D. BrownLilly . . . . . Virginia ChristineNick Adams . . . . . Phil BrownJake . . . . . John MiljanQueenie . . . . . Queenie SmithJoe . . . . . Garry OwenGeorge . . . . . Harry HaydenSam . . . . . Bill WalkerThe Killer . . . . . Charles McGrawThe Killer . . . . . William Conrad

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Review: ‘The Killer’s Game’ Dave Bautista Hits Hard And Steals Hearts In An Enjoyably Brutal Action-Comedy

Action-comedy The Killer’s Game is the most complete performance Dave Bautista has ever had, and it’s a must-see for his fans. I consider myself one of them, as he’s been a personal favorite since the first day he debuted with the WWE. Back then he was massively jacked, and stayed that way for a long time. Now, he’s shed a lot of weight through jiujitsu (as you can see in my recent interview with him), and has become the best wrestler-turned-actor working today. But he’s done it largely without having a chance to be a romantic lead. Sure, he can throw people around with ease, and gets plenty of opportunities to do so in this crazy star-studded action flick. However, we also get to see that Bautista is meant for so much more than beating people up.

The funny thing is that The Killer’s Gam e wasn’t meant for Bautista at all, at least not initially. Throughout many failed attempts, Jason Statham, Wesley Snipes, and Michael Keaton were attached to the lead role before Bautista was ever considered. That list of actors should tell you the role of hitman Joe Flood is more than just a beat ’em up. It requires a bit more subtlety, expressions of grief, passion, tenderness, and remorse…along with cracking skulls.

Bautista plays Joe Flood, the ultimate assassin and a total badass. When we first meet him, he’s taking out some high-value target at a ballet recital, which is where he first encounters prima ballerina Maize (Sofia Boutella), who has no idea he’s the cause of all the death and chaos that interrupts the show. The two have an awkward meet-cute but eventually they fall in love, which is a problem for somebody in Joe’s business. He doesn’t want to keep secrets from her and is looking for a way out. Joe is mentored by his employer, Zvi (Ben Kingsley), who is more like a father-figure than a boss. Zvi also has concerns. There are only two ways out of their line of work: either you get out clean, or on your back.

So why has Hollywood been trying for more than two decades to bring The Killer’s Gam e to the big screen? It sounds like your typical “one last job” storyline seen in dozens of similar movies. While there is certainly that aspect to it, and I’d be lying to say it breaks the mold, there’s a fun little twist that stunned the audience who attended our recent screening. Joe, who is plagued with debilitating headaches, is diagnosed by a doctor with a terminal disease, one that will prevent him from being with Maize and continuing to do his job. Preferring to go out like a warrior, he contracts an old foe, Marianna, played by Bautista’s Guardians of the Galaxy co-star Pom Klementieff (Drax + Mantis 4ever!!), to put out a bounty on his head.  And she is more than happy to oblige, hiring the best of the best to finish Joe for good.

There’s just one problem: the doctor screwed up. Joe isn’t sick. Assuming he can survive the army of paid mercs sent to kill him, he should live a long and happy life. Oops!

Penned by Rand Ravich and James Coyne, The Killer’s Game is directed by former stuntman JJ Perry, who crafts cool-looking violence in the John Wick style. He previously directed the offbeat Jamie Foxx vampire film Day Shift , and there’s a similarly weird mix of tones.  The film works best when it leans into being a straight action vehicle for Bautista and a crew of elite fighters that will make any fan of the genre take notice. Of the hired guns itching to collect on Joe’s head is Terry Crews as Dolemite-esque killer Lovedahl, who gets saddled with a dopey sidekick. Marko Zaror, who turned a lot of heads (including mine) with last year’s Fist of the Condor , plays a hitman who enjoys a good Flamenco dance while he works. There’s also the awesome Scott Adkins and WWE superstar Drew McIntyre as Scottish brothers whose dialogue is so unintelligible it needs subtitles. Mix in a bunch of J-Pop gangsters, a pair of stripper party gals with big guns (not a euphemism), and Joe is in danger of dying at any moment.

Most of the bloodshed takes place in a massive castle which turns out to be one giant kill box. Perry mixes black humor, Troma-levels of gore, and real consequences and the formula doesn’t always work. There’s also the love story between Joe and Maize, which is genuinely sweet and shows how good at this Bautista is. But the biggest laughs come from the interactions between Joe, Zvi, and the latter’s wife, played by Alex Kingston. They treat Joe like their own child, and aren’t afraid to embarrass him with stories of their (occasionally X-rated) marital issues.

While Bautista and Boutella have decent romantic chemistry, it’s a shame we don’t get to see her do more as a skilled dancer and fighter herself. Bautista is called upon to be her rescuer and lover, and they are roles he’s more than suited for. The Killer’s Game will be a blast for anyone who shows up to watch Bautista throw down, but they’re also going to get a glimpse at the rest of his career taking on more diverse roles. I just hope when that happens he continues to clear some room on his schedule for flicks like this where he can punch people a lot.

The Killer’s Game opens on September 13th.

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‘the killer’s game’ final trailer: dave bautista is hunted by wwe superstar drew mcintyre in new action-comedy, ‘my spy the eternal city’ interviews: dave bautista, chloe coleman, ken jeong, & kristen schaal on reuniting for the spy sequel, review: ‘my spy the eternal city’.

‘I, the Executioner’ Review: A South Korean Serial-Killer-Action-Comedy Sequel

Ryoo Seung-wan's 'Veteran' follow-up deconstructs the police action genre.

By Siddhant Adlakha

Siddhant Adlakha

• ‘I, the Executioner’ Review: A South Korean Serial-Killer-Action-Comedy Sequel 1 day ago
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“I, the Executioner,” Ryoo Seung-wan ‘s sequel to his 2015 action-comedy “Veteran,” scales back on its predecessor’s laughs in order to focus more closely on — as well as to examine — the violence of its police protagonists. Although undoubtedly entertaining, Ryoo’s follow-up is also highly introspective, weaving a serial killer mystery that makes for a surprising mirror to the series’ lead.

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“I, the Executioner” also plays skillfully with red herrings, introducing a new rookie cop, Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in), among its central cast, whose fanboy-ish obsession with Seo is, at best, mildly unsettling. Dubbed the “UFC policeman” online for his aggressive takedowns, Park appears to have learned all the wrong lessons from Seo’s antics, and as the movie hints toward his potential involvement with Haechi, this dichotomy grows more intriguing. The film keeps zigging and zagging when it comes to its killer’s identity, but it never wavers when it comes to framing Park as Seo’s disturbing shadow, making the antihero detective reconsider his methods, while simultaneously dealing with complications on the family front.

Unfortunately, despite twisting its many screws, the film’s final act can’t quite sustain its lofty themes, and instead defaults to an almost “Saw”-like premise that doesn’t quite gel with its killer’s established motives. However, it’s also here that the series’ signature comedic action returns to the fore. “I, the Executioner” has no shortage of intense action — one rooftop fight in the rain is particularly ingenious, with characters slipping and sliding their way through close-quarters combat — but its intimate climactic scenes bring the movie full-circle after its many dour detours, as Ryoo reaches back into his slapstick toolbox, and does what he does best.  

Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations), Sept. 15, 2024. Also in Cannes Film Festival. Running time: 118 MIN.

• Production: (S. Korea) A Capelight Pictures presentation of a Filmmakers R&K production. (World sales: CJ ENM, Seoul.) Producers: Kang Hye-jung, Cho Sung-min, Ryoo Seung-wan.
• Crew: Director: Ryoo Seoung-wan. Screenplay: Lee Won-jae, Ryoo Seung-wan. Camera: Choi Young-hwan. Editing: Bae Youn-tae. Music: Chang Ki-ha.
• With: Hwang Jung-min, Jung Hae-in. (Korean dialogue)

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Netflix's Monster Casts Charlie Hunnam as Infamous Serial Killer for Season 3

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The creator behind hit shows American Horror Story and American Crime Story , Ryan Murphy , has surprised fans with new details regarding the third season of another of his hit series, Monster . During an appearance at the premiere for the second season of the Netflix show, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story , Murphy revealed (via Deadline ) that Season 3 will center on the infamous serial killer Ed Gein, played by Sons of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam .

While he kept any further details close to his chest for now, the idea of Hunnam playing the Butcher of Plainfield is certainly an intriguing one. Best known for playing Jackson 'Jax' Teller in the acclaimed FX drama Sons of Anarchy , Hunnam has also starred in the likes of Pacific Rim, The Gentlemen , and Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon saga. Portraying a merciless serial killer marks a change of pace for the actor, and will no doubt have many tuning in to witness this tale of one of the most twisted serial killers in American history.

10 Horror Movies Inspired by the Crimes of Serial Killer Ed Gein

No real life killer has inspired more classic horror flicks than Ed Gein.

Much like the first season of Monster, which centered on the life of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, Season 3 will explore the crimes of Ed Gein, the killer who inspired the horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre . Gein carried out murders in his hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin, earning him the monikers Butcher of Plainfield and the Plainfield Ghoul. He gained notoriety in 1957 after it was discovered that Gein had exhumed corpses from local grave sites to create furniture and clothing out of their bodies. He then confessed to killing two women, Mary Hogan in 1954 and Bernice Worden in 1957, and was suspected of another seven murders.

At present, no other cast has been revealed, nor have any of the writers or directors who will be involved in Monster Season 3.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Is Due for Release This Week

The first season of Monster , Dahmer , was a huge hit for Netflix, reaching 1 billion viewing hours in its first 60 days and thus putting it alongside the likes of other successes such as Stranger Things and Squid Game . The anthology series will continue this month with Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story , which probes the lives of the Menendez brothers, convicted of the brutal 1989 murders of their parents in Beverly Hills. Check out the synopsis below.

“On August 20, 1989, José and Kitty Menendez were brutally murdered in their Beverly Hills home. MONSTERS: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story dives into the historic case that took the world by storm, paved the way for audiences’ modern-day fascination with true crime, and in return asks those audiences: Who are the real monsters?”

Starring Javier Bardem as José Menendez, Chloë Sevigny as Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, Cooper Koch as Erik Menendez, Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Lyle Menendez, Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne, and Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is due to land on Netflix on September 19.

Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

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'The Penguin' on HBO takes us deeper into the darkest corners of the Batman universe

If you spent nearly three hours mired in the darkest version of Gotham ever created in “ The Batman ” in 2022 and thought, you know, I would like to spend a lot more time there, have I got the series for you.

“The Penguin,” created by Lauren LeFranc, gives Colin Farrell’s villain from the film, who wasn’t seen all that much, his own eight-episode HBO series. That’s a lot of Penguin. It’s also a lot of Farrell, though it’s difficult to tell — he conducts his performance under a load of makeup and prosthetics to the point that he is unrecognizable.

Happily, it’s also a lot of Cristin Milioti, whose performance as the psychopathic daughter of a mob boss is the best thing about the series, a little ray of crazy murderous sunshine in a gloomy TV universe.

Colin Farrell is unrecognizable as the Penguin

Not that Farrell isn’t good. He is. He’s just impossible to find in there. This isn’t one of those, oh, ha-ha, you can see a glimpse of the famous actor’s face peeking through or his mannerisms in the performance. This is another person altogether. Which is fine — I’m sure it was a fun challenge for Farrell. You kind of wonder what the point of getting him was, but hey, it’s HBO Max’s money.

It’s a dark origin story, sort of, set immediately after the events of “The Batman,” with large chunks of Gotham’s poorer neighborhoods flooded out and crime running rampant. Oswald Cobb — everyone calls him Oz, except when they want to insult him and call him Penguin, which is often — is a lower-rung mobster from the start, but he has his eyes on bigger things, like running Gotham. That means having to navigate and kill his way through the various crime families who run things, at least a couple of whom he’s already worked for. Oz’s loyalty is to Oz.

Oz now works for the Falcone family, whose daughter Sofia has recently been released from Arkham Asylum, where she landed after being convicted of a string of murders, leading to her identity as the serial killer Hangman. The truth is more complicated than that, but sometimes, when everyone thinks you’re a serial-killing psychopath, you just have to lean into it.

And Milioti does. Imagine the sharp edges she brought to her stuck-in-time character in “ Palm Springs ” translated to a power-hungry woman betrayed by her family in the worst possible ways and you’ll have an idea of what she’s up to here.

Sofia and Oz have a history; he used to be her driver. He moved up in the crime world while she got shipped off to Arkham. Everyone in Gotham knows Oz. Sofia is one of the few who doesn't underestimate him.

That small list also includes Eve (Carmen Ejogo), his sometime girlfriend who is a sex worker and not to be trifled with. Then there is Victor (Rhenzy Feliz), a young man orphaned by the floods whom Oz meets when Victor tries to jack his car. Victor is a good kid, but he’s desperate to fit in somewhere, even if it’s with Oz. He becomes Oz's driver, and Oz treats him with a growing respect.

Sofia wants to run crime in Gotham. So does Oz. So does Salvatore Maroni (Clancy Brown), but he’s in prison. There are also various other factions around town, whose sale of Drops — the drug of choice in Gotham — as well as the promise of a new, more addicting drug, spell trouble.

There are hints of 'The Sopranos' in 'The Penguin'

Especially for Oz, who wanders into one problem or another every episode, often of his own making, then must figure his way out of it. Not helping is his domineering mother (Deirdre O’Connell, excellent), who, when she is not battling dementia, belittles her son, even though he is devoted to her.

There is a lot going on in “The Penguin.” Too much, as is almost always the case with “prestige” series. There’s no reason this needs to be eight episodes. The good would have been more concentrated, more powerful, in fewer. The diversions could have been eliminated. Farrell plays Oz like a dumber, more desperate Tony Soprano. That’s better in small doses. Only when Milioti’s Sofia is mixed into the equation does “The Penguin” really soar.

What’s really lacking, of course, is Batman. There’s a nod to him late in the series, but that’s it. (We know he exists. Why is he letting all this mayhem unfold unchecked?) “The Penguin” is a bridge between “The Batman” and its upcoming sequel. We can only hope Milioti is a part of that.

How to watch 'The Penguin'

Streaming on HBO and Max on Thursday, Sept. 19. New episodes come out succeeding Thursdays.

Coming soon: The 10 movies we're most excited to see this fall — and when they're coming

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