Classic film noir

Glowing with angst: Lancaster and Gardner
10 April 2012

One of the quintessential film noirs. Made back in 1946, and now showing in a gorgeous new print as part of a Burt Lancaster season at the BFI Southbank, The Killers is a morality tale turned inside out.

An ex-boxer (Lancaster, making his debut) double-crosses a gangster to please the woman he loves (Ava Gardner) and, years later, pays the ultimate price.

A martyr without a cause, Lancaster glows with angst as he waits for his punishment, while Gardner (whose beauty is somehow enhanced by the huge bags under her eyes) casts her spell over us.

It's sinful, the way we're drawn to these characters; but the hell they inhabit is just so darn hot.

The Killers
Cert: PG

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