The Kill-Off

Last updated

The Kill-Off
Killoffcover.jpg
Video Cover
Directed by Maggie Greenwald
Screenplay byMaggie Greenwald
Based on The Kill-Off
by Jim Thompson
Produced byLydia Dean Pilcher
StarringCathy Haase
Loretta Gross
Andrew Lee Barrett
Cinematography Declan Quinn
Edited byJames Y. Kwei
Music by Evan Lurie
Production
company
Filmworld International Productions
Distributed byCabriolet Films
Release dates
  • May 17, 1989 (1989-05-17)(Cannes Film Market)
  • October 19, 1990 (1990-10-19)(New York City)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Kill-Off is a 1989 American crime drama film written and directed by Maggie Greenwald, based on a 1957 novel of the same name by Jim Thompson. It was an independent film, produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher and shot by Declan Quinn in his film debut.

Contents

Plot

In a small coastal community in New Jersey, the only action in town is a nightclub called The Pavilion. The owner, Pete, can barely make the payroll so in an effort to bring in more business, he hires a sultry stripper named Danny Lee.

Danny Lee's act soon turns the head of Ralph, which is not good news for his bed-ridden wife Luanne. Luanne's nasty talent is her gift for gossip, and when she begins to suspect that Ralph has adultery on his mind, she starts spreading more ugly rumors that have just enough basis in fact to stick. Soon things spin out of control and a wave of violence begins.

Cast

Production

The Kill-Off was a part of the so-called Jim Thompson revival in the late 1980s and early 1990s. [1] The other Jim Thompson novels to be adapted into films were The Grifters and After Dark, My Sweet. [2] The Kill Off's US release would arrive in the same year as the aforementioned films.

Director of photography Declan Quinn shot the film with low lighting; at times, footage of characters more than a few feet from the camera can be difficult to see. This was done to mirror the stylistic photography of the film noirs of the 1940s and 1950s.

Filming took place over a twenty-one-day schedule in January 1989 on a budget of less than $1 million. [2] Exterior shots were filmed in the New Jersey seaside town of Keansburg, where the Keansburg Amusement Park can be seen in the background. [2] Interior scenes were filmed on sets in New York. [2]

Release

The producers used the following tagline when marketing the film:

The closer you look, the less you want to know.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Market on May 17, 1989. [2] It went on to screen at the Women in Film Festival [3] and the Toronto Festival of Festivals that year. Later, it was shown at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival and Maggie Greenwald was nominated for the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize. [4] In the UK, the film opened at the Screen on the Hill in London on February 9, 1990, [5] grossing $8,775 in its opening week. [5] The film was given a limited theatrical release by Cabriolet Films beginning on October 19, 1990 in New York City. [2] It also opened in Los Angeles for a week on December 14, 1990 in order to qualify for Academy Awards consideration. [2]

Home media

The film was not released onto videocassette in the United States until 1996, when Xenon Entertainment released it onto VHS. [6] [7] In 2014, Films Around the World released the film on a manufactured on demand DVD-R.

Reception

Critical response

Critic Peter Travers, writing for Rolling Stone , called the film "a daring, down-and-dirty thriller." [8] In the Austin Chronicle , critic Marjorie Baumgarten reviewed the film positively, writing the "protagonists and pernicious moral rot are well-captured in Greenwald's film version of The Kill-Off. The milieu is compellingly perverse, and Greenwald and the actors get the seedy tone just right." [9] Critic Dennis Schwartz felt though the film "wasn’t psychologically deep, nor was it morally arresting", it succeeds at "showing a feeling of deep noir malaise", noting "It’s rare that a woman directs a noir film and especially one as hard-boiled as this one." [10]

The New York Times was less impressed with the film. Critic Caryn James wrote, "[Thompson's lurid drama] is tossed away by Ms. Greenwald's flaccid script and scenes so badly paced that the actors seem to be holding their breath between lines, waiting for their next cues." [11]

Accolades

Wins

Nominations

Differences from novel

In the book, the author never reveals the identity of the murderer, in contrast to the film. [10] The film also spares one of the characters that the book does not, and turns the character into a moral center.

Related Research Articles

<i>Do the Right Thing</i> 1989 film by Spike Lee

Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American comedy-drama film produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee. It stars Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, and Samuel L. Jackson, and is the feature film debut of Martin Lawrence and Rosie Perez. The story explores a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension between its African-American residents and the Italian-American owners of a local pizzeria, culminating in tragedy and violence on a hot summer day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Turturro</span> American actor (born 1957)

John Michael Turturro is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his varied complex roles in independent films. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, Adam Sandler, and Spike Lee. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Gyllenhaal</span> American actress and filmmaker (born 1977)

Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs, and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chen Kaige</span> Chinese film director and screenwriter

Chen Kaige is a Chinese film director and a leading figure of the fifth generation of Chinese cinema. His films are known for their visual flair and epic storytelling. Chen won the Palme d'Or at 1993 Cannes Film Festival and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Award in 1993 for directing Farewell My Concubine.

<i>Class Action</i> (film) 1991 film by Michael Apted

Class Action is a 1991 American legal drama film directed by Michael Apted. Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio star; Larry Fishburne, Colin Friels, Fred Dalton Thompson, and Donald Moffat are also featured. The film was entered into the 17th Moscow International Film Festival.

<i>On Dangerous Ground</i> 1951 film by Nicholas Ray

On Dangerous Ground is a 1951 film noir-melodrama starring Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino, directed by Nicholas Ray, and produced by John Houseman. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on the 1945 novel Mad with Much Heart, by Gerald Butler.

<i>The Narrow Margin</i> 1952 film by Richard Fleischer

The Narrow Margin is a 1952 American film noir starring Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the RKO picture was written by Earl Felton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard. The screenplay by Earl Felton was nominated for an Academy Award.

<i>Criss Cross</i> (film) 1949 film by Robert Siodmak

Criss Cross is a 1949 American film noir crime film starring Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo and Dan Duryea, directed by Robert Siodmak and written by Daniel Fuchs based on Don Tracy's 1934 novel of the same name. This black-and-white film was shot partly on location in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles. Miklós Rózsa scored the film's soundtrack. It was remade as The Underneath in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Miller</span> American actress and film director (born 1962)

Rebecca Augusta Miller, Lady Day-Lewis is an American filmmaker and novelist. She is known for her films Angela, Personal Velocity: Three Portraits, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, and Maggie's Plan, all of which she wrote and directed, as well as her novels The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and Jacob's Folly. Miller received the Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for Personal Velocity and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Director for Angela.

<i>Red Rock West</i> 1993 American film directed by John Dahl

Red Rock West is a 1993 American neo-noir thriller film directed by John Dahl and starring Nicolas Cage, Lara Flynn Boyle, J. T. Walsh, and Dennis Hopper. It was written by Dahl and his brother Rick, and shot in Montana, Willcox, Arizona, Sonoita, Arizona and Elgin, Arizona.

<i>The Glass Wall</i> 1953 film by Maxwell Shane

The Glass Wall is a 1953 American drama film noir directed by Maxwell Shane and starring Vittorio Gassman and Gloria Grahame. The black-and-white film was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures. The title refers to a design feature of the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

<i>Faithful</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film

Faithful is a 1996 American comedy crime drama film directed by Paul Mazursky and starring Cher, Chazz Palminteri and Ryan O'Neal. Palminteri wrote the screenplay, which is an adaptation of his stage play of the same name. Faithful tells the story of a woman, her husband and a hit man. The film was entered into the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. This is Mazursky's final theatrical film as director.

<i>Street of Chance</i> (1942 film) 1942 film by Jack Hively

Street of Chance is a 1942 American film noir mystery film directed by Jack Hively and starring Burgess Meredith as a man who finds he has been suffering from amnesia and Claire Trevor as a woman who protects him from the police, who suspect him of murder. He is suspected of the murder of the wealthy Harry Diedrich. The only eyewitness to the murder was Harry's mute grandmother, and she can only communicate with others through sign language.

<i>Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election</i> 2002 film

Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election is a 2002 47-minute documentary directed and co-written by Richard Ray Pérez and Joan Sekler, and narrated by Peter Coyote, about the contested 2000 presidential election in Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Greenwald</span> American filmmaker (born 1955)

Maggie Greenwald is an American filmmaker.

<i>The Kill-Off</i> (novel) 1957 novel by Jim Thompson

The Kill-Off is an American crime novel by Jim Thompson first published in 1957, and reprinted by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard in 1999. The novel is a bleak tale of murder in a small, dying resort town being torn apart by gossip, racism, incest, alcoholism and financial difficulties. It was adapted into a film in 1990.

<i>The Scarlet Hour</i> 1956 film by Michael Curtiz

The Scarlet Hour is a 1956 American film noir crime film directed and produced by Michael Curtiz, previously director of such noted films as Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy and White Christmas.

<i>Money Madness</i> (1948 film) 1948 film by Sam Newfield

Money Madness is a 1948 film noir mystery film directed by Sam Newfield starring Hugh Beaumont and Frances Rafferty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7th Berlin International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 7th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1957. The International Federation of Film Critics awarded FIPRESCI Award for the first time this year. The Golden Bear was awarded to the American film 12 Angry Men directed by Sidney Lumet.

References

  1. ↑ "Death becomes him". The Independent. May 18, 1997. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Kill-Off". AFI|Catalog. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  3. ↑ Benson, Sheila (October 18, 1989). "MOVIE REVIEWS : Women in Film Festival Draws Innovative European Entries". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Festival Made Memorable by Star Visits, Fine Films, Even Mishaps". Deseret News. January 28, 1990. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  5. 1 2 Groves, Don (February 21, 1990). "'Magnolias' not quite blooming; 'Business' booming". Variety . p. 20.
  6. ↑ "The Kill-Off". VHSCollector.com. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  7. ↑ "The kill-off [videorecording]". Stanford Libraries. 1996. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ Travers, Peter (October 19, 1990). "The Kill-Off". Rolling Stone . Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  9. ↑ Baumgarten, Marjorie (July 12, 1991). "Movie Review: The Kill-Off". Austin Chronicle.
  10. 1 2 Schwartz, Dennis (May 5, 2000). "The Kill-Off". Dennis Schwartz Reviews. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  11. ↑ James, Caryn (October 19, 1990). "Languid Murder by Phone". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331.
  12. ↑ "7° Festival Internazionale Cinema Giovani". Torino Film Fest. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "The Kill-Off - Miscellaneous Notes". Turner Classic Movie Database . Retrieved December 22, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.