Killer's Kiss

Stanley Kubrick
1955

One of Kubrick's first features "Killer's Kiss" shows early hints at the famed director's penchant for precise visuals as well as his coldly unsentimental take on character. A washed up boxer gets mixed up in the affairs of a go-go dancer and her lecherous boss. The boxer and dancer fall for each other and make plans to skip town and return to the simple life, but the spurned nightclub owner won't leave well enough alone. The performances are definitely rough around the edges with a hurried and unconvincing love affair, but unsurprisingly the visuals are razor crisp and noirish, with deep focus and deeper shadows. Even more impressive is the epic final showdown in a mannequin maker's workshop. This extended fight sequence takes full advantage of the off-color locale, and offers a uniquely unstylized fight with the two combatants swinging away at each other (and usually missing) with any available weapons on hand. It's also a hoot to watch Stanley Kubrick try and put forth a traditional happy-ending, definitely not one of the director's strong suites.