Skip to main content

The Alien World of Objects: Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Adaptation Considered as a Collaborative Art

Part of the book series: Adaptation in Theatre and Performance ((ATP))

  • 330 Accesses

Abstract

Kubrick’s film The Killing like all heist films is one in which the theme of collaboration is paramount. Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) must assemble a gang of men he can trust to do their appointed job at the precisely appointed time and to keep silent about their involvement. This commonplace requirement for strict collaboration and cooperation is taken up in the film and extended, perhaps more unexpectedly, to the world of physical objects. It is not only the world of men and women that can resist collaboration with the would-be criminal mastermind. The Killing is a film that demonstrates just how difficult it can be to persuade the material world to collaborate with one’s plans.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Works Cited

  • Cocks, Geoffrey. The Wolf at the Door: Stanley Kubrick, History, and the Holocaust. New York: Peter Lang, 2004. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Durcan, Paul. Stanley Kubrick: The Complete Films. Köln: Taschen, 2011. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Falsetto, Mario. Stanley Kubrick: A Narrative and Stylistic Analysis. Westport, CA: Praeger Publishers, 2001. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, Martin. Being and Time. Trans. John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. Oxford and Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1962. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, Martin. “The Thing” in Poetry, Language, Thought. Trans. Albert Hofstadter. New York: Harper Row, 1971: 163–82. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kagan, Norman. The Cinema of Stanley Kubrick. New York: Continuum, 2000. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Killing. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. United Artists, 1956. Film.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kolker, Robert. A Cinema of Loneliness, 4th ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuberski, Philip. Kubrick’s Total Cinema: Philosophical Themes and Formal Qualities. London: Bloomsbury, 2012. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • LoBrutto, Vincent. Stanley Kubrick. London: Faber, 1997. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lucretius. On the Nature of the Universe. Trans. Ronald Melville. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamber, Stephen. “Simultaneity and Overlap in Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing”. Postmodern Culture. 8.2. 1998. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/27658. Web.

  • Naremore, James. On Kubrick. London: The British Film Institute, 2007. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, Thomas Allen. Kubrick: Inside a Film Artist’s Maze. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2000. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ollerman, Rick. “Crime á la White”. Lionel White. The Snatchers and Clean Break. Eureka, CA: Stark House, 2017, 7–24. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, Gene D., ed. Stanley Kubrick: Interviews. Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2001. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, Gene D. “The Killing” in Alison Castle, ed. The Stanley Kubrick Archives. Köln: Taschen, 2012: 290–7. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walker, Alexander with Sybil Taylor and Ulrich Ruchti. Stanley Kubrick Director: A Visual Analysis. London: Weidenfield and Nicolson. 1971. Print.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, Lionel. The Snatchers and Clean Break. Eureka, CA: Stark House, 2017, 7–24. Print.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Graham Allen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Allen, G. (2020). The Alien World of Objects: Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing. In: Cronin, B., MagShamhráin, R., Preuschoff, N. (eds) Adaptation Considered as a Collaborative Art. Adaptation in Theatre and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25161-1_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics