Film Noir #33

 

Noir: Was The Killers (1964) Too Tough for TV?

Fascinating mid-60's Universal project, actually one of their key ventures of the decade, as it led off a hugely profitable arrangement with NBC for TV-movies. Why make features for the tube? Simply this: the Hollywood pix backlog was drying up and soon there'd be nothing fresh to show, post-48's having been consumed lots quicker than anyone imagined since 1961 when they began unspooling in earnest. NBC had dabbled in long-form programming, Universal their supplier for weekly ninety-minute episodes of The Virginian. For watchers at home, this was like getting a bonafide movie each Thursday night, and for nothing other than patience with drop-in ads. The western was cheaply shot, done largely on backlots, but had a solid cast of regulars and big names in guest capacity. The Virginian was a hit from outset and lasted years, being a best argument for passing the hour mark on televised drama.

A lot would say U's theatrical features by then befit the tube more than paying houses, pallets of these dumped to the network along with quickies getting "World Premiered" on primetime. Lew Wasserman was string-puller at Universal, having come to power from agent ranks. His were ice-cold business doings with indifference to quality product, but Wasserman knew The Killers had to deliver as inaugural run at Made-For-TV's. Don Siegel wrote vividly of head office bead on every Killers aspect; they'd even overshoot budget toward good as possible outcome. This was wise investment for long view re the NBC deal and dozens of custom pics that could be sold if The Killers worked out. Trades took an interest from early 1964 when Variety touted Johnny North (later renamed The Killers) as "something never before attempted for the small screen," NBC and Revue (Universal's TV arm) agreeing to each put $300K toward completion. The trade reported twenty-five days spent shooting, plus a few more by a second unit.

Don Siegel was bullish on The Killers, calling it "the only hope for TV," and vanguard of whole new concepts in programming. His version was also an improvement on Mark Hellinger's 1946 original, said Siegel, who credited Wasserman for coming up with the idea of hit-men Lee Marvin and Clu Gulugar on their own investigating a robbery-gone-wrong, "which gave it a whole new flavor," according to Don (angling here for more MCA work?). Siegel was an ideal pick for fast and economical work over "epics." "They bore me," he said, and what's more, his twenty-five days spent on The Killers could and would be trimmed to 15-20 days on future projects, this music to ears of Uni brass. In what reads like bald appeal for a next assignment, Siegel recounted how thrifty he'd been over a long filmmaking career. Saying TV movies should cost around $500,000, Siegel added that his could be done for less. "I made Baby Face Nelson for $175,000, Riot In Cell Block 11 for $225,000, (and) The Body Snatcher (as in Invasion Of ...) for $300,000."

NBC had initial objection to violence in The Killers, said Variety, but withdrew complaint "after (Siegel) explained it was essential to the story." Another tender spot was action involving a rooftop sniper, this a flag after the Kennedy assassination which took place while Johnny North was in production. As the scene was locked into narrative, all Siegel could do was shoot "in a different way, and now the killer is unseen," which in the finished film, played somewhat ragged (who was firing the weapon?). Universal knew early that The Killers would be released theatrically in Europe, and it was for that reason a widescreen framing was used, with an open matte for TV broadcast in the states. Costs on Johnny North had crept to $900K, and that concerned NBC program chief Mort Werner, him acknowledging that pilots tended toward bigger spending in order to lure advertisers, but "they're trying to make this look too good."

Saying that NBC had balked on Johnny North (now The Killers) for "an overdose of sex and brutality," Variety gave the now-theatrical release a nasty pan on 5/27/64, calling it "a throwback," and "essentially an anachronism," saying that only buffs of crime melodrama would "get much of a charge out of this exercise of hate, double-cross, and sadism." Insiders knew that The Killers had gone wide of what Universal and its network customer intended, but this still was a Lew Wasserman project, to which he applied creative effort, atypical role for this ultimate bean-counter, so who would dare slap his wrist for botch that was outcome? Besides, The Killers brought $949,260 in domestic rentals, not bad for a minor actioner, but foreign receipts of at least that much would be needed to keep it from going into red. Now The Killers is a classic, a 1.85 Blu-ray out of Region Two that captures vividly how the film would look on theatre screens.