Fatlistic Nihilism in the Killer

The Killers (1946), an adaptation of the short story of the same title by Ernest Hemingway, is an intense, hard-edged, stylish film noir of robbery, unrequited love, brutal betrayal and double-crosses. It features two unknown actors: Burt Lancaster in his film debut (at age 32) and 23-year-old MGM contract actress Ava Gardner in her breakout memorable performance. Directed by Robert Siodmak, the film is complex and visually remarkable with stark light, dark contrasts, and dramatic shadowing. Composed of two parts, the film is a journey into the dark world by an obsessive insurance company officer, Jim Reardon (Edmond O'Brien), who investigates the unwarranted, mysterious murder of the Swede, Ole Anderson/Pete Lund (Burt Lancaster), and a reconstructed story of the dead man's enigmatic and troubled past. Through the unfolding of eleven fragmented flashbacks Jim Reardon pieces together why Ole Anderson would passively and quietly accepted his fateful, sacrificial death without resistance when delivered by two evil emissaries from his past. This type of fatalistic heroism or heroic fatalism was a favorite theme of Hemingway's. It is a sort of end-stage nihilism where the protagonist realizes the essential meaningless of life and the futility of fleeing death (Booth). The themes of the inescapability of death and the emptiness of life evident in Hemingway's work are conveyed by the portrayal of Ole Anderson and the depiction of the relationship between Kitty and the Swede.

The film begins with a classic opening sequence that respectfully preserves the integrity of Hemingway's tale of hired killers invading a small-town sandwich counter in order to execute an ex-boxer named Ole "Swede" Anderson. The pair consists of unsmiling contract killers Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw), who were sent to the small rural town of Brentwood, New Jersey to track down a Tri-State Oil Co. attendant, the "Swede". Finding the filling station closed, they cross the street to Henry's Diner where George (Harry Hayden), the manager tells them that the dinners they wish to order will not be ready until 6 pm, which is about ten minutes away. While waiting, they intimidate the other counter patron, Nick Adams (Phil Brown), and order him and Sam (Bill Walker), the diner's black cook, into the kitchen to tie them up. When George asks what it's all about, Max explains his intention to fulfill a murder contract and kill "the Swede" when he appears at his usual dinnertime. When their target, using the alias of Pete Lunn, is late and not expected to show on dinner schedule, the gunmen leave to locate the Swede's address in the daybook at the rural filling station. George unties the two men in the kitchen, and Nick runs out the back, takes a shortcut over four neighborhood fences, to get to the Swede first and warn him that he is an intended murder victim. The scene in the small room rented by the "Swede" in which he lies on his bed wearing trousers and undershirt, reveals a man who will run no more and has exiled himself to the fates. They will surely and promptly emerge in the forms of Max and Al. The camera pans down the length of the bed where the "Swede" lies passively cast in a dark, shadowy, dim room in a white T-shirt - his head shrouded in obscurity. Breathing heavily, Nick bursts into the Swede's boarding house room with the news that two men are coming to rub him out, but the resigned, immobile Swede responds calmly and with little surprise that there's nothing to be done to change his impending fate. Here, the Swede briefly makes eye contact with Adams, and holds himself directly accountable for what is to come: "I did something wrong, Once." With no strength to even rise from his bed, or will to run, the "Swede" awaits his physical sacrificial death - although he's already emotionally dead. In his last words, he mentions that in his past, he made one fatal error, and it has come back to haunt him. As Nick leaves stunned - in disbelief, he stares at the doomed ex-boxer with helpless resignation, knowing that the sad and tired victim will soon be dead and has lost the faith and the will to resist what he deems an inevitable fate. The "Swede" himself waits, with his face turned towards the wall, forbearance deep within the shadows cast across his face. Only a few minutes later, the fatalistic Swede calmly listens as the two cold-blooded gunman-executioners climb the stairs to his cheap apartment room, as he half-rises from his bed and light is finally exposed upon the Swede's face, Max and Al open the door and brutally empty their guns of ten bullets into his body. It is through this scene, where the Swede realizes the essential meaningless of life and the futility of fleeing death, is Hemingway's theme of heroic fatalism is portrayed.

Raw, explosive energy is the focal point of cinematic drama. One of the best styles, so familiar in the film noir genre, is silent romantic energy. A particular scene in the film involving that kind of soundless chemistry,