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STANLEY KUBRICK'S
THE KILLING
A SHOT-BY-SHOT ANALYSIS
PART THREE

Go to TOC for this film ( (which has also a statement on purpose and manner of analysis and a disclaimer as to caveat emptor and my knowing anything authoritatively, which I do not, but I do try to not know earnestly, with some discretion, and considerable thought).

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PART THREE

TOC and Supplemental Posts | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Films Home

LINKS TO SECTIONS OF THE ANALYSIS ON THIS PAGE:

Storyline Sequence Differences with the Novel for this Section
Saturday 7:30 AM, Breakfast with Sherry and George, Shots 128 through 132
Breakfast with George and Sherry: Things to Note. Did it happen this way in the novel? George's mask. Sherry's lie about her conversation with George.
Saturday 5:00 AM, Breakfast with Red Lightning, Shots 133 through 134
Breakfast with Red Lightning: Things to Note. Not in the book. Oats. Another flip/inversion. Red Lightning and the invisible horse in Killer's Kiss.
Saturday 7:00 AM, Johnny and Marvin, Shots 135 through 146
Johnny and Marvin: Things to Note. The conversation between Marvin and Johnny. Comparing this scene to Johnny and Sherry in the bed.
Saturday 7:00 AM, The Airport, Shots 147 through 148
The Airport: Things to Note. Timeline error. The book's tip for the cab driver and Eyes Wide Shut. 7 thru 9 and the Chess Academy.
Saturday 8:15 AM, The Motel, Shots 149 through 151
The Motel: Things to Note. Those screen doors. Eavesdropping. Ariel and errors.
Saturday 8:45 AM, The Bus Station, Shots152
The Bus Station: Things to Note. Location. 504, 405 and 45.
Saturday 9:20 AM, Mike's Apartment, Shots 153 through 155
Johnny at Mike's Apartment: Things to Note.
Saturday 11:15 AM, Mike's Apartment, Shots 156 through 166
Mike Leaves His Apartment: Things to Note. Saturday 11:29 AM, The Bus Station, Shots 167
Saturday 12:10 PM, The Track, Shots 168 through 176
12:10 at the Track: Things to Note. Human error and/or fate.
The First Race, Marvin Shows Up When He Should Be at a Movie, Shots 177 through 185
The First Race: Things to Note. Not according to plan? Parallels with Pagliacci. Marvin goes to a movie by appearing within one, and this highlights the play within a play aspect of the men performing roles for the heist.
Saturday 3:32 PM, Randy's Radio Goes Dead and He Takes Up His Station, Shots 186 through 193
Saturday 3:32 PM, Randy's Radio Goes Dead: Things to Note. Location. The dead radio. Maternity. Southwest. Seven.
Saturday 2:30 PM, The Chess Club, Maurice at the Track by 4:00, Shots 194 through 233
Maurice Goes From the Chess Club to the Track Where He Has His Fight: Things to Note. Similarity of the Chess Club window shadows to the race track. 204,42 and 4:20. The woman at window 202 in shot 204. The Irish pig and the sweeper. Closed 7 AM through 9 AM. There are some things, my dear Fisher, which do not bear much looking into. Back to Pagliacci. Shot 216.
Saturday 11:40 AM, Nikki, Shot 234
Saturday 11:40 AM: Things to Note. 11:40.
Saturday 12:30 PM, Nikki at the Track, Shots 235 through 280
Saturday 12:30 PM, Nikki at the Track: Things to Note. Differences between the book. The irony of the ornamental good luck horse shoe. The cars behind Nikki. The horse shoe and The Man Between. The horseshoe and The Shining and Lolita.
What Happens if We Remove the Narration for This Day?

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STORYLINE SEQUENCE DIFFERENCES WITH THE NOVEL FOR THIS SECTION

The differences between the movie and book are significant for this section so I thought I'd lead off with them here, and then continue with them in section four.

In the book, Saturday begins with Marvin Unger at 10:30 am. He is by himself, meditating on how things might turn out, and has already decided he will go to the track and keep a watch on the happenings from the stands. He will not become involved in the action, as he does in the film.

Next, Mike is having breakfast with his wife, who is as characteristically affectionate as Sherry is underhanded and devious in the film. Mike leaves and passing a hardware store on the way to the subway he sees it's 10:30 a.m. Instead of going straight to the track, at Penn station he goes to the lockers and takes a florist's box containing Johnny's gun from locker 809. He's at the track by noon.

Then the book skips to Sherry and George (which I'll cover in a moment). George and Mike are on the same subway train to the track at noon.

Next Randy is going on duty at 8 am. At 12:30 he calls in and says he's going to lunch, then calls in at 1. At 2 he calls in from a drugstore on W 61st Street and says he's Lieutenant O'Malley's brother-in-law and that the Lieutenant's wife, his sister, is sick. He asks the sergeant to contact the Lieutenant. He figures the Lieutenant will have to go to his sister as his sister doesn't have a phone, and if there were any calls for Randy between 3 and 5 then his superior, O'Malley, wouldn't be on duty and his replacement would assume, if he tried to contact Randy but couldn't, that his radio was broken. A call comes in for him at 2:50 which he ignores (a fight). He is at the track at 4:30. At 4:35 he hears the crowd roaring, the race has started. At 4:40 the crowd falls silent and then breaks into a hysterical cacophony as he waits beneath the window out which the bag will be thrown.

At 8:30 am Maurice goes to a cafeteria, then leaves 45 minutes later. He goes to 42nd Street and speaks to his lawyer about bailing him out, if need be, at 6:30. He kills a little bit of time watching newsreels in a theater, then catches the 12:30 to the track. He stays at the bar throughout and is there when the fight with Tex begins.

The day starts for Tex with a prostitute in Hoboken. He takes a taxi to the train and the 12:30 to the track. He eats first then goes to the bar by the third race. At 4:25 the bugle sounds for the big race that will begin in 12 minutes. He starts his fight with Mike. He manages to fight with the guards for the full 12 minutes until the race begins.

Nikki rides in from the Catskills at midnight, arriving in NY at 3:30 am. He stays in a hotel and is up and ready to leave by 8. He rents an MG with canvas side curtains. Changes its plates. He reaches the parking lot of the track about 12:40. Around the 5th race he puts up the side curtains. He successfully kills the horse in the 7th race.

At 4:30 Val Cannon is occupied with beating Sherry up, trying to get information from her.

Finally the book gets around to Johnny, who is up at 8 am, staying in a hotel. He had already been to Joe Piano's the day before to drop off the gun and tell Joe about the cop that would stop by at 6 or 6:30, then dropped the suitcase off at Penn Station for Mike (it's described at that point in the book as a suitcase rather than a florist's box) and had a messenger service take the key to the locker to Mike's. He leaves the hotel at 11 am. He checks his own suitcase at La Guardia, goes to a restaurant, leaves by 1 and arrives at the track at 1:40. He arranges for the cab to wait for him (so he won't get stuck in traffic afterwards). He gives the cabbie 10, tells the cabbie to try his luck, and tells him he'll give him another 10 later. At 4:20 Johnny is leaning on the wall five feet from the door. Tex starts his fight. George lets him in the door. Johnny takes the flower box out of Mike's locker, puts together his gun.

Skip to Maxie Flam, the jockey, at the starting line, thinking of his plans to retire. The race begins, then he's later in the hospital, unaware of what had happened.

The novel then returns to Johnny and the robbery as he begins the stick-up portion... Note that the book definitely reads that Johnny drops a suitcase off at the locker at Penn station for Mike when it should instead read he drops off a florist box.

Johnny found a cab on Second Avenue and told the driver to take him to Penn Station. He carried the suitcase into the lobby and found the bank of steel lockers. Checking the suitcase, he took the key and put it in an envelope. That night he had a messenger service drop it off at Big Mike's apartment.

Below is when Mike get's the box.

He left the subway at Penn Station, but instead of going downstairs to the Long Island division, he went up to the main lobby. He found the bank of steel lockers exactly where Johnny had told him they would be.

Carefully he looked around after locating number 809. He saw no one he knew.

Mike took the key and inserted it and turned. He pulled the door open.

It was a florist's box, about three feet long, twelve inches wide and eight inches deep. It was beautifully wrapped and tied with a large red ribbon. There was only one thing wrong with it. It weighed about twenty-five pounds.

Searching the book on my Kindle, the only previous mention of a florist, other than Mike taking the florist box from his locker, is the first day when George is on the way home. Knowing he'd failed Sherry as a husband, wishing he could tell her about the heist, he stops at the florist and picks her up some roses then takes the subway and express up to 110th Street where I assume they live.

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RETURNING NOW TO THE MOVIE--SATURDAY 7:30 AM, BREAKFAST WITH SHERRY AND GEORGE

128 MS of Sherry getting out of bed. (37:22)

NARRATOR: Four days later, at 7:30 a.m., Sherry Peatty was wide awake.

She goes to the kitchen.

129 MS George at the kitchen table. (37:36)

GEORGE: Gosh, honey, did I wake you up? I'm sorry. I just couldn't sleep somehow.

SHERRY: It's all right. Can I get you anything? Would you like some more coffee?

GEORGE: No, I guess not. Nice of you to offer though. I don't know, I'm just nervous and restless. I, I'll be all right. Go on back to bed, will you?

SHERRY: No, I won't. Even if I don't get up and get my husband's breakfast, the least I can do is sit with him while he has his coffee.

GEORGE: Ah, Sherry, are you sure you feel all right? I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded.

SHERRY: I deserved it. I know I've been irritable and moody lately, and I haven't acted like I should. It's just I can't stand living like this. This crummy apartment and a hamburger for dinner.

GEORGE: You haven't been so bad, baby.

SHERRY: Yes, I have. But things are gonna be different. You'll see. When we get all that money and have so many nice things, I'll stop thinking about myself so much. Your problems will be my problems. Whenever you're worried about something--like now, for instance--is it the robbery? Is that what you're worrying about?

GEORGE: Yeah, I guess it is a little. I have no reason to. I know it's gonna be all right.

SHERRY: Ah, naturally you'd be a little upset at a time like this. It's today, isn't it?

GEORGE: Huh? What makes you think that? Just because I couldn't sleep, it doesn't mean that I...

SHERRY: I know my Georgie. He can't fool me. I'm right, aren't I, darling? Today is the day we get all that money.

GEORGE: No, you ain't. It isn't today. If you don't stop pestering me, trying to find out something you have no reason to know, there ain't gonna be no money.

SHERRY: But, George, how can you...

GEORGE: I mean it, Sherry! Now, I'm getting fed up. You heard what Johnny told you, to stop butting in. Mind your own business or he'd call this whole thing off.

SHERRY: And he told me something else, too, which I neglected to tell you--that if I did butt in, as you and he choose to call it--that he'd break my neck.

GEORGE: Maybe he had reason to. He wanted to make you understand that he means business.

SHERRY: All I've gotta say is you've certainly changed your tune since he and his friends slapped you around.

GEORGE: Well, I was pretty sore about that, but, after all, what could they do? You said yourself they acted pretty reasonable. We have no reason to hold a grudge.

SHERRY: Well, I'm not going to argue with you, George. If you let people beat you up, and then take their side against your own wife, why...

GEORGE: But you did, Sherry. You said--Look, I wanted to quit! You wouldn't let me. You said I had no reason to. Anyway, Johnny didn't lay a hand on me. None of the guys did but Randy.

SHERRY: I was gonna tell you something about your dear friend, Johnny, but since you feel about him like you do, take his word against mine...

130 MCU of George. (39:56)

GEORGE: What about him? What were you gonna tell me?

SHERRY: Let's stop the conversation right there.

GEORGE: What were you gonna tell me, Sherry?

SHERRY: I don't think I can tell you when you feel like you do about him, not having any faith in me and keeping secrets.

GEORGE: We won't have any secrets. What happened?

131 MS of Sherry. (40:16)

SHERRY: Well, I tried to tell you about this the other night, but you were so upset and every time I tried to say anything you cut me off.

132 MCU of George. (40:24)

GEORGE: Sherry, what are you trying to tell me?

SHERRY: I tried to stop him. I pleaded and I struggled. It doesn't matter, does it darling. The only thing that really matters is how I feel about you, now, isn't it? It is today, isn't it?

George shakes his head, yes.

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BREAKFAST WITH GEORGE AND SHERRY: THINGS TO NOTE

Did it Happen This Way in the Novel?

Did Johnny rape Sherry in the book? No, it didn't happen this way in the novel. Sherry and Johnny kissed that first night and planned to get together, but Johnny shuffled her off to Randy as Randy was good with women and Johnny didn't want to be bothered. So when Johnny and Sherry were to next meet at Marvin's, Randy showed up instead. As it turned out, Randy and Sherry seem to have been made for one another and fell right in love. Sherry adored him. He was all she could think about. As it also happened, unbeknownst to Randy and Sherry or anyone else, George decided to not go into work that particular day and happened to see Sherry leaving Marvin's and concluded she was having an affair with Johnny. The morning of the heist, Sherry sees George with a gun (the gun is new, he seems to be already thinking of killing Johnny) and guesses the robbery will be that day. She doesn't tell George a lie that Johnny had raped her. Nothing of the sort.

In the movie, as well, George carries a gun with him to the track but we don't see it until George is in the dressing room. Due to what Sherry had told him about the rape, George in the movie is likely thinking of killing Johnny but it doesn't seem he's going to dispense with Johnny until after Johnny pulls the heist.

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George's Mask

The way that George slides his hand over his face, stretching it, his eyes misshapen, reminds me a bit of Johnny in his clown mask, and I wonder if this is supposed to be George, as Pagliaccio, putting on his mask. All of these men will be wearing "masks" as they go about their theatricals this day of the heist, each inhabiting a lie, playing their parts, but George will have the burden of having to interact with Johnny as if everything is all right, when instead he believes that Johnny raped Sherry.

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Sherry's Lie About Her Conversation with George

Sherry claimed that she had tried to tell George about the rape the previous Saturday night but that he cut her off each time. George chooses to forget that he was the one who brought it up that Saturday night and that each time he did Sherry cut him off. He asked, "What did Johnny do to you?" to which she replied that he only asked her some questions. George asked again, "Sherry, did Johnny try anything?" to which she replied that it was a terrible thing for him to ask.

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SATURDAY 5:00 AM, BREAKFAST WITH RED LIGHTNING

133 MS of horse in stall. (40:48)

NARRATOR: Earlier that morning, at 5:00 a.m., Red Lightning was fed only a half portion of feed...

134 LS of stalls. (40:52)

NARRATOR: ...in preparation for the 7th race that afternoon, the $100,000 Lansdowne Stakes.

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BREAKFAST WITH RED LIGHTNING: THINGS TO NOTE

Not in the book

This may have been considered a replacement of the scene with the jockey who at the beginning of the race is thinking about his retirement. Jockeys, too, are on harsh dietary regimens due to having to keep their weight down. This concern has been transferred to the horse. The segment contributes nothing other than to make us aware that the horse that is gunned down is not the same one as in shots 133 and 134. The horse here has a white "star" on its forehead. The horse that is shot clearly has a wide blaze strip that goes all the way down the middle of the face.

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Oats

What do horses eat? Oats, as far as I know. At least it's a significant portion of their diet. If we go back to shot 45, what do we see in Marvin's kitchen as Johnny pops the top off a beer? A container of Quaker Oats. I think that's the only food we clearly see in the kitchen. Perhaps an inside joke.

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Another Flip/Inversion

One will assume that shot 134 probably shows Red Lightning in the foreground, closest the camera, which is perhaps not the case. In shot 133 we see to the side of the stall door and that it is uncluttered. In shot 134, a broom and other things are to the side of the first stall. The 2nd stall is 44. The 3rd stall from the camera reads, I believe, 45. A horse with a blaze is in that stall. We can't distinguish much further down.

I reasoned, however, if Kubrick is inserting this bit, there may be something else going on in here. Maybe? Actually, we may get another one of his inversions. Accidental or not. With shot 133 we focus on the horse and the "star" on its head and the star on the barrier stretched across the stall door. If we look carefully at shot 134, the first stall next the camera has the usual star orientation, but the star on the barrier for stall 44 is inverted.

In case you can't tell it in the above equalized screengrab, click on the photo link and I have a larger, negative version in which it may be more clear.

Meaning? Maybe nothing. Maybe this was purely accidental. But because Kubrick does sometimes use flips/inversions in his working with doubles we end up with the question of whether this is purposeful or not. Most obvious in this film, thus far, is the mirroring that introduces Johnny to the chess club, and then in the scene with Nikki we have a couple of flips/inversions concerning the G men targets.

Red Lightning and the Invisible Horse in Killer's Kiss

Red lightning is a sprite, which comes from the word spirit and used to mean the Holy Ghost. Which takes me back to "The Girl Hunt Ballet" which has been said to be an influence on Kubrick with the mannequin scene in Killer's Kiss. I'm going to grab a chunk from my analysis of the film and quote it below:

I've already written of the obvious references to the film above. But let's explore the film a little further.

A mystery unfolds after the blond seeks the help of Astaire, and he is eventually led to the brunette vamp who first emerges from behind mirrors reflecting her when he sees the same large emerald ring that he had found after the blond ran off when the man exploded, a ring which was then stolen from him. He takes the clues left behind and by means of them tries to sort out the mystery, the emerald appearing from place to place and linking these two women together. The woman is also elusive physically for when he touches her arm on the mannequin set she separates from it and he sees it's not her real arm at all. The emerald escapes the bounds of the ring and becomes a clue of color that he also follows from place to place. He sees the facade of a wig shop decorated with some emerald fabric, and receives from this the nonsensical "hunch" to ascend a fire escape where he finds in an elegant bathroom at the top, a room decorated with green, a woman in a gold mask bathing with the ring on her finger. Every time he comes upon the ring and the woman he's assailed by several gangsters and has to start searching again. Finally, he comes upon the jazz club decorated with a skeleton. It is here he has his realization about the trumpet. In the ballet, the blond is shot, because she is "the killer". They kiss one last time, as she supposedly dies, the emerald ring now on her finger and slipping off into his hand. Then Astaire goes off with the brunette. Cyd's character, the dancer who plays both the blond and brunette, is Gabrielle Gerard. Throughout this dance there have been men periodically exploding and leaving nothing behind. The first time, he had picked up a bottle. At a jazz bar, Astaire hears a person, whose face is concealed, playing a trumpet, and he realizes nitroglycerine is a glass that was served him and that when the trumpet player hits a high note the glass will explode, that it was the high note on the trumpet that had made the other men explode.

If we reflect on the name and the trumpet we realize that what we have is Gabriel's horn, Gabriel being the angel who was said to play the horn announcing Judgment Day and the resurrection of the dead. Kubrick returns to Judgment Day in the opening of The Shining with "Dies Irae", which I discuss at length in that analysis. Then he returns to it again in Eyes Wide Shut in the coffee shop where Bill reads the newspaper that on the front reads "Lucky to be Alive", and on the interior reveals Amanda has overdosed.

The nitroglycerin is actually a gloss, because it's the emerald that is important and explosive. "Emerald" has a long etymological history that takes us from the esmeraldus of Medieval Latin, to the smaragdus of Latin to the semitic baraq (shine), and is to be compared with barq, the Arabic word for "lightning", and bareqeth, the Hebrew word for emerald. The Buraq (from barq) was a mystical horse, sometimes said to have a human face, smaller than a mule and bigger than a donkey, that was related to have been brought, by the Archangel Gabriel, to Muhammad. He tethered it to the Buraq Wall (the Muslim side of the Wailing Wall on the Temple Mount) and rode it on the Night of Ascension. The horse travels with lightning speed, so one on it could be thought to suddenly disappear. A whirlwind was also descriptive of that state of journey. Another means of ascension is the heavenly ladder or staircase. A correspondance is drawn in the ballet film when after his hunch at the wig shop Astaire climbs the bright red fire escape into the sky

If we go back to the letter Davey reads on the train, we are reminded that his aunt, Faith, is able to ride again, and that they have purchased an Arabian stallion. The first image that Kubrick shows us after the train is a mechanized Santa Claus. How does Santa Claus get around? On a sleigh drawn by horses that can have him magically visit all the children in the world in one night. That sounds a lot like the magical powers of the buraq.

Davey, the boxing protagonist in Killer's Kiss, had received a letter from an uncle in which the purchase of an Arabian stallion was related.

In the analysis I go on to make some comparisons with other stories of mystical journeys and ascensions, such as Ezekiel's wheel, the merkabah, and, most critically to that analysis, the story of Elijah's ascension and Elisha receiving a double portion of his spirit. For further clarification refer to Part Four of the analysis.

It appears to me that Kubrick, with Red Lightning, has incorporated again the buraq.

If the pentagram with one point at top is said to represent spirit over matter, and the inverted is matter in the superior position, and, furthermore, the pentagram is said to be related to motion as regarding spirit, invocation and evocation, then the pentagram on the stalls concretizes the association with the mystical vehicle.

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SATURDAY 7:00 AM, JOHNNY AND MARVIN

135 MS of Johnny carrying his suitcase. (41:00)

NARRATOR: At 7:00 that morning, Johnny Clay began what might be the last day of his life.

Johnny sits on Marvin's bed and slaps his back, waking him.

MARVIN: Yeah. All right, all right.

136 MCU Marvin from Johnny's right. (41:09)

MARVIN: Oh. What time is it?

137 MCU Johnny from Marvin's left. (41:13)

JOHNNY: It's early yet. It's only 7:00. You better go back to sleep after I leave. I, uh, just wanted to say goodbye. Till tonight, that is. Everything's all set. Should go perfectly. But if it doesn't, if anything goes wrong, why, just don't talk about this with anyone. You'll be in the clear for everything except being short on your books, and I don't think they'll be too rough on you.

138 MCU Marvin from Johnny's right. (41:30)

MARVIN: Oh, I'm not worried about that. As a matter of fact, I'm not worried about anything.

139 MCU Johnny from Marvin's left. (41:34)

MARVIN: I just wish there was something more I could do to help.

JOHNNY: Ah, you've done your part. I only hope we can do ours as well. We, uh, we'll probably never see each other again after we split the money and break up tonight, but in my book you'll always be a stand-up guy.

140 MCU Marvin from Johnny's right. (41:30)

MARVIN: Johnny, I, I don't know how to say this, and I don't even know if I have the right...

141 MCU Johnny from Marvin's left. (41:56)

MARVIN: ...but I've always thought maybe you're like my own kid.

JOHNNY: Ah, you can say anything you want.

142 MCU Marvin from Johnny's right. (42:00)

MARVIN: You've had a lot of rough breaks, and maybe you've made a few mistakes, but after today, the good Lord willing, you'll be a new man.

143 MCU Johnny from Marvin's left. (42:09)

MARVIN: A rich man. And that can make a lot of difference. You got a lot of life ahead of you, a lot of people to meet, people of quality and substance.

JOHNNY: What are you getting at?

MARVIN: Wouldn't it be great if we could just go away, the two of us...

144 MCU Marvin from Johnny's right. (42:26)

MARVIN: ...and let the old world take a couple of turns and have a chance to take stock of things? It can be pretty serious and terrible...

145 MCU Johnny from Marvin's left. (42:35)

MARVIN: ...particularly if it's not the right person. Getting married, I mean.

146 MS Johnny and Marvin. (42:39)

JOHNNY: You better go back to sleep. The, uh, 7th race starts about 4:30 if you want to catch it on the radio. I'll be back here about 7 o'clock. (Johnny rises from the bed and steps off screen left.) Keep away from the track. Go to a movie or something. See you later.

The door opens and closes. Crossfade to shot 147.

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JOHNNY AND MARVIN: THINGS TO NOTE

The Conversation Between Marvin and Johnny

This conversation, none of it, occurs in the book. Johnny doesn't wake Marvin up to say goodbye and thank you. Marvin doesn't tell him he's like his own kid. Marvin doesn't tell him that being a rich man can make a lot of difference, that he'll be meeting people of quality and substance, doesn't suggest that instead of Johnny getting married they go off together. So what is the inclusion of the conversation in the film about? Is Marvin a father figure? Or is he a potential lover?

In the book, Randy (likely jokingly) questions Johnny's sexuality when Johnny doesn't want to meet with Sherry and suggests Randy meet her instead.

"What are you trying to tell me?" Randy said. "You mean you don't want to meet the girl? My God, Johnny, those years up the river must have done someting to you after all. Anyone would take a crack..."

"You don't get the picture," Johnny said shortly. "In the first place, if you'd talked to her, you'd realize that she's wide open. Anybody can take a crack at her. I don't want to go into details; I just think I'm the wrong guy for the job. There's too much on my mind."

I don't read the book as suggesting Johnny is gay, but this may have been used as a jumping point. Why throw it into the story in 1950s America? What effect was it supposed to have as regards the audience? And as for the characters, does this discussion end here with shot 146 and not have any repercussions? That's what I've been thinking about as I work my way through the movie. Later I discuss how Johnny was doomed to failure by the Production Code. He could not win, so fate must conspire against him and he must make mistakes. But I also wonder about the repercussions of this discussion on Marvin and Johnny in the film.Johnny doesn't get mad at Marvin for telling him Fay might not be right for him. He doesn't defend Fay. Johnny gently rebuffs Marvin by ignoring what he's said and tosseling his hair, as in, "I'm still fond of you, let's not go there." But think about it, Johnny's reserves on all levels (physical, emotional) are already stretched tight as this is a damn big day, the day that they're pulling off a two million dollar heist. And we should perhaps consider that one of the reasons Johnny ends up making the catastrophic mistakes that he does is due this conversation. (That and the production code.) Guilt, I believe, ends up overtaking Johnny later.

It could be that Johnny has been aware of Marvin's affection. It could be they are sexually involved. They appear to share the same bed. Kubrick leaves that question open.

It could be that Johnny, aware of Marvin's love for him, has used Marvin, and is now simply ditching him. Kubrick leaves that question open.

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Comparing This Scene to Johnny and Sherry on the Bed

When Johnny and Sherry were on the bed, the background tended to be the footboard behind Sherry. Even when Johnny was shown, the camera was then filming through the footboard and the bars were black against the scene, framing Johnny, the headboard dim in the background.

In contrast, with Marvin the background is emphatically the white bars of the headboard behind him. When Johnny is shown, it is from behind Marvin but we don't see the headboard bars.

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SATURDAY 7:00 AM, THE AIRPORT

147 LS Airplane. (43:03)

NARRATOR: It was exactly 7:00 a.m. when he got to the airport.

Crossfade to shot 148.

148 CU Ticket. (43:06)

To MS Johnny at the counter.

AIRPORT CLERK: The weight is okay, Mr. Preston. Is that all the baggage?

JOHNNY: Well, I'll have one more with me tonight. I can keep it with me in the cabin, can't I?

AIRPORT CLERK: Yes, sir, but be sure and check in here at the counter prior to flight time. Flight 465 leaves at 9:00 p.m. tonight.

JOHNNY: Thank you.

AIRPORT CLERK: Thank you for flying American, sir.

Crossfade to shot 149.

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THE AIRPORT: THINGS TO NOTE

Timeline Error

Timeline errors begin to enter. This is the first. I've read that, supposedly, the errors were intentional as Kubrick was against adding in the voice-over. I can't find a source for this however. And was it likely Kubrick would do this to a film? Someone who is known as being so attentive to his details, is it likely that he would toss in errors for no other purpose but out of needling rebellion? He does have in his films what many suppose to be goofs, and yet they aren't, they are purposeful, so the question is are these "errors" in line with other such "goofs"?

The film reached its halfway point in the prior scene, when Marvin is telling Johnny he is going to be a "new man" if things work out. We have just had, prior this, Red Lightning being given a half portion of feed. It is after the critical conversation with Marvin that we have the timeline "goof" of two scenes occurring at 7 am. Johnny is both speaking with Marvin and is at the airport checking in luggage. In the chess club scene we already had the mirroring, and we had inversions in the scene with Nikki. One could look at these two scenes occurring at 7 as another form of doubling, but of course these are activities that can't be happening simultaneously.

There is another conflict here. Johnny is said to be flying American flight 465 that evening at 9. Yet in shot 376 he will be given as waiting to board American Airlines Flight 40.

Which brings in actually another mirroring. He's flying American Airlines, the logo of which is AA with a bird flying between the two As.

Marvin was advertised for the film as being a reformed alcoholic. What does that mean? More than likely that means he was reformed through AA. More implicit doublings.

The Book's Tip for the Cab Driver and Eyes Wide Shut

In the book, the only thing Johnny does between leaving his hotel and going to the race track is to go to the airport. He leaves for it at 11. He checks his suitcase, eats. He leaves at 1 p.m., in a cab, for the racetrack. He is at the track by 1:40. He gives the cabbie $10 and tells him he'll give him another $10 if he'll wait around for him. In the book, Johnny is able to escape the chaos of any traffic jam because he's had the cab wait for him. The cab driver has parked to the rear of the lot and they are able to leave almost immediately. This doesn't occur in the movie but the fact this happens in the book reminds of Eyes Wide Shut and Bill asking the cab that drove him to Somerton to wait for him, tearing a $100 bill in half and promising him the other half when he returns.

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7 thru 9 and the Chess Academy

We'll see in a later scene that the Chess and Checkers Academy is closed 2 hours a day, from 7 to 9 a.m. To me this seems significant that this time error occurs at 7 a.m. The Chess and Checkers Academy has been associated with doubling and mirror reversals, but it is also presented as a place of working out logic, in which Maurice (Maurice Cohen in the book) dispenses logical and philosophical advice in the film. He is an oracle of sorts. Examining a chess game he is able to state what moves have been missed and project what is going to happen.

At least in the early 50s, the Chess and Checkers Academy in NY, on which this one was based, was instead open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. At least that's how it ran while it was under Joe Fursa. I don't know about when it was under Harold Fisher. The movie has Fisher as running this club.

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SATURDAY 8:15 AM, THE MOTEL

149 Johnny's car arriving at the motel. (43:27)

NARRATOR: Stopping first at a florist, he arrived at the motel at 8:15.

150 MS Johnny climbing out of his car with a florist box. (43:31)

NARRATOR: He was on schedule.

JOE: Good morning, my friend.

JOHNNY: Good morning, Joe. Now, look. This afternoon a friend of mine is stopping by and leaving a bundle for me. He's a cop.

JOE: A cop?

JOHNNY: Yeah, yeah. He's, uh, drives a prowl car.

JOE: A funny kind of friend that you have.

JOHNNY: He's a funny kind of a cop. Now, you let him in, huh? He'll leave this bundle for me about 6:30. I'll be by right after that and pick it up, and that's the last you'll see of me.

JOE: Would you come in for a drink?

JOHNNY: I'd like to, but I got a lot to do today and if I did that, why, everything would be all fouled up.

JOE: I understand. I'll see you tonight.

JOHNNY: Yeah.

JOE: So long. Take care of yourself.

Johnny goes down to his cabin.

151 The cabin door opening from the interior. (44:10)

Johnny takes out the violin case. He takes a gun out of it and puts it in the florist case under the flowers. Crossfade to shot 152.

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THE MOTEL: THINGS TO NOTE

Those Screen Doors

I write about these doors of the cabins in section 2. I'll give the images pertaining to this segment again here.

Johnny's second visit to the cabin is at 8:15 Saturday morning.

Shot 149 shows the cabin next to the office has its screen door, as with in shot 125.

Shot 150 shows there is now no screen door on the cabin next the office.

In the same shot we see Johnny uses his key on his door as if it has no screen door, and yet the door looks like it may have the covering of the screen door.

That bugs me. Those doors bug me.

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Eavesdropping

To return to the subject of the "eavesdropping". I had mentioned previously the person who briefly appears outside Johnny's cabin when he is putting the violin case/gun away in the dresser drawer during his first visit to the cabin.

Let's take a look at the cabins again. The cabin between the office and Johnny's is different from the rest. How is it different? It has an extra little eave extended over the porch which you can clearly see in shot 150.

No other cabin has this and I wonder if it refers to the eavesdropping.

After the heist, Johnny returns to the motel and will accidentally try to open the door of that cabin neighboring him. Imagine being inside that cabin. It recalls Sherry's thumping accidentally Marvin's door and being found eavesdropping. The eavesdropping forms a theme that I will briefly explore further in the 4th section.

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Ariel and Errors

I may as well go ahead and write some about Ariel now. Fear and Desire borrows much from The Tempest, and one thing it explicitly borrows is a song sung by Ariel, a powerful spirit, able to manifest illusions, that is held in servitude by Prospero. The character of Sidney is the one who becomes aligned with Ariel. When he is left by the others to stay with a young woman they've found and bound to a tree, he paraphrases for her Ariel's song, but he does so erroneously. The song was sung for Ferdinand, the king's son, when he assumed his father had died in a shipwreck that was only an illusion manifested by Ariel. Hearing this song, Ferdinand follows it, and feels it confirms for him that his father is indeed dead. Sidney instead tells the woman the sung was sung for Miranda, Prospero's daughter, relating to her that her father was dead. He's in error here. At the end of Fear and Desire Kubrick again has Sidney singing the song as he and Mac float down the river on their raft.

Why make this error? I explore this at some length in the Fear and Desire analysis and won't repeat what I've written there, but what happens does set precedent for HAL's error in 2001 as it ties into a chess game at the end of The Tempest.

What is curious to me about Kubrick placing a reference to Ariel opposite these cabins--by his choosing this cabin motel, across from the motorcycle shop, to be a set--is that he seems to be connecting the intentional "error" in Fear and Desire with an error that was made in Clean Break, the book upon which The Killing is based. As I wrote at the top of this section, at Joe's rooming house Johnny does not transfer the gun from its suitcase to the florist box. Instead, he leaves with a suitcase, goes to Penn Station, and puts the suitcase in a locker for Mike. The next day, Mike takes the key he's received the previous day, by messenger service, goes to Penn Station, and removes a florist box from the locker.

Johnny found a cab on Second Avenue and told the driver to take him to Penn Station. He carried the suitcase into the lobby and found the bank of steel lockers. Checking the suitcase, he took the key and put it in an envelope. That night he had a messenger service drop it off at Big Mike's apartment.

But when Mike goes to the locker there is instead a florist's box.

He left the subway at Penn Station, but instead of going downstairs to the Long Island division, he went up to the main lobby. He found the bank of steel lockers exactly where Johnny had told him they would be.

Carefully he looked around after locating number 809. He saw no one he knew.

Mike took the key and inserted it and turned. He pulled the door open.

It was a florist's box, about three feet long, twelve inches wide and eight inches deep. It was beautifully wrapped and tied with a large red ribbon. There was only one thing wrong with it. It weighed about twenty-five pounds.

The author says, "There was only one thing wrong with it..." It weighed 25 pounds.

But, no, there was more wrong with it than that. The author seems to have been pointing out for us that there WAS something wrong with that box. The author seems to be asking if the reader is paying attention? There was something wrong with that box in that Johnny left a suitcase not a white florist's box with a red ribbon.

Maybe this was instead an error overlooked by everyone in the editing phase of the book, but I instead have the feeling the author was pointing out a deliberate error. And I have the feeling that Kubrick picked up on it and pulled it into the movie, and how we know he pulled it into the story is his placing it in proximity of Ariel.

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SATURDAY 8:45 AM, THE BUS STATION

152 From within the bus station, a bus pulling out. (44:38)

As the bus leaves, Johnny's car pulls up and parks. He enters the station.

NARRATOR: He reached the bus station at 8:45.

Johnny goes to a locker and puts the florist box in it. As he exits crossfade to shot 153.

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THE BUS STATION: THINGS TO NOTE

This is the old Greyhound bus station at 1409 Vine Street in Los Angeles, which is no longer there.

504, 405 and 45

The locker the gun/florist box is stored in is locker 45. 504 is the number of the building where Marvin's apartment is, and we had 504 and 405 associated with the targets at the rifle range at Nikki's where Johnny received this rifle.

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SATURDAY 9:20 AM, MIKE'S APARTMENT

153 LS Johnny leaving his car and going up to the post boxes at Mike's apartment. (45:16)

NARRATOR: It was 9:20 when he arrived at Mike's apartment. So far, everything had gone off according to plan.

154 CU Johnny deposits a key in the post box. (45:23)

155 MS Johnny leaves the building, returning to his car. (45:25)

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JOHNNY AT MIKE'S APARTMENT: THINGS TO NOTE

Mike's building's number is 257. No one has identified where it is and I imagine it was probably on Bunker Hill in LA and is long long decades gone.

In the book, Johnny does not go to Mike's place, instead he sends the key Friday night by messenger service.

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SATURDAY 11:15 AM, MIKE'S APARTMENT

156 MS Mike pulling on his jacket in his apartment. (45:16)

NARRATOR: Mike O'Reilly was ready at 11:15.

MIKE (sitting down with his wife on her bed): What goes on here? This is no way to get your strength back.

RUTHIE: Oh, it's very good, Mike, but I guess I'm just not hungry. Really, I couldn't eat another bite.

MIKE: Another? You haven't eaten anything yet.

RUTHIE: Well, I'll take something after a while, after I've had my medicine. I'll have more appetite then.

MIKE: That's a promise. No tricks now.

RUTHIE: It's a promise. You better go along now, Mike, or you'll be late for work.

MIKE (rubbing her hand): Yeah, I guess I will. Ruthie, things are gonna get much better for us.

RUTHIE: I know. I know, dear.

MIKE: I know I've made a lot of promises in the past, but this time it's not just talk. We're gonna be rich, and soon. You're gonna have a fine house and doctors that'll make you well again.

RUTHIE: Of course, dear. But you'd better go along, or you'll be late.

MIKE: Yeah.

He stands to exit into the front room, the camera following him to the door.

RUTHIE: Oh, Mike.

MIKE: Yes?

157 MLS Ruthie in her bed. (46:26)

RUTHIE: On your way home tonight, would you bring me some magazines?

158 MS Mike. (42:27)

MIKE: Of course. But, uh, Ruthie, I'm going to be a little late. Probably about 10. Some of the fellas and me are having a little get-together.

159 MLS Ruthie in her bed. (46:36)

RUTHIE: I understand. But don't you drink too much beer, Mike. Remember how it always leaves you the next day.

160 MS Mike. (46:42)

MIKE: Don't worry about that. I won't be doing any drinking tonight.

161 MLS Mike in the front room. (46:50)

MIKE: I called mother. She'll be over this afternoon to fix your dinner.

162 MLS Ruthie in her bed. (46:36)

RUTHIE: Thank you, dear. (She airmails a kiss.) Goodbye.

163 MLS Mike at his front door. (46:56)

MIKE: Don't forget to eat your breakfast.

He exits.

164 Front door of the apartment building from outside. (47:01)

Mike exits.

165 CU the post box. (47:05)

Mike takes the key left by Johnny and his mail, two envelopes, from the box.

166 MS Mike leaving his building. (47:12)

He crosses the street to his car. Crossfade to shot 167.

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MIKE LEAVES HIS APARTMENT: THINGS TO NOTE

Poor Ruthie. Mike wants to go out after work? She understands. She doesn't complain. She just doesn't want him to drink too much, which means maybe Mike has a bit of an alcohol problem. He probably is always telling her how things are going to get better. In the book, he bet on the horses. His hope was that one good win would day make them money. It never happened.He's down at the track every day listening to people win and lose on the races and he sees winners every day but never gets a big win himself. Perhaps he has a gambling problem. But it's evident, from the way Kubrick presents him, that he loves Ruthie. He wants her to get better. He doesn't want to lose her. Poor Mike. Sherry and George's apartment is essentially Sherry's boudoir, which is fine for Sherry, in keeping with Sherry. Mike and Ruthie's set has been decorated so as to represent a home. A modest little apartment that is a nicely maintained home for Mike and Ruthie. We've the feeling that they likely don't have children, and no one else to to rely on other than Mike's mother. Sherry and George are less a family than two people at war with one another. Ruthie and Mike are a family. Ruthie and Mike care for each other. We're supposed to feel sorry for them. We do.

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SATURDAY 11:29 AM, THE BUS STATION

167 MS Mike entering the bus station. (47:21)

NARRATOR: He reached the bus station at 11:29.

Mike goes to the locker and takes out the florist box then leaves by the side door, catching the "Race Track Special" bus just in the nick of time, its doors having closed.

I think the man on the bench in the cloth driving cap was also there when Johnny went through, but he was with a woman.

Crossfade to shot 168.

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MIKE AT THE BUS STATION: THINGS TO NOTE

Human Error and/or Fate

In the novel, Mike doesn't nearly miss his train. In the movie, he almost doesn't catch the bus, having to beat on its window. Of course he could have taken a taxi, but the point is made. Every step is planned, scheduled. But what of luck and bad luck? What if bad luck intervenes and throws off all that careful planning?

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SATURDAY 12:10 PM, THE TRACK

168 Another bus, 65, at the track, women exiting. (47:52)

169 LS of Mike through a window, arriving at the track and checking in. (47:56)

NARRATOR: At 12:10, as it was his custom, he arrived at the track.

170 MLS Mike going down a hall to the locker room. (48:02)

171 MS Mike, from inside the employees locker room, entering. (48:05)

He passes behind two banks of lockers. Goes to his locker in the third bank and places down the florist box on a bench. One man whistles.

EMPLOYEE: Well, what do we got here? Who's the girlfriend, Mike?

2ND EMPLOYEE: That's how you spend your money, blowing your money on dames. An old man like you ought to know better.

MIKE: I ain't like you guys. These posies are for my wife. Besides, where do you guys...

172 MS George elsewhere in the locker room dressing, listening in. He takes a gun out of his lunch box and loads it. (48:25)

MIKE (off screen): ...get off calling me an old man?

EMPLOYEE (off screen): Why don't you buy your flowers after you get off work, Mike? Liable to wilt on you before you get home.

MIKE: Well, it can't be helped. After work the shops will all be closed.

2ND EMPLOYEE: Why don't you take them out and put them in some water? Or probably the clubhouse steward would put them in the refrigerator for you. Why don't you do that?

MIKE: Well, perhaps I should.

173 MLS Mike in the locker room. (47:43)

MIKE: But, well, it's getting kinda late now...

EMPLOYEE: I'm all dressed. Why don't I do it for you?

MIKE: No.

EMPLOYEE: What's the matter, Mike? I was just trying to do you a favor.

MIKE: These flowers are going in my locker. Then I'll know where they are.

EMPLOYEE: Okay, Mike, suit yourself.

MIKE: I'm sorry, Bill. I appreciate your offer. But after work you know how it is. Everybody will be in a hurry to get away and...

Bill angrily slams his locker door and leaves with employee #2.

174 MS George. (49:12)He exits.

175 MLS Mike at his locker. (49:27)

Mike listens to George exit. Fade to black.

176 MLS Mike exits as security arrives. (49:42)

Mike exits and the door opens across from the employees dressing room showing the room where the money is kept.

The door shuts and the camera swings back to show Mike standing under the lamp at the end of the hall. As he exits, crossfade to shot 177.

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12:10 AT THE TRACK: THINGS TO NOTE

Human Error and/or Fate

In the novel, no one questions Mike about the florist box. He has no problems at all. In the film, Mike has done something unusual by purchasing flowers for his wife and bringing them to the track. That this is unusual for him is the human error factor. There was risk involved in that notice might be taken. One of the men is already dressed and willing to take the flowers to be placed in water to preserve them. Mike is terse and unable to come up with a satisfying reply as to why he doesn't want to put the flowers in water. If the robbery hadn't ended in falling apart, then one can imagine he might have been later remembered as behaving oddly and questioned. But one has the feeling that he is also a guy who is well liked by everyone--which is one of the problems with his becoming suddenly terse and nervous and behaving out of character. No one expects Mike to get upset and he does. This is different. They're going to take note.

Meanwhile, we have our first look, in the film, at George and his gun. The guy is determined to be trouble. Sherry has led him to believe that she was assaulted by Johnny, so he has every reason to be upset. George, with that gun, is a problem we worry is going to go off against Johnny, but not until after the heist. And then what? When does he think he's going to confront Johnny? If everything went as planned, and he killed Johnny afterward when, say, collecting his part of the money, that would certainly put a kink in things--attention-getting gunshots and a dead body..

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THE FIRST RACE, MARVIN SHOWS UP WHEN HE SHOULD BE AT A MOVIE

177 Loudspeakers. (49:46)

ANNOUNCER: ...is third, and Comfort King.

Shot 177 is the same as 193 (horses are running the 7th as Randy arrives), 200 (horses are readying to run as Maurice arrives and goes to the bar), 253 (the horses are coming on the track for the 7th as Nikki watches), 257 (right before the horses are at the starting gate, Nikki watching), 282 (horses on the track for the 7th as Johnny enters and passes by George), 285 (the horses approaching the starting gate as Johnny goes and stands at the bar by Maurice).

178 Flags. (49:49)

ANNOUNCER: It is My Baby leading by a length.

179 Race horse 3. (49:52)

ANNOUNCER: Concentrator is second, by three quarters of a length. Second Ending, moving up fast now on the outside, is third, and Comfort King. It is My Baby, Concentrator and Second Ending. It is Second Ending, Concentrator and Comfort King. It is Second Ending in front. Down to the wire it's Second Ending the winner by a half a length. Concentrator second by two...

180 The crowd. (50:14)

ANNOUNCER: ...Comfort King third and My Baby.

181 The horses. (50:17)

ANNOUNCER: The result of the first race now appears on the totalizator board. Be sure to hold all tickets until the result of the race is declared official.

Crossfade to shot 182.

182 MLS Mike serving. (50:29)

ANNOUNCER: After the first race, Mike was very busy.

Mike finishes serving two individuals then his face frowns with concern. He sees a drunk Marvin ambling through the crowd.

183 Mike drunkenly makes his way to the bar through the crowd. (50:29)

MIKE: Give me a double bourbon, please.

184 MCU Mike. (50:43)

MIKE: Don't you think you've had enough, pal?