The Silver Screen Oasis

Both great Noirs star Burt Lancaster and are directed by the fabulous Robert Siodmak, I prefer Criss Cross because Yvonne DeCarlo is a " better " femme fatale (IMHO) and Dan Duryea is slimier than Albert Dekker. Both films feature great Miklos Rozsa Noir Musical Scores. I love The Killers as I have intimated in another thread.

I love both films (almost equally)But I have to say "The Killers". Maybe because it's Lancaster's screen debut. The story in flashbacks is a plus.
I do agree with Yvonne DeCarlo as a " better " femme fatale. The cast in both are great. I think I like the dialogue in The Killers a little more than Criss Cross. Tough one to pick...

And No "Whit Bissell" (what's up with that?)


vallo

What ! No Whitster in either film. Moma Mia !

I prefer "The Killers" but I have a hard time explaining why. Both are superb films noir. Perhaps I don't like "Criss Cross" as much because I find it hard to justify the Duryea character letting DeCarlo handle the split even after he caught her in Lancaster's arms. I suppose you could say that he is governed by his male vanity and can't believe that she would prefer Lancaster to him, but I think that is me doing the screenwriter's job.

"The Killers" fits together far better. And it has Vince Barnett (the telephone guy from Hawks' "Scarface") in his second great role.

Well, I have to go for the glam! Yvonne's got nothing on Ava. If I were gonna go through all that the guys in both films went through, I would do it for Ava. Cold and aloof, she would have had me around her little finger just like Burt. Yvonne was great, but I could have left her and moved on. I always go for the glam. I guess I'm just a sucker like Burt!

I love your Garbo avatar!

Thanks, Sue Sue! Ha! Right back atcha!

CRISS CROSS gets my vote primarily because of the shorter running time which accentuates the tension. At 105 minutes, THE KILLERS seems at least 20 minutes overweight. CRISS CROSS also merits attention for being the film that (allegedly) introduced the expression "That's the ticket!" into the noir lexicon.

Robert Siodmak's classic thriller "The Killers", along with "Criss Cross" are two of his best pieces of work, proof positive that crime dramas could rise above the mundane and the clichéd.

Not many films, no matter how great they may be, open with such a hook as "The Killers". Its opening scene has you smoldering in your seat as you have no idea where this story is going to go. It's dark, gritty, and edgy, and has every instinct for the audience's current mindset at any point in the story.
"The Killers" is a feature that is an example of the excellent b movie genre that was at its hayday during the 1940s.

Hemingway himself said that of all the films Hollywood made from his stories, this was the only one that he was very proud of.

Yvonne gives her best perfomance ever in Crisscross. She is also a hottie ! Did I say that !