FILM · 1946 · USA
The Killers
- Directed by
- Robert Siodmak
- Runtime
- 103 min
- Studio
- Universal International Pictures
27 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by…
Summary: TMDB
All facts (27)
- #001
The entire Prentiss Hat Co. robbery was filmed with a single camera and without any cuts. It required fast coordination among dozens of people and several vehicles.
- #002
The Killers was Burt Lancaster's first film. Although it was his debut (at age 33), he received top billing.
- #003
Virginia Christine (also known as The Folgers Coffee Lady), who played the Swede's girlfriend (Lilly Harmon Lubinsky) before he met Kitty, also appears in a different role as the blind secretary (Miss Watson) in the 1964 adaptation The Killers (1964).
- #004
Ernest Hemingway, the author of the original short story, liked the film. Before its release, producer Mark Hellinger sent publicist Al Horwits to Sun Valley, Idaho, to hold a private screening for Hemingway. Hemingway had half a liter of gin in one coat pocket and half a liter of water in the other, so he could sip his drink if the film went badly. After the screening, Hemingway raised the full bottles, grinned and said: "Didn't need'em."
- #005
When the film opened in New York, it drew such huge interest that theaters stayed open 24 hours to meet demand, which helped it break previous box-office records.
- #006
The first 13 minutes of the film, depicting the arrival of the two hitmen and the murder of Ole 'the Swede' Anderson, are a close adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story. The rest of the film, showing Reardon's investigation of the murder, is entirely original.
- #007
Burt Lancaster was the third choice for the role of the Swede and was signed only after Wayne Morris and Sonny Tufts turned out to be unavailable. Lancaster was a former circus acrobat from Union City, NJ. When producer Mark Hellinger saw the first excitement of Lancaster's performance in a private screening room, he was so pleased that he shouted, "So help me, may all my actors be acrobats!"
- #008
After leaving Warner Bros., producer Mark Hellinger wanted to borrow Warner's director Don Siegel for The Killers (1946) at Universal Pictures. However, the loan-out fee turned out to be prohibitively high for a director of limited fame at the time, so Hellinger used Robert Siodmak from Universal Pictures instead. Ironically, nearly 20 years later Siegel went on to direct the remake The Killers (1964).
- #009
Producer Mark Hellinger paid $36,750 for the screen rights to Ernest Hemingway's story, his first independent production, although studio publicity claimed it was $50,000. The screenplay was written by Richard Brooks and John Huston, who were uncredited due to their contracts with Warner Bros.
- #010
The boxing match in the third flashback was shot in a boxing arena for an audience of 2,000 people. Burt Lancaster trained with a boxing champion for two months and played the Swede realistically against a real boxer up to his second knockout and TKO.
- #011
Watching the film was an obsession for Howard Hughes in his later life, before he became connected to the Zebra Ice Station (1968). He was known to watch it several times a day.
- #012
William Conrad received his first screen credit.
- #013
Miklós Rózsa's musical theme heard when the killers appear was later used in an expanded form as the theme music for the series Dragnet (1951) and its revived series Dragnet 1967 (1967).
- #014
After seeing Burt Lancaster's screen test with Constance Dowling, Mark Hellinger was convinced Lancaster was right for the role of Anderson. Another independent producer, Hal B. Wallis, was so impressed by Lancaster's screen test with Lizabeth Scott that both producers signed the former acrobat and shared his contract.
- #015
The film opened on 28.8.46 at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York. It earned $10,341 from first-day ticket revenue, leaving the previous house record behind by $3,000.
- #016
Producer Mark Hellinger, a former Warner Bros. figure who set up his own independent production unit at Universal Pictures-International, initially wanted Wayne Morris or Sonny Tufts in this first film. In the end Tufts was considered too inexperienced and Warner Bros. would not lend Morris, so Hellinger chose the unknown Burt Lancaster for his first film. He made Lancaster a star.
- #017
It is widely believed that Ernest Hemingway based his story on the mob hit on boxer Andre Anderson, who was shot dead in a Chicago bar in March 1926. Anderson had once fought a draw with future heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey in a 1916 match.
- #018
The first choice to play Anderson was not Burt Lancaster but Warner Bros., which refused to lend Wayne Morris for the film. Other actors considered for the role included Van Heflin, Jon Hall, Sonny Tufts and Edmond O'Brien, who was ultimately cast as the insurance investigator.
- #019
In 1956, director Andrei Tarkovsky, then a film student, made a 19-minute short film titled The Killers based on the story. It is included on the Criterion Collection DVD release of the film.
- #020
Ole "Swede" Anderson (Burt Lancaster) is the main character and appears in all 11 flashbacks, yet paradoxically he is always in the background. He appears after a long prologue, but his face is not clearly seen when he does; he dies shortly afterward. He is roughly handled by Colfax in the garage (first flashback). He wants to kill himself in the hotel. He loses the boxing match and is left completely dazed afterward. At Colfax's party he falls under the spell of Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner). He appears at the very end of the restaurant scene and flees. He says little in prison while Charleston talks. He arrives late to the planning of the robbery. He is a distant figure during the robbery (like the other gang members). He is asleep at the start of the evening before the robbery. He appears at the end of the scene after the robbery. He is manipulated by Kitty the night before the robbery.
- #021
The film was used in the documentary Visions of Light (1992) as an example of film noir cinematography.
- #022
The character Reardon was removed entirely from the remake The Killers (1964).
- #023
According to Jean-Claude Missiaen, it was John Huston who invented and wrote the main character's backstory (the backstory is not detailed in Ernest Hemingway's short story).
- #024
In 2008 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
- #025
Universal Pictures borrowed Ava Gardner from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for this picture.
- #026
In prison, Charleston tells the Swede that there are 9 planets revolving around the Sun (Pluto was then considered a planet; this officially changed in 2006, so there are now officially 8 planets). This is a nod to the film's structure, since there are alternatively 9 characters who narrate flashbacks (11 in total): Nick Adams (in the garage with Colfax); Mary Ellen "Queenie" Doherty (hotel); Sam Lubinsky (boxing match); Lilly Harmon Lubinsky (party at Colfax's); again Sam Lubinsky (the jewelry scene in the restaurant); Charleston (prison; planning of the robbery); James Riordan (the robbery); Blinky Franklin (the evening before the robbery; after the robbery); Kitty Collins (the night before the robbery). Moreover, absolutely all the flashbacks include Ole "Swede" Anderson, so the characters metaphorically revolve around him as the planets revolve around the Sun.
- #027
According to Eddie Muller of TCM, Richard Brooks did not receive a writing credit because producer Mark Hellinger wanted only the famous name of Ernest Hemingway to appear on posters and other promotional material. Brooks did not complain, but instead of having his name in the credits he negotiated to receive 1% of the film's profits. This turned out to be quite lucrative for Brooks; he earned about $25,000 from his work (roughly $430,000 in 2026).
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work