updated plot where the two hitmen are actually the protagonists. Intended to be broadcast as a television film, it was directed by Don Siegel, and featured Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, and Ronald Reagan, who, as a formidable villain, famously slaps Dickinson across the face. Siegel’s film was deemed too violent for the small screen and was released theatrically, first in Europe, then years later in America.

Scenes from The Killers were used in the Carl Reiner spoof Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) starring Steve Martin.

Seven screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker has written a screenplay for a new adaptation of The Killers.

Legacy

The Killers has come to be regarded as a classic in the years since its release, and in 2008, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Critic Jonathan Lethem described the film in a 2003 essay as the “Citizen Kane of film noir.”

According to Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker, The Killers “was the first film from any of his works that Ernest could genuinely admire.” Commenting on the film, Hemingway said: “It is a good picture and the only good picture ever made of a story of mine.”

In July 2018, it was selected to be screened in the Venice Classics section at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.