The Killer Inside Me

This coming Friday, June the 18^th, a new adaptation of what was perhaps Jim Thompson's finest and most daring novel, The Killer Inside Me, will air in limited release. There are reasons why I would encourage people to see this film and reasons why I would discourage them as well.

On the positive side, it is based on a Jim Thompson novel, and an excellent one at that. If you have not heard of this writer, let me put his style into some sort of perspective for you. Thompson wrote crime fiction that was-if such a thing can be possible-even grittier than Elmore Leonard's best material. Stephen King said of Thompson: "He was crazy. He went running into the American subconscious with a blowtorch in one hand and a pistol in the other, screaming his goddamn head off. No one else came close."

For that matter, few characters in crime fiction are as crazy as Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford, the title killer. Ford projects an image of benign, cliché-driven dull-witted blandness on the outside, but does so only to conceal the fiendishly-clever homicidal maniac that lurks within him. As I do with most items I review or preview, I am very stingy with the spoilers, but, as you may have already figured out, people die in this story.

Another good reason to see the movie (or, considering its limited release, perhaps rent it) is that, unlike the 1976 adaptation of the book, this one stays a lot more true to the story. That may have something to do with the director-Michael Winterbottom-being an Englishman. For some reason, American directors have tended to flinch from the American author Thompson's more lurid aspects, while French and British filmmakers willingly embrace them.

On one hand, American directors tried their hands, not only at the first take of this movie, but two versions of another excellent Thompson novel, The Getaway. The first starred Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw (and featured Al Letteri-Solozzo in The Godfather). The more recent one starred Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger, back when they were on more cordial terms. In both cases, the films backed away from the hardest stuff in the story, including the not-so-happy ending. You may want to read the book, even if you saw either movie.

On the other hand, a French director, Bertrand Tavernier, made an excellent movie, titled Coup de Torchon from my favorite Thompson book, Pop. 1280. Aside from changing the locale, the director stayed entirely true to the tale. Also, British director Stephen Frears made a thrilling movie out of another excellent Thompson story, The Grifters. I would strongly recommend renting both of these foreign-directed adaptations of Jim Thompson novels if you have not already treated yourself to watching them.

All of that said, I should point out, as plainly and clearly as I can, that the violence in this adaptation of The Killer Inside Me may be horrendous. A significant number of people-including leading lady Jessica Alba-walked out of the movie at its most violent in Cannes and other pre-release screenings.

Some have criticized Winterbottom for what they considered to be gratuitous violence, but, he seems to have succeeded in displaying the profoundly psychotic behavior of the central character. Jim Thompson is long gone (He died in 1977), but I think his vision of the character would have been far closer to the 2010 production than the 1976 version.

Others have said that the film allowed the three leading actors, Casey Affleck, Kate Hudson and the aforementioned Ms. Alba, to stretch their acting talents like never before.

To sum it up, skip this movie if you are squeamish-not very squeamish, but just regular squeamish. I have not seen it yet myself, but those who did have made it abundantly clear there is plenty of flinch-worthy material. On the other hand, if you enjoy Thompson's kind of hard-hitting storytelling, this is supposed to be a very faithful rendition of it, brought to the screen.

And, hey, whether you see the movie or not, read a few of his books, okay? I don't think you'll regret the time you spend doing that at all.

Sources

Charles McGrath, The New York Times

Stephen King

NYDailyNews.com

Wikipedia