Born to Kill

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Born to Kill

1947,

1h 32m,

Crime/

Drama

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86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

7 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

500+ Ratings

Drifter Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney) murders a Reno, Nev., boardinghouse owner and her boyfriend in a fit of jealousy. Tenant Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) discovers the bodies, but instead of reporting the crime, she leaves for San Francisco as planned to return to her wealthy fiancé. On the same train, Sam flirts with Helen, then tracks her to her half-sister's house, where he continues to pursue her. Although Helen suspects Sam is a murderer, she inexplicably protects him from an investigator.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

May 16, 2006

B

Competent if slightly too tame for a supposedly sleazy story.

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Fernando F. Croce

Slant Magazine

May 1, 2006

The usually meek Robert Wise trades his chameleonic tastefulness for full-on, jazzy misanthropy in this nasty melodrama.

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Noah Berlatsky

Splice Today

Sep 2, 2026

Born To Kill mercilessly shows that the beguiling masculinity of good-looking, man’s man Sam is a thin façade above a toxic pit of entitlement, jealousy, paranoia and violence.

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Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Aug 5, 2020

10/10

One of the most acerbic of all films noir, boasting essentially no redeemable characters (or a wealth of deliciously evil villains) while also being utterly enthralling.

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David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

Jul 15, 2016

3/4

...a fairly typical film-noir premise that's employed to watchable yet entirely unmemorable effect by Robert Wise...

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Sep 9, 2005

3/4

Hard to watch, but effective and alluring nonetheless.

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Draco W

Jul 31, 2017

Unique characters that fizzle out long before the end of this average film noir.

Ron G

Jul 30, 2017

Claire Trevor was fabulous femme fatale

Finn L

Jan 7, 2017

Great atmosphere, stupid plot

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Robert Wise

Director

Lawrence Tierney

Sam Wild

Claire Trevor

Helen Brent

Walter Slezak

Matthew Albert Arnett

Phillip Terry

Fred Grover

Audrey Long

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Synopsis

Drifter Sam Wild (Lawrence Tierney) murders a Reno, Nev., boardinghouse owner and her boyfriend in a fit of jealousy. Tenant Helen Brent (Claire Trevor) discovers the bodies, but instead of reporting the crime, she leaves for San Francisco as planned to return to her wealthy fiancé. On the same train, Sam flirts with Helen, then tracks her to her half-sister's house, where he continues to pursue her. Although Helen suspects Sam is a murderer, she inexplicably protects him from an investigator.

Director: Robert Wise
Producer: Herman Schlom
Screenwriter: Eve Greene, Richard Macaulay
Production Co: RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 30, 1947, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 23, 2016
Runtime: 1h 32m

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