Robert Wise directed this all time film noir classic starring Tierney as Sam, an insane killer who actually believes that the world is his to do with as he pleases.
Claire Trevor is Helen, a young woman just divorced who happens upon a double murder in the boardinghouse she used to live in. She decides not to even report the murder and instead leaves town.
At the train station she runs into a man she met briefly at a gambling hall in Reno named Sam. They share a train coach because Sam demands it. Helen is somewhat taken with him, but she also knows he is dangerous and they split apart after they arrive in San Francisco. Helen isn't even aware that Sam killed the two people at her old boardinghouse in Reno.
Time passes and one day Sam arrives unexpectedly at the home of Helen's foster sister, Georgia (Audrey Long). Helen is engaged to a man of wealth named Fred (Phillip Terry), but inside something still burns for Sam. Slowly things spiral out of control as Sam marries Georgia, who thinks Sam is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Meanwhile a detective named Arnett (Walter Slezak) is investigating the murders in Reno because the boardinghouse owner, a Mrs. Kraft (Esther Howard) wants the killer of her friend found no matter what.
Sam gets more and more violent and ends up killing his best friend Marty (Elisha Cook, Jr.) in a fit of jealous rage. This is probably one of the darkest Film Noir ever made and looking at it today I wonder how it ever made it past the RKO censors.
The unique thing about this film noir is that it is an opposite of most movies like it. What I mean is in most film noir you have a femme fatale that brings abut the tragic end to a man, and in Born To Kill you have Tierney's Sam, who is bringing a woman to her doom.
Director Wise was one of the most talented men in the business and once again he shows us why. The story is handled very tightly and the dialogue just crackles film noir. One of the first lines in the film is uttered by a beautiful young woman named Laury Palmer (lovely Isabell Jewel), and it describes Sam perfectly, even though we haven;t yet seen him. Palmer is one of the people Sam subsequently kills in Reno.
Other memorable lines include Mrs. Kraft telling Helen "You're the coldest iceberg of a woman I ever saw, and the rottenest inside". And when Arnett tells a delivery boy the life is much like coffee...the aroma is always better than the eventually.
I could go on and on about this film. Watch this with "The Devil Thumbs A Ride" and it'll be an experience you'll never forget.
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