Taglines: In America you’re on your own.
Three amateur criminals hold up a card game and steal cash from all the players. Their heist destroys confidence and all illegal card games in the area stop. Eager to get business and cash moving again, the local mob hire hitman Jackie (Brad Pitt) to find out who knocked off the game and punish them in an effort to restore confidence.
Jackie struggles to get clear direction from the mob that appears to be run as an autonomous collective, leaderless committee. He presses them to allow him to hit Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta) because whilst innocent Markie is the person everybody thinks held up the card game. Jackie’s assertion is that if people believe the issue is resolved confidence will be restored; even if the situation remains unchanged.
Markie having been brutally despatched, Jackie is sent to perform a hit on the original three criminals actually responsible. The film is interspersed with talking head news footage of Bush and Obama referring to the struggling economy and the need for America to pull together as a community, the relevance of which becomes clear in the closing scene.
Having eliminated all his targets, Jackie meets with his operator to collect the cash only to be informed that his payment has gone down. The meeting takes place in a bar in which the TV is showing President Barack Obama’s inaugural address. Handing over the smaller than agreed sum of money, the Driver says, These are recession prices.
Jackie turns to the TV on which Obama is still addressing the Nation and replies, This guy wants to tell me we’re living in a community? Don’t make me laugh. I’m living in America, and in America you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business. Now fuckin’ pay me.
Killing Them Softly is a 2012 American neo-noir crime film directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, based on George V. Higgins’ novel Cogan’s Trade (1974). On May 22, 2012, the film premiered in competition for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and received positive early reviews. The film is about three small-time crooks who rob a Mob-protected illegal gambling operation, which prompts the Mob to send in two hitmen, Jackie (Pitt) and Mickey (James Gandolfini), to deal with the perpetrators.
Killing Them Softly (2012)
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, James Gandolfini, Vincent Curatola, Trevor Long, Linara Washington, Sam Shepard, Christopher Berry, Ross Brodar
Screenplay by: Andrew Dominik
Production Design by: Patricia Norris
Cinematography by: Greig Fraser
Film Editing by: John Paul Horstmann, Brian A. Kates
Costume Design by: Patricia Norris
Set Decoration by: Leslie Morales
MPAA Rating: R for violence, sexual references, pervasive language, and some drug use.
Distributed by: The Weinstein Company
Release Date: November 30, 2012
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