Born to Kill

Released Apr 30, 1947

1h 32m

Crime

Drama

List

83%

Tomatometer

6 Reviews

75%

Audience Score

500+ Ratings

Drifter Sam Wilde (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

Competent if slightly too tame for a supposedly sleazy story.

Rated: B

May 16, 2006

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

Slant Magazine

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

May 1, 2006

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

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.

Rated: 10/10

Aug 5, 2020

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

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

Rated: 3/4

Jul 15, 2016

Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Hard to watch, but effective and alluring nonetheless.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 9, 2005

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A revolting B film noir...

Rated: C

Apr 2, 2003

Full Review

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Steve D

Trevor knocks this out of the park but everything else is also good

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/24

Full Review

Kurt F

One of my favorite Film Noirs.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/18/24

Full Review

Tom M

Great noir. Tierney plays deadly perfectly but Trevor is much more dangerous.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/26/21

Full Review

Audience Member

This is about as dark a 1940s film noir as you'll find. It's plot suggests that all people have a sinister side. Robert Wise is the perfect director to explore this theme. And, If you know anything about the real life of the film's lead actor, Lawrence Tierney, you'll know that he's pretty much type-cast as the cocksure, criminal who casts a spell over the women he targets. Claire Trevor, known as the Queen of Noirs, is spellbinding herself.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

deke p

Saw the entire movie finally on the Movie Channel on broadcast antenna tv, Jan 2020. Interesting. Lawrence tierney starred. wow. What a handsome leading man, way back then, but in real life an incorrigible drunk and badass. And in his seventies a bald fathead. Anyway, in the movie he was a real bad guy, a natural born killer.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Extremely dark and twisted noir that had me transfixed to the screen. Just when you think it can't get any nastier it gets a lot nastier. Superb performances by Claire Trevor and Lawrence Tierney. Brilliant 1940's filmmaking.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

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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

Georgia Staples

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Synopsis

Drifter Sam Wilde (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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