Born to Kill

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Born to Kill

1947

1h 32m

Crime

Drama

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Popcornmeter

83%

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6 Reviews

75%

Popcornmeter

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

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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

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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

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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

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Jeffrey M. Anderson

Combustible Celluloid

Hard to watch, but effective and alluring nonetheless.

Rated: 3/4

Sep 9, 2005

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

A revolting B film noir...

Rated: C

Apr 2, 2003

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David K

I'm a sucker for Claire Trevor and do love the work of Elijah Wood. This film works for me. It takes back to a time when the actual violence so decried upon its release is always off camera. That can still be a brutal thing but points out the degree to which things have changed.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/25

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acsdoug D

It's a decent noir. I liked the fact few of the characters are clearcut good or bad. The moral gray area makes the film more interesting.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

08/29/25

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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

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Kurt F

One of my favorite Film Noirs.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/18/24

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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

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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

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Robert Wise

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Lawrence Tierney

Sam Wild

Claire Trevor

Helen Brent

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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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