Don Siegel‘s The Killers (’64) was shot for TV but then dumped in theatres when Universal execs realized it was too violent for home viewing. The flat, harsh lighting by Richard L. Rawlings is beyond ugly — no character or personality, everything awash in light. But Ronald Reagan does some decent acting in this, his final scene in his final film. That moment when he realizes he’s about to be shot by Lee Marvin, and then glances at the money he’s going to be shot for, and then seems to say to himself, “I’m dying for a bunch of paper?”
