Kill or Be Killed (1950) User Reviews

Or Leave. You Could Try Leaving

[boblipton · 5/10 · 7 April 2020]

Laurence Tierney is an engineer and architect in Brazil. He wants to be paid for installing an air-conditioning unit in a dive, but he's put off. Before you know it, he's been accused of a murder, shot at by the police, swum underwater for a couple of hundred yards with a bleeding wound, and been rescued by concert pianist Marissa O'Brien who's about to go find some peace in the jungle. He invites himself along, lest the police's aim improves with practice, and finds himself designing a new house for George Coulouris, who's talking with a German accent.

Odd people you meet on the Universal Studios back lot! Some of the street scenes were shot in Lisbon, but they don't add anything I noticed to this indie B movie, directed by Max Nosseck. It's a bog-standard B movie, barely indistinguishable from dozens of others of the period. Everyone seems to be competent, except possibly for the costume designer, whose name is understandably omitted from the credits.

Air Conditioning Job Gone Wrong

[Henchman_Number1 · 5/10 · 17 May 2020]

Engineer Robert Warren (Lawrence Tierney) on assignment in Brazil, is set up for a murder when he discovers a client dead in his office and he is discovered standing over the body. After giving chase to the real killer and trying to elude the police until he can prove his innocence, Warren ends up hiding on a steam boat heading into the Amazon. Along the way he becomes involved with an unhappily married woman, her husband and his business partner (Marissa O'Brien, Rudolph Anders, George Coulouris) while trying to sort out the details of the crime.

The role is a bit of a departure from the usual for Tierney. Here he is cast as the man in peril. An innocent victim who through none of his own doing is caught up in the crossfire. As such Tierney does a serviceable job but clearly this type of role wasn't his long suit. Marissa O'Brien as Tierney's love interest gives us more disbelief to suspend as a concert pianist who for some reason moves to the remote jungle with her near psychotic husband who she doesn't love. To nobody's amazement things don't go well.

The movie is a fair to middling, tropical crime drama. While at the start the movie hints of a fast paced action, mystery / crime flick, it slowly chokes down to more sluggish melodrama and an anti-climatic resolution with little explanation of the crime itself. Lawrence Tierney fans are likely to be disappointed and there isn't enough beef on the bones of the story to build much interest otherwise.

A surprisingly nondescript effort for a movie titled 'Kill or Be Killed' with Lawrence Tierney.

MUMBO JUMBO IN THE JUNGLE

[davidalexander-63068 · 4/10 · 14 November 2020]

This film lost me when all the guys appeared for dinner in this mansion stuck in the middle of the jungle wearing white dinner jackets and ties while the woman of the house tinkered away on the grand piano. A bit out of place you might say. Also out of place was Lawrence Tierney in a role more suited to Cary Grant than the king of the tough guys. Lawrence excels as a gangster , why they tried to sell him off as a good guy defies logic!

Despite what the title and poster suggest, this is an eye-rollingly terrible snoozefest, littered with dreadful writing and so-so plot.

[declancooley · 3/10 · 2 April 2024]

Only Lawrence Tierney completists should subject themselves to this dull, inert and unengaging flick about an engineer wrongly accused of murder. A lot of the story takes place in ships or a jungle as he goes on the run, and falls for a dippy dame who protects him. The sappy dialogue hopes to make us believe there is a romantic spark between these two despite there being little chemistry between them and they both act stiff as ironing boards throughout. Then the coincidences pile up to make matters worse. However, I'll give it three points: (1) for some OK action (2) the exotic locations and (3) there is some curious plotting involving a mute youth. But that's about it. Although it has a very short run-time I found myself checking my watch several times before I gave up on it 45 mins through (and watched the rest a few days later). You've been warned!

Respectable noir with exotic locale and Lawrence Tierney as the hero

[meaninglessname · 7/10 · 1 June 2017]

This fast-paced and reasonably well-written noir is rare for a few reasons. One is simply that it's hard to find. Another is that it was shot on location in Brazil. Rarest perhaps is that quintessential noir bad boy Lawrence Tierney plays the hero for once.

Tierney, whose off-screen escapades rivaled those of the characters he played, had worn out his welcome in Hollywood by this time, but his performance here shows he could easily have become a leading man in action films. However, according to Wikipedia "In just seven years between 1944 and 1951, Tierney was arrested over a dozen times for brawling, frequently for drunkenness."

Here he plays an American engineer on assignment in a Brazilian river town. The familiar plot is one that was a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock among others: the innocent man, framed for a murder he didn't commit, tracking down the real killer, although in this case both the framing and tracking are accidental.

There's also the woman met along the way who believes him and helps conceal him, here a lackluster performance, perhaps intentional for a rather passive role, by little-known Marissa O'Brien.

At one point he joins an exploited plantation work gang, so there's even a bit of social commentary.

A must-see, if you can find it, for Tierney cultists.

So, a guy is wanted for murder and asks you for help...so you help him and hide him????

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 30 November 2020]

Lawrence Tierney was one of the best noir actors of his age. As a human being, well, read through IMDB and be amazed! But back to his acting. The man was brilliant and believable in films such as "Dillinger" and "Born to Kill". And so, when I found "Kill or Be Killed" I was excited. After all, it's a noir film with Tierney so I had very high hopes. Unfortunately...it didn't deliver.

When the story begins, Robert (Tierney) is singing a god-awful song. When he enters a back room in the cantina, he finds a dead man. Soon, a woman comes into the room and sees this. Robert tells her he just came in the room and found the body...and she began screaming "He killed him!" repeatedly....which seems pretty unrealistic. After all, she didn't see a murder take place and she never gave Robert a chance to talk. As a result, he ran out of the place like a horse on fire....though you'd think he'd wait for the police. Now, as a result, he's a wanted man. Robert is on the lam and soon he approaches Maria and asks her to hide him from the police. Now she doesn't know him...and without questioning him at all, she hides him!!!

Does any of this make any sense? No?! Well that is my problem with the film. I has something occur and again and again, the characters behave in unlikely ways. Perhaps a woman MIGHT assume Robert killed the man, perhaps Robert MIGHT run from the police and perhaps, at least on Bizarro World, a woman MIGHT help him even though there's no logical reason for this. But for ALL three to happen...well, that's suspending disbelief way past the breaking point. So, no matter how good the acting is, the film stinks and shouldn't have. A misfire from a fine actor whose noir performances can be riveting. This one, however, just wasn't very good.

Better Than Average Fish Movie - Kil or be Killed

[arthur_tafero · 6/10 · 11 February 2021]

I am a big fan of Lawrence Tierney and I look for all his films whenever I have a few hours to kill. In this film, Tierney is a protagonist rather than a cold-blooded killer, like he was in Born to Kill. The characters in this film are far less seedy and sleazy as well. The major weakness of the film is the music; it appears as if the film was hijacked by the people responsible for the music soundtrack. Instead of having foreboding music similar to that in Psycho, the composers for this sound track try to recreate The Sound of Music. "The River with Killer Fish is alive with the sound of music". would have been lyrics they might have created to further ruin what was a decent story line. The music is terribly overbearing and overwhelms the characters and the plot at times. Fortunately, Tierney saves us from this version of The Producers by sticking to his hard guy pesonna. Lesson: dont let music ruin your film.

Kill or Be Killed

[CinemaSerf · 5/10 · 27 December 2022]

This is probably most notable for the performance of Lawrence Tierney ("Warren") playing a goodie for a change. He has just installed an air-con system in a bar in Brazil and whilst chasing up his cash, he discovers the owner has been robbed and murdered and he has to escape into the jungle on an old river boat; with the help of concert pianist Marissa O'Brian ("Maria"), who is joining her husband (Rudolph Anders) and his dodgy business partner George Coulouris ("Sloma") in the remote Amazonian wilderness. Aside from a rather fun contribution from his young, mute, pal who gives him a timely warning about piranha fish, the plot degrades quickly into a plodding melodrama with some beautiful scenery but precious little else to rescue it from the doldrums with a rather underwhelming conclusion.

noir in Brazil

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 14 July 2021]

I am not a fan of Lawrence Tierney's but because he did noirs, my favorite genre, I watch him.

Tierney plays Robert Warren, an engineer working in Brazil. In an attempt to collect money, he walks into a bar owner's office just as the man has been killed. The killer escapes. Thinking Warren did it, the police chase him.

He manages to board a ship going to the Amazon. A concert pianist on board Maria (Marissa O'Brien) helps him hide. Once off the ship, he gets a job at a plantation where the workers are being exploited. Their boss is Maria's husband, Gregory (Rudolph Anders).

Gregory has an associate, Victor (George Coulouris) who does all his dirty work. Victor recognizes Robert from the bar. Realizing he was at the scene of the murder, Robert becomes his assignment. In the meantime, Robert and Maria have fallen in love. So Victor and Gregory really aren't happy with him.

This is an okay film. Boy have times changed. Tierney states in this film that he's 32. He was, though you'd believe looking at him by today's standards that he's 55. In this film he plays a hero, which was unusual for him.

Some scenes shot in Lisbon.

People are always saying if Tierney hadn't been such a bad boy off the screen, he could have done this and that in films. Frankly I've never seen the attraction, though occasionally he says a line in something besides a monotone.

"You Can't Dodge The One That's Got Your Number!"...

[azathothpwiggins · 20 July 2021]

Wrongly accused of murder, Robert Warren (Lawrence Tierney) must elude capture while trying to track down the real killer. Along the way, Warren is assisted by the beautiful Maria Marek (Marissa O'Brien), leading to even more trouble for Warren. Maria's jealous husband (Rudolph Anders) and his henchman (George Coulouris) cause big problems.

When the action switches to the jungle, things get even more interesting.

A very entertaining film, KILL OR BE KILLED is filled with drama, thrills, and romance. One memorable chase scene takes us through some spectacular Portuguese locations!

Tierney is fantastic in his hunted role!...