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Killing Them Softly
- 186 statements
- 35 feature instances
- 7 referencing feature instances
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Killing Them Softly | |
Killing Them Softly | page |
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Killing Them Softly | comment |
Killing Them Softly is a 2012 crime film starring Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, and James Gandolfini, and written & directed by Andrew Dominik (who'd previously worked with Pitt on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford).When a mob poker game run by Markie Trattman (Liotta) is held up by two masked gunmen, suspicion immediately falls on Trattman. And with good reason: years ago, he'd actually ripped off his own game, then drunkenly copped to it - to the amusement of his fellow wiseguys. This time, feeling that not punishing the robbers would be bad for business, hitman Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is called in. Although Jackie deduces almost immediately that Trattman isn't stupid enough to hit his own game twice, he still decides to make an example of Trattman. Jackie also quickly uncovers the real culprit — but since they actually know each other, he decides to subcontract that hit to Mickey (Gandolfini), who turns out to be a bitter drunk more interested in working his way through every prostitute in town. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_10134c97 | type |
Artistic License – Gun Safety | |
Killing Them Softly / int_10134c97 | comment |
Artistic License – Gun Safety: When Jackie checks his gun's ammo, he closes the revolver's cylinder by turning his wrist. With rotary cylinder revolvers, this can bend the cylinder arm, misaligning the cylinder and leading to a misfire, potentially exploding the weapon. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_10134c97 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_18d15922 | type |
Title Drop | |
Killing Them Softly / int_18d15922 | comment |
Title Drop: Jackie prefers to "kill 'em softly" (i.e. from a distance), rather than up close, so as not to deal with the panicked victim begging for his life; director Andrew Dominik reportedly kept secret that he was to be changing the film's title from Cogan's Trade to Killing Them Softly, so Brad Pitt was unaware that he was invoking this trope. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_20860a0e | type |
Punch-Clock Villain | |
Killing Them Softly / int_20860a0e | comment |
Punch-Clock Villain: Both Jackie and Mickey, but especially Driver, who looks and acts like an office clerk. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_21d70919 | type |
Crapsack World | |
Killing Them Softly / int_21d70919 | comment |
Crapsack World: The life of crime has rarely looked less appealing than in this film, from low-level thieves and enforcers who only do it because they can't find legitimate work to hitmen whose best days are long behind them to bosses who now come across more as frustrated middle-managers dealing with other bosses, bad employees and a changing world than Al Capone. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_21d70919 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_21d70919 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_23e32a30 | type |
Genre Deconstruction | |
Killing Them Softly / int_23e32a30 | comment |
Genre Deconstruction: of the gangster movies. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_23e32a30 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_23e32a30 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_25524784 | type |
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown | |
Killing Them Softly / int_25524784 | comment |
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Two mooks deliver one to Trattman. Later, Jackie and Driver admit they may have been a bit excessive. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_319e4a2f | type |
Even Evil Has Standards | |
Killing Them Softly / int_319e4a2f | comment |
Even Evil Has Standards: Jackie is visibly disturbed when Mickey threatens a hooker. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_319e4a2f | |
Killing Them Softly / int_32976084 | type |
Destination Defenestration | |
Killing Them Softly / int_32976084 | comment |
Destination Defenestration: When Dillon and Kenny rough up Trattman after the first poker-game heist, they slam him through a window, pull him back in, then toss him out the back door. Later, after Jackie shoots him, Trattman's car rolls into an intersection and is struck by a truck, causing Trattman's head to smash into the windshield. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_32976084 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_32976084 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_35a858b3 | type |
Cluster F-Bomb | |
Killing Them Softly / int_35a858b3 | comment |
Cluster F-Bomb: The F-word is pronounced a hell of a lot. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_3af4d3a3 | type |
Hollywood New England | |
Killing Them Softly / int_3af4d3a3 | comment |
Hollywood New England: The film takes place in the grimy, crime-middled parts of Massachusetts. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_3af4d3a3 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_423f5a19 | type |
Killed Offscreen | |
Killing Them Softly / int_423f5a19 | comment |
Killed Offscreen: Dillon, who is ailing throughout the film, is mentioned to have died by the end. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_423f5a19 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_47fea76b | type |
Butt-Monkey | |
Killing Them Softly / int_47fea76b | comment |
Butt-Monkey: Trattman. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_4cfe362e | type |
Awesome Aussie | |
Killing Them Softly / int_4cfe362e | comment |
Awesome Aussie: Averted. Russell speaks with Ben Mendelsohn's natural Australian accent but is about as far removed from a competent badass as you can get, clearly being nothing more than a low-level idiot. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_4cfe362e | |
Killing Them Softly / int_537dd8fe | type |
Affably Evil | |
Killing Them Softly / int_537dd8fe | comment |
Affably Evil: Markie Trattman... well, out of all of this film's assortment of characters, anyway. Even the gangsters he robbed don't seem upset about it when they learn the truth. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_537dd8fe | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_537dd8fe | |
Killing Them Softly / int_5b565147 | type |
Meaningful Background Event | |
Killing Them Softly / int_5b565147 | comment |
Meaningful Background Event: The movie takes place during the last days of the 2008 Obama/McCain presidential campaigns, as well as the USA's financial meltdown. The last scene appears to coincide with Obama's victory. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_5b565147 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_5b565147 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_71268450 | type |
Adaptation Title Change | |
Killing Them Softly / int_71268450 | comment |
Adaptation Title Change: Killing Them Softly is based on the novel Cogan's Trade. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_71268450 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_754df088 | type |
Put on a Bus | |
Killing Them Softly / int_754df088 | comment |
When Mickey proves to be unable to carry out his hit, Jackie has him arrested on a parole-violation beef and Put on a Bus. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_754df088 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_7cbba5d3 | type |
Ruthless Foreign Gangsters | |
Killing Them Softly / int_7cbba5d3 | comment |
Ruthless Foreign Gangsters: Russell, one of the thieves, is Australian, just like his actor Ben Mendelsohn. However, being ruthless doesn't mean he's competent or intimidating. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_7cbba5d3 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_7cbba5d3 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_928ca2cc | type |
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness | |
Killing Them Softly / int_928ca2cc | comment |
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Mickey proves to be unable to carry out his hit, Jackie has him arrested on a parole-violation beef and Put on a Bus. Frankie shows Jackie to Squirrel, and once Jackie's killed Squirrel, he proceeds to kill Frankie as well. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_928ca2cc | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_928ca2cc | |
Killing Them Softly / int_9dd2cbc2 | type |
CloudCuckooLander | |
Killing Them Softly / int_9dd2cbc2 | comment |
Cloud Cuckoo Lander: New York Mickey has simply run out of fucks to give. His appetite for booze and women is matched only by his taste for rambling, incoherent soliloquies. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_9dd2cbc2 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_a1d48853 | type |
Stupid Crooks | |
Killing Them Softly / int_a1d48853 | comment |
Stupid Crooks: The robbers who kick off the plot. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_a1d48853 | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_a1d48853 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ad1db87c | type |
Oh, Crap! | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ad1db87c | comment |
Oh, Crap!: Trattman's expression after Jackie pulls up next to his car, gun drawn. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_ad786c6b | type |
Hookers and Blow | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ad786c6b | comment |
Hookers and Blow: What Mickey would rather do than prepare for his hit (albeit with booze instead of blow). | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_add14bc2 | type |
Orcus on His Throne | |
Killing Them Softly / int_add14bc2 | comment |
Orcus on His Throne: Mickey. Unusually, however, it's not a plot hole; it's a very deliberate illustration of just how far organized crime has fallen. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_b58b4e3c | type |
Too Dumb to Live | |
Killing Them Softly / int_b58b4e3c | comment |
Too Dumb to Live: The two dimwits hired to rob the poker game. Especially Russell, who makes his accomplice look like Meyer Lansky. Ironically, Russell is the only surviving participant in the heist by the end of the film, in this case getting arrested for drug trafficking through his own stupidity. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_b58b4e3c | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_b58b4e3c | |
Killing Them Softly / int_b7475a74 | type |
Bothering by the Book | |
Killing Them Softly / int_b7475a74 | comment |
Bothering by the Book: Mickey explains to Jackie that before coming to Boston, he killed someone from the wrong jurisdiction and, per the family's rules, he's only "allowed" to take on one of Jackie's two planned killings. Of course, Mickey isn't actually trying to be subversive; he's just lazy. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_b9af5ef3 | type |
The Film of the Book | |
Killing Them Softly / int_b9af5ef3 | comment |
The Film of the Book: Based on George V. Higgins' 1974 novel Cogan's Trade. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_b9af5ef3 | |
Killing Them Softly / int_bffb777a | type |
Sawed-Off Shotgun | |
Killing Them Softly / int_bffb777a | comment |
Sawed-Off Shotgun: Exaggerated, Frankie's DBS had its barrels sawed down to the point that they're shorter than the shells it's loaded with◊. He compares using it to a hand grenade going off. | |
Killing Them Softly / int_bffb777a | featureApplicability |
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Killing Them Softly / int_c3585f4a | type |
Boom, Headshot! | |
Killing Them Softly / int_c3585f4a | comment |
Boom, Headshot!: Done a few times and shown in full, gory detail. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_c3585f4a | |
Killing Them Softly / int_c601fc37 | type |
Professional Killer | |
Killing Them Softly / int_c601fc37 | comment |
Professional Killer: Jackie, Dillon, and Mickey; though one might be hard-pressed to actually describe Mickey as "professional". | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_c8ce7b2d | type |
Smash to Black | |
Killing Them Softly / int_c8ce7b2d | comment |
Smash to Black: The film ends with Jackie demanding that Driver pay him his full fee, rather than a discounted total for three rub-outs. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_c8ce7b2d | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ca87e3ec | type |
No Name Given | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ca87e3ec | comment |
No Name Given: Driver, Jackie's liason with the local mob. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_ca87e3ec | |
Killing Them Softly / int_de70f5a4 | type |
Continuity Cameo | |
Killing Them Softly / int_de70f5a4 | comment |
Continuity Cameo: Sam Shepard's character Dillon, played a much larger role in George V. Higgins' first novel, The Friends of Eddie Coyle, and was played in that book's film adaptation by Peter Boyle. | |
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Killing Them Softly / int_ecc8b108 | type |
Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster! | |
Killing Them Softly / int_ecc8b108 | comment |
Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: Averted Trope. The film goes out of its way to show that gangsters, once the embodiment of free living, are now just businessmen, complete with budget restrictions and public relations. Hitmen are not mythic badasses and it's clear that the mob has fallen very far from the days when they reigned supreme. | |
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Killing Them Softly |
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