The Killing (1956) is the first feature length film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel Clean Break by Lionel White. The film noir depicts the efforts of Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) and an assembled team to rob a racetrack.The use of non-linear chronology and multiple points of view influenced many later filmmakers, such as Quentin Tarantino. When studio executives first saw the completed film, they stated that the film made no sense and no audience would sit through the non-linear story.