Noir Nights with Josh Fadem: The Killer is Loose
Directed by
Budd Boetticher
SHOWTIMES
Movies start 6-8 minutes after listed showtime
*Indicate showtimes with captions
Mon 7/13: 7:00p
GENRE
Film Noir, Crime, Drama
RATING
N/A
RUN TIME
1hr 13min
ABOUT THE EVENT
A Walk of Fame Tribute to Lucien Ballard
Noir Nights with Josh Fadem returns, and this one is special. We're screening The Killer Is Loose in honor of Lucien Ballard, the Oklahoma-born cinematographer whose work spanned over 150 films and who joins the 2026 Circle Cinema Walk of Fame. In addition to the screening of The Killer is Loose, there will be a screening of The Wild Bunch at 7:15pm on Monday, July 20th. We
About the Film
Mild-mannered bank teller Leon "Foggy" Poole looks like the last man in the world you'd fear. When robbers hit his bank, he plays the hero, but Detective Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotten) soon learns Poole was the inside man all along. The arrest goes wrong, Poole's wife is killed, and a quiet clerk walks into prison vowing revenge. Years later he escapes, and the detective's own wife (Rhonda Fleming) becomes his target.
Director Budd Boetticher made this taut little thriller right before his celebrated run of Randolph Scott westerns, and he made it with Lucien Ballard behind the camera, a man Boetticher called the best cinematographer there ever was. Ballard turns bright suburban streets and ordinary 1950s kitchens into something quietly menacing, finding dread in broad daylight. Wendell Corey is unforgettable as Poole, a killer who looks more normal than anyone around him. The same year, Ballard would go on to shoot Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
Circle Cinema Walk of Fame
This screening celebrates Lucien Ballard's induction into the Circle Cinema Walk of Fame. Located on the east sidewalk of Circle Cinema, the Walk of Fame honors Oklahomans who have made significant contributions to the film industry, with new and posthumous recipients honored each year during the Circle Cinema Film Festival, scheduled around our birthday on July 15th. This year we're proud to honor four Oklahomans: Olivia Jordan, Jeremy Charles, Ralph Blane, and Lucien Ballard.
The medallion ceremony is free and open to all. It begins with a reception at 6pm on Wednesday, July 15th, continues into Screen 1 for a short ceremony, and ends outside in the evening with the medallion reveal. For more information, visit circlecinema.org/filmfest.
