Kubrick knew what he was doing when he suppressed Fear & Desire. The film does nothing to enhance his reputation. But at least it's encouraging to aspiring filmmakers who don't hit it out of the ballpark on the their freshman efforts.

Kubrick didn't find his stride until The Killing – which he developed with crime noir master Jim Thompson. Thompson seems to have gotten screwed by Kubrick on screen-writing credit but Kubrick made up for it by giving what seems to have been a largely undeserved writing credit on the masterful Paths of Glory. The cynical detachment and trademark irony of Kubrick's later work seems to have begun with his collaboration with Jim Thompson, whose best novels include The Grifters, The Getaway, Pop.1280 and Nothing More than Murder