Kiss Me Deadly
Genre: suspense (in black and white)
With: Ralph
Meeker (Mike Hammer), Maxine Cooper (Velda Wickman), Wesley Addy (Lt. Pat
Murphy), Paul Stewart (Carl Evello), Juano Hernandez (Eddie Yeager), Marian Carr
(Friday), Albert Dekker (Soberin), Fortunio Bonanova (Carmen Trivago), Cloris
Leachman (Christina Bailey), Gaby Rodgers (Lily)
Director: Robert
Aldrich
Screenplay: A.I.
Bezzerides (from a novel by Mickey Spillane)
Release: 1955
Studio: Parklane
Pictures
Rating: NR
MBiS score: 8.6/10
‟Kiss me. The
liar's kiss that says I love you, and means something else.”
QuickView
Story-line: when detective Mike Hammer picks up a barefooted blonde one night in the middle of nowhere, he senses that something’s up. Even more so when she tells him she’s ‟a loony from the laughing house. Loonies are dangerous.”
Pluses: tone-perfect
acting by Ralph Meeker and an utterly believable cast, fluid direction, a
complicated and absorbing screenplay saturated with sinister-looking characters,
sardonic dialogues and surprisingly heavy drama, an effective musical score, amazing
costumes and sets (dig that telephone answering machine!), pretty (and
sometimes slanted) cinematography, skilful editing and fine production values.
Minuses:
none really… except that nobody’s legit in this stunning movie.
Comments: this
gem of a film noir is mysterious, entertaining and ultimately very powerful.
Like Hammer himself, you won’t figure things out until you’re in deep, deep
trouble. With its tense and tragic tale that delivers a knockout ending, KISS ME DEADLY doesn’t disappoint…
and you’ll have to trust me on that.
MBiS
© 2020 – All rights reserved