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Kiss Me Deadly on DVD (1955)

Kiss Me Deadly cover art
Average rating: 71%
11144161520512
3.0
from 401 members
 
Starring: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, Marion Carr
Director: Robert Aldrich
Studio: MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 101 mins
Certificate: 12
User collections: Mixed Moods, Great Film Noirs to see while you can still handle a remote..., 25 Movies You Must See!!!, Cinema Fatale, My all-time favourites
Genres: Thriller
Languages: English
Released: 04/08/2003

Brief synopsis of Kiss Me Deadly

Hard-hitting detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) takes on thugs and atomic secrets in Robert Aldrich's fast-paced thriller KISS ME DEADLY, an adaptation of the Mickey Spillane novel. The night goes awry for Hammer soon after he picks up a scantily clad hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman). The next thing he knows, he's assaulted by a couple of goons and the sultry drifter turns up dead. As Hammer tracks down the murderers, he realises he is involved in an international conspiracy--one that could cost him his life. Generally considered to be the best of the many films centring on Spillane's classic protagonist and lauded as a primary inspiration and building block for the French Nouvelle Vague, KISS ME DEADLY boasts nightmarish imagery, a careening, sinuous plot, and an unforgettable shock ending.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 5 stars out of 5 Radio Times

One of the greatest examples of film noir, this early feature by Dirty Dozen director Robert Aldrich made him a name in arty circles (the critics of the French magazine Cahiers du Cinema loved him and the film) and a formidable presence in cinema. He took a piece of Mickey Spillane “pulp” fiction and turned it into an astonishing fable, with Pandora's Box transformed into a nuclear furnace. The look is off-the-wall stylish and the tension builds to a climax that is near-apocalyptic. Everything is on the side of the unexpected from the opening credits to the fact that Spillane's detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) is a flawed antihero who, after picking up a girl on the run, finds himself in over his head in events beyond his control. Albert Dekker is a classily obnoxious villain, but it's the women you have to watch. As the title suggests, their embrace is lethal.

Rating of 3 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Exuberant and harsh thriller set in an unlovely world and shot with brutal close-ups and unusual camera angles that create a disquieting effect. It is as unremittingly tough as its thuggish hero.

Time Out

A key film from the '50s, a savage critique of Cold War paranoia bounded by two haunting sound effects: at the... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 2 starsMEANINGLESS

A customer from England , 25/08/2004

Don't get me wrong, I love a good film noir as much as the next man - this just didn't do the business for me. The film centres on a typical male for film noir, hard-edged and tough, who finds a girl screaming on a motorway road and nearly runs her over. She says she wants a lift to the nearest bus stop, however, before they get to the bus stop they are ambushed, drugged, placed into a car and pushed off a cliff. Of course, the male who's name is Hammer survives and he tries to unravel the mystery of the girls death. Soon people begin dropping like flies, including his friends and unknown men with unknown motives are after him. This is fine of course, the suspense is good and Hammer slaps a few people around very nicely, but where is it all leading to? And surely a film should be judged by the ending, what was the secret the girl new about that meant she had to be killed? What did she have in her possession? The answer to this is a Macguffin eg something in a box that is never known but is used to propel the story forward. For me this is a weak way out, there is no clever twist or anything of the sort. I was disappointed, try In A Lonely Place or Double Indemnity for proper noir.

  4 out of 6 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsHits The Ground Running

simexdude from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 06/11/2006

I absolutely loved this movie. The style and pacing are breath-taking. The influences to Speilberg and Tarantino, amongst others, is plain to see. It pulls no punches (or slaps) with a hero whose does not shy away from, and seems to enjoy, torturing info out of people. There's so many great things in this movie, it would be impossible to list them all. But I should mention the coolest answerphone you'll ever see - where do I get one?

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsSmooth, Sexy & Adorably Bad

SerieuxMortel SerieuxMortel from The North [Highly rated reviewer] , 12/02/2008

This will appeal to the 12yr old boy that is the essence of all film-noir lovers. Implausable, explosive comic book action in haute-noir stlye but without anything really to say about life or the genre.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsOne of the classic crime thrillers

A customer from Sheffield , 22/07/2004

This film as been remade a couple of times but the 1955 original still looks good and stands up well. Worth watching if you like a good crime thriller.

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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 3 starsAs nutty as it is hard

RJNeb2 [Highly rated reviewer] , 12/09/2005

Hard-boiled doesn't even begin to describe Aldrich's take on Spillane's hard-nosed private eye Mike Hammer but as with all Aldrich movies, it's as sloppy as it is enthusiastic. Much of its enthusiasm is saved for slapping round broads and for dimestore dialogue but it does boast some big moments that have made it the disputed classic it is regarded as today, notably Leachman's opening on a nighttime highway in a trenchcoat, and the weird (and frankly nutty) Repo Man/ Pulp Fiction ending.

  0 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 3 starsOne of the classic crime thrillers

A customer from Sheffield , 22/07/2004

This film as been remade a couple of times but the 1955 original still looks good and stands up well. Worth watching if you like a good crime thriller.

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