On K List of Movie Reviews
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Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
9/13, 7/18
9/13:
After a slow start, Kiss Me Deadly picks up the pace and gets the ball rolling as soon as Mike Hammer delves deeper
into the mystery of the girl's disappearance.
It gets more and more interesting as time goes on until the final ending which is unexpected. Many noir
pictures fall apart because of a weakness in either acting, plot, or pace. But Kiss Me Deadly has this locked in.
There's a slow gradual buildup to something sinister. Tough characters appear one by one throughout. It's gritty on the
noir level because quite simply, people die. Furthermore, they're pushed over for selfish aims and are
mercilessly killed.
Well known for The Dirty Dozen, Robert Aldrich's direction is perfect and makes the
plot interesting to follow. Ralph Meeker will always be remembered as Mike Hammer who gets involved with the case when he shouldn't
have because there's no money involved. He almost reminds me of Jake Gittes from Chinatown.
Some critics viewed the ending as a letdown. On the contrary, I think it's fitting because the expectation of how
the movie was going to end was so great that the reason had to be big enough to match it. Incidentally, the mysterious
box is probably where Pulp Fiction got the idea from.
All in all, Kiss Me Deadly is among the greatest films noirs made.
7/18:
Kiss Me Deadly is one of the top films noirs made, signaling the end of a time-honored genre that dates
back to the early 40's.
Sure, the picture moves slowly, and then, things get cooking in the last twenty minutes, making the wait well
worth it. Los Angeles has been long considered as film noir haven, and the movie makes an extensive use of its
locations which are now gone forever.
Countless viewers expect a mystery to be solved through wham-bam magic that comes out of nowhere, but that's not how it works
in real life. What Mike Hammer did is flip over rocks, see what comes up, and do a follow-up.
It took a while, but the more bad things were happening, the closer he got to the core of the mystery.
The conclusion is unexpected, turning the picture into a sci-fi film noir. Now, I can see where Quentin Tarantino
got the idea from for the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Ralph Meeker is perfect as Mike Hammer;
he'll always be remembered for this. An interesting footnote: the actress who appears at the beginning of the film is
Cloris Leachman. It's her first film. She went on to win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for
The Last Picture Show.
All in all, Kiss Me Deadly belongs in the top ten of greatest films noirs.