Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

Mickey Spillane (novel)
A.I. Bezzerides (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 May 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

"I don't care what you do to me, Mike - just do it fast!"

Plot:

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit."

Plot Keywords:

Mike Hammer | Mechanic | Hitchhiker | Hospital | Cliff

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Ralph Meeker	...	Mike Hammer
Albert Dekker	...	Dr. G.E. Soberin
Paul Stewart	...	Carl Evello
Juano Hernandez	...	Eddie Yeager
Wesley Addy	...	Lt. Pat Murphy
Marian Carr	...	Friday (as Marion Carr)
Marjorie Bennett	...	Manager
Mort Marshall	...	Ray Diker
Fortunio Bonanova	...	Carmen Trivago
Strother Martin	...	Harvey Wallace
Mady Comfort	...	Nightclub Singer (as Madi Comfort)
James McCallion	...	Horace
Robert Cornthwaite	...	FBI Agent
Silvio Minciotti	...	Mover
Nick Dennis	...	Nick
Ben Morris	...	Radio Announcer
Jack Elam	...	Charlie Max
Paul Richards	...	Attacker
Jesslyn Fax	...	Horace's Wife
James Seay	...	FBI Agent
Percy Helton	...	Doc Kennedy
Leigh Snowden	...	Cheesecake
Jack Lambert	...	Sugar Smallhouse
Jerry Zinneman	...	Sammy
Maxine Cooper	...	Velda Wickman
Cloris Leachman	...	Christina Bailey
Gaby Rodgers	...	Carver
Sam Balter	...	Radio Announcer (voice)
Joe Hernandez	...	Radio Announcer (voice)
Kitty White	...	Vocalist in Club
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nat 'King' Cole	...	Singer (voice)
Eddie Beal	...	Sideman (uncredited)
Leonard Bremen	...	Man in Parked Car (uncredited)
Yvonne Doughty	...	Receptionist (uncredited)
John George	...	Popcorn Vendor (uncredited)
Art Loggins	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Mara McAfee	...	Nurse (uncredited)
Leonard Mudie	...	Athletic Club Clerk (uncredited)
Bing Russell	...	Police Detective (uncredited)
Robert Sherman	...	Gas Station Man (uncredited)

Directed by
Robert Aldrich

Writing credits
Mickey Spillane		(novel "Kiss Me, Deadly")
A.I. Bezzerides		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Aldrich	....	producer
Victor Saville	....	executive producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Frank De Vol		(as Frank Devol)

Cinematography by
Ernest Laszlo		(photographed by)

Film Editing by
Michael Luciano

Art Direction by
William Glasgow

Set Decoration by
Howard Bristol

Makeup Department
Robert J. Schiffer	....	makeup artist (as Bob Schiffer)

Production Management
Jack R. Berne	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert H. Justman	....	assistant director (as Robert Justman)
Mark Sandrich Jr.	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Nate D. Slott	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jack Solomon	....	sound

Casting Department
Jack Murton	....	casting supervisor

Music Department
Frank De Vol	....	conductor (as Frank Devol)
Albert Harris	....	orchestrator

Other crew
Victor Saville	....	presenter
Robert Sherman	....	assistant to producer
Helen Gailey	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Parklane Pictures Inc.

Distributors

• United Artists (1955) (USA) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Company (1955) (Japan) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1956) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (new 35mm print)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (VHS) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2001) (USA) (VHS) (widescreen)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (VHS)
• Kinokuniya (2005) (Japan) (DVD)
• Park Circus (2006) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (2011) (USA) (DVD)
• Barcino Barcino Films S.A. (19??) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Nova Film (195?) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1955) (France) (theatrical) (as Les Artistes Associés )
• Cinema Classics (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Continental Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)

Special Effects

• Complete Film Service (photographic effects)

Other Companies

• Complete Film Service  title
• Glen Glenn Sound Company  recording (as Glen Glenn Sound Co.)

Also Known As:

"Mickey Spillane's Kiss Me Deadly" - USA (alternative title)

Runtime:

106 min | USA:104 min (original version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:(Banned) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) | Germany:18 (DVD rating) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated | UK:A (original rating) | UK:12 (DVD rating) | West Germany:18 (nf) | Netherlands:18 (re-rating) (1955) (original rating: banned) (1955)

Filming Locations:

601 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Parklane Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

Theatrical film debut for Maxine Cooper.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hammer is talking to Evello in Evello's mansion, the telephone receiver in the background switches position between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mike Hammer:You almost wrecked my car! Well? Get in!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Maltin on Movies: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (#1.42)" (2011)

Soundtrack:

Symphony No. 8: Unfinished

Noir for a Nuclear Age

Sleazy, tawdry B-noir doesn't get any sleazier or tawdrier than Robert Aldrich's jazzy and astonishingly entertaining "Kiss Me Deadly." This film was released late in the life cycle of the film noir genre. By 1958 and Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil," true noir would be just about washed up. Any noir film from that point forward would be self-consciously aware that it was tipping its hat to an established genre. But "Deadly" came out when films still didn't have to work at being noirish---they just WERE, and dazzlingly so.

Born-to-play-a-bully Ralph Meeker plays tough-guy detective Mike Hammer, who's in the wrong place at the wrong time and picks up a mysterious panic-stricken girl (Cloris Leachman), who's just escaped from an asylum. From that moment forward, he finds himself tangled up in a barely lucid plot, in which a bunch of baddies want to get their hands on something the girl either had or knew about. Hammer doesn't know what it is, but he knows that if so many people want it, it's something he probably wants too, and the race for the great "whatsit" is on.

If you wanted to teach a film class about the look and attitude of a film noir, you couldn't pick a better film than this one. I found myself on a recent viewing of this film pausing my DVD player and studying the frame (because, sadly, this is what I do in my spare time), rehearsing in my mind what I would tell a class about any particular composition. And aside from the style, the film is steeped in noir sentiment--it's not simply cynical, like the glossier studio noirs of the 40's; it's downright apocryphal. It's not simply one man undone by the vengeful forces of fate here, but an entire civilization on the brink of extinction.

So pop this in and have a great time with it--feel free to quote it liberally, as there are plenty of juicy lines worth quoting. But as you watch it, you might want to stay away from the windows, for as Mike Hammer's hot-to-trot sometime girlfriend, sometime secretary Velda says, someone may "blow you a kiss."

Grade: A+