Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writers:

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

Release Date:

18 May 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir | Mystery | 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:

The Castle - 325 Bunker Hill Avenue, Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Parklane Pictures Inc.

Trivia:

The piano selection playing on the radio during one of the final scenes is Chopin's Revolutionary Etude, Opus 10, No. 12.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning, Christina (Cloris Leachman's character) is shown running at the side of the highway, but the shots of only her feet show her running along the painted center line of the highway.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Rules of Film Noir (2009) (TV)

Soundtrack:

M' apparì tutt' amor

One of the greatest detective thrillers ever made.

If The Maltese Falcon (1941) was the definitive true detective movie, The Big Sleep (1946) the definitive glamourized detective movie, and Chinatown (1974) the definitive allegorical detective movie, then Kiss Me Deadly is the definitive sleazy detective movie.

Mickey Spillane's sadistic private eye Mike Hammer, turned from successful private eye to sleazy bedroom dick, is the quintessential anti-hero, doing just about anything and everything wrong to get a piece of the pie that the characters call "The Big What's-it."

The movie survives by giving the usual Spillane buckets-of-blood story and its protagonist new dimensions. Right from the electric opening scene and the audacious opening credit sequence, the audience is drawn into Hammer's seedy world, where morality is suspended, and the credo of the end justifying the means dominates Hammer's actions. His reckless abandonment is almost never questionned and the film seems to understand his brutality as what he must do to get the job done in an equally brutal world.

Director Robert Aldrich observes all of it with an objective eye that neither glorifies nor condemns the action on-screen, letting the audience draw its own conclusions--even where the plot is concerned. The pace is unrelentless and the plot turns are never fully explained, forcing the audience to participate willingly in all that Hammer does to, hopefully, see the story through to its ending.

And what an ending! I'd de damned to a special place in Hell if I elaborated, so I'll just say that it's one of the greatest I've ever seen. That goes same for the movie itself, which is one of the most stylish, jarring and truly entertaining movies of its genre.