Kiss Me Deadly, based on one of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer novels, is classic noir. It's brutal, somewhat surreal, and visually stimulating. Director Robert Aldrich knew how to use a camera angle or tiles to make an image stranger and more lingering.
Mike Hammer, as played by Ralph Meeker, is good looking, friends with black people (notable for the time), and always willing to banter with a beautiful woman. But he's also a sadist, incredibly stupid, and trades on his mistress's body for information and money.
The film begins when Christina Bailey (Cloris Leachman, billed as her first role) runs in front of Hammer's car wearing nothing but a trench coat. He quickly discovers that she's escaped from an insane asylum, but doesn't manage to get her to the bus stop as she wanted before they're ambushed and she's tortured to death. It's an opening that perfectly encapsulates the movie. The credits scroll backwards, a real visual trick. They're accompanied by Leachman's panting, brought on by desperation, fear, exertion - violence - but it sounds sexual. And the violence is offscreen - the only thing we see of Christina during the torture is her legs - but still intense.
Kiss Me Deadly is a great film. The plot is strange and sometimes incoherent, but that doesn't dampen the power of the whole. (Particularly because the movie doesn't really linger over scenes - it's quite fast paced.) I'm quite fond of the film's femme fatale. I won't give away which woman it is, but it's a great performance. Strange, but that fits
Kiss Me Deadly.
It's also fun to watch
Kiss Me Deadly because of its influence on film. I loved spotting familiar elements in their original incarnation. Two more modern movies that obviously pay homage to it are
Repo Man and
Pulp Fiction, both of which I love.
I double-billed
Kiss Me Deadly with
Brick, Rian Johnson's high school detective movie that wore its noir influence on its sleeve. Made for a fun night, but my double bill recommendation would be pairing
Kiss Me Deadly with
Repo Man.
I took a film noir class last semester and we watched Kiss Me Deadly AND Brick. I'm having trouble remembering a lot of Kiss Me Deadly, sad to say, but I do remember the very intersting credit sequence in the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI also really loved Brick. It's one of those movies I wanted to watch again after we discussed it in class. I'm also hoping to see Looper soon too, since it's Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rian Johnson again.
-Lauren
Sounds like a fun class! Film noir is the best! But sadly, when you watch a bunch of movies in the same style closely together, they can blur together.
DeleteBrick is amazing - it's one of those movies that gets richer the more you see it. And I want to go see Looper too! (If we lived close we could do it together. *sigh*)
I have never even HEARD of this one and and and... I'm kind of ashamed to call myself a film fan O__o
ReplyDeleteThis... sounds amazing. I'm going to see if I can find it on DVD in AU. Amazing review! :O
It's not like there aren't a ton of films in existence. There are plenty of great ones I've never heard of. (I'd name 'em, except I haven't heard of them.)
DeleteI hope you can find a copy!
Hehehehe! Oh goodness. Seriously though, it's older film. I've seen SO little.
DeleteMy secret (no longer) shame: I've never seen Casablanca.
*looks around*
Delete*whispers*
I fell asleep during Casablanca. Still never seen the whole movie.
*whispers*
DeleteI promise I'll tell no-one.
A couple of nights ago I fell asleep in Batman. I am talking the one, the only, TIM BURTON'S BATMAN O__O
In my defence, it was midnight. And I DO love that movie.
Oh man, Tim Burton's Batman is one of my favorites. But sometimes a favorite movie just helps you drift off to sleep when you're tired.
DeleteWhat a great review! I am adding this to my list. And thanks for the double feature recommendations.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteI love sitting down and watching a couple of movies with friends. Finding two that works together is so much fun.
What are the odds I would read about this movie 2x in one day? Check this out - Warner just bought the rights to a bunch of Spillane books. http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/spillanes-hammer-to-warner-bros-colbert-in-the-hobbit-and-gasp-a-girl-in-transformers-4/?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly%27s+PW+Daily&utm_campaign=72b5d446c0-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email
ReplyDeleteHow odd! I wouldn't think it's a movie you'd come across often. I guess that's how the world works.
Delete