Stars: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, Marion Carr

Director: Robert Aldrich

Summary: An adaptation of Mickey Spillane's gripping novel which sees Ralph Meeker in the role of private eye Mike Hammer on the case of a missing atomic device stolen by a spy.

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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A terrific film noirfull of skewed camera angles and mysterious whose-shoes-are-those shots, Kiss Me Deadlyis about as dark and exciting as noirgets. A young woman (Cloris Leachman) in bare feet and a trench coat throws herself into the traffic to flag down help and the car she stops belongs to detective Mike Hammer. Not even 15 minutes into the film and there's already been a murder, a mysterious letter, an attempt to kill Hammer and, of course, a warning to stay out of it. Hammer, tired of lowlife divorce cases, smells something big and can't let it go.

Mike Hammer is a detective so cool he can win a fight with nothing more than a box of popcorn as a weapon; he knows his opera singers as well as his amateur prize-fighters and he makes the ladies swoon--but he's far from a conventional hero. In fact, he's emphatically not a nice guy; Hammer happily whores out his secretary-girlfriend Velma to cinch up those divorce cases and has a penchant for slamming other people's fingers in drawers. Even the bad guys know he's a sleazebag ("What's it worth to you to turn your considerable talents back to the gutter you crawled out of?"). Ralph Meeker plays Hammer's ambivalence brilliantly, swinging easily between sexy and just plain mean. --Ali Davis

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer - 1. Original Theatrical Trailer
Year:	1955
Release Date:	August 4, 2003
Runtime:	101 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	16847 D V D
Keywords:	General, Deadly, Kiss, Me, Thriller
Genre:	Thriller