Kiss Me Deadly
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Movie Reviews of Kiss Me Deadly
Movie Review: Cautionary Tale/Sci-Fi flick Wrapped up in Film Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
This intense story starts off fast and continues at a breakneck pace until its "didn't-see-that-coming" conclusion. The ending is very atypical of the film noir genre (hence the title of my review), but everything leading up to it is noir at its finest. Ralph Meeker's portrayal of Mike Hammer is nothing short of sensational. He's the kind of guy you love to hate for how he conducts his business, but secretly wish you were half as cool. Some have noted his character as "bumbling", but I found him to be quite the opposite; he was able to handle just about any situation with either brute force or sly cleverness (ok, maybe he didn't do some follow-up work on Christina Bailey's roomate Lily Carver, which cost him, but I think we can overlook that). He's at his best when he's smacking someone around, which he does throughout. You couldn't have asked for a better performance.I thought the development of the secondary characters was done quite well, e.g. even though Nick the mechanic didn't have much screen time, how bad did you feel for him when he met with his fate? And Doc Kennedy who performed Christina Bailey's autopsy. You could tell after 30 seconds that this guy was scum. I also enjoyed the two brutes Sugar and Charlie Max. Those guys had some of the best facial expressions ever filmed.
All this aside, my favorite aspect of the film was the cinematography. Filmed in glorious black & white so rich you'd think you were watching it unfold live in front of you. Also included are some of the best camera angles from the genre. One scene that sticks out is when Hammer tells Carver to meet him outside once she hears him honk the horn. They show Hammer running down the stairs from the vantage point of the top of the stairs. When Carver makes the same trip down they lensed it from the bottom. Really made an impact with me.
You should enjoy this movie if you have any interest in either noir or older b&w movies.
Movie Review: "Va-va-voom!" straight to the Apocalypse
Summary: 5 Stars
Some 50+ years later, this blistering film noir remains wonderfully subversive & disturbingly prescient. Its unflinchingly bleak & sardonic vision of an ostensibly civilized world sliding headfirst into gleeful barbarism rings even more true today, when anti-intellectualism & brute force are celebrated in public & political life. No wonder discerning French critics lauded it!
Ralph Meeker is perfect as Mike Hammer, the best excuse for a hero his world can muster -- a misogynistic, self-serving thug who relishes any opportunity to intimidate & humiliate others, all in the name of a fast & sleazy buck. (Although he clearly enjoys beating up others even if there isn't any cash in sight.) Anyone with the slightest inclination towards culture & basic human decency is doomed in this world. Hammer has no use for ambiguity, complexity, or depth. "Force is all they understand" -- and all he wants to understand.
There's an inexorable ferocity & drive to this film, as unlucky bystanders drop like flies & Hammer draws closer to the conclusion of his case. But unlike the traditional hero, the deeper he goes into the mystery he's struggling to unravel, the worse he makes things. And in the end, as the deadly Maguffin winds up in the very creepy hands of the vacuous but vicious Lily, we see that the proudly ignorant will not only inherit the earth, they'll probably destroy it, too.
Mickey Spillane fans won't be happy with this film -- Spillane himself hated it -- but director Robert Aldrich has crafted a brilliant & savage parable for our times, one that seems all too accurate with each passing day. Highly recommended!
Movie Review: I had to think....
Summary: 5 Stars
Having seen the film several times now, I decided to venture into the novel on which it is based. Aside from a few name changes, the plot is essentially the same, though some details and sequences of events are altered. In the novel, the 'Mafia' is mentioned as the sinister force behind the abductions and murders that frame the plot, but in the film the 'M' word is never even mentioned! Also, in the novel, the setting is New York City, whereas in the film it is (conveniently for Hollywood) Los Angeles. Mike Hammer in the novel is a brusque, hard-hitting private dick who takes out his enemies with his bare hands. Several passages in which he bare-handedly dispatches the thugs trying to do him in are conspicuously absent from the film. In one episode he pulls the eyeballs out of his opponent's head! The film's version of Hammer is decidedly meeker, though tough enough and callous enough to carry the plot. Ralph Meeker plays Hammer not so much as a tough guy seeking justice, but rather as a hedonist who happens to be caught up in 'Something Big'. In the film, the solution to the riddle of the 'Whatsit' is more of an item of curiosity than of righteousness or vengeance. In the novel, too, the nature of the 'Whatsit' is revealed fairly early on, in contrast to the film, where the nature of the mysterious package is kept concealed until almost the end.
The changes in the film, though technically minor, affect the whole tone of the work. The novel is darker, with many more episodes taking place on rainy days, or at night, in dark alleys and bars.
Recommended.
Movie Review: ONE-OF-A-KIND-MOVIE.....
Summary: 5 Stars
Hands down one of the best detective thrillers there is. Ralph Meeker is the ideal Mike Hammer in this down and dirty crime film. Robert Aldrich directs this at a breathless pace and with ahead of it's time style. Cloris Leachman is featured in an early role at the beginning and you don't forget her for the rest of the film. Her death by torture and her screams haunt the film (and Hammer) and you want her death avenged as much as Hammer does. His secretary, Velda, is a toothy sex-pot with the hots for him so bad you can taste it. She'll literally do ANYTHING for him. Bad girl Lily is a real psycho babe and is willing to bring the world to an end out of greedy curiosity. Her comeuppance is a vivid highlight of the climax. Women like this just weren't on the screen at the time. Only in pulp novels. But Aldrich brings them deliciously to life as motivations for Hammer to plow his way through a truly wild murder mystery and search for a "great what's-it" in pure 50's pulp style. Two endings are available on DVD but I can't see that much difference---but maybe there is. This is slick, violent adult viewing all the way. WAY out there for the time. It's classy stylish trash if there is such a thing but undeniably entertaining and superbly made. Even if you aren't a Spillane fan, you'll enjoy this. It's a great one-of-a-kind movie.Movie Review: VA VA VOOM - PAOW !
Summary: 5 Stars
Robert Aldrich's KISS ME DEADLY is one of these movies I watch every two or three years with the same pleasure. When I discovered it for the first time long ago, Film Noir meant Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hawks, James Cagney or John Huston to me. So imagine the shock KISS ME DEADLY gave me. Everything was so innovative in this movie from the initial credits rolling backwards over Cloris Leachman running half-naked on the road and gasping in Mike Hammer's car with a quite erotic intensity. From the sadistic torture scene of Christina Bailey to the character of Maxine -Velda- Cooper who helps Mike Hammer to nail adultery husbands by seducing them. From the secondary characters so well written that it seems that they all have a tremendously important role in the story.
At last, the performance of Ralph -Mike Hammer- Meeker is so perfect that it's hard to imagine another actor in the role. I personally can't. And Nick Dennis, Mike Hammer's friend, whose onomatopeia are now part of Movie History. And, and...
OK ! check for yourselves if you still don't know this movie. Superb copy with various subtitles, the alternate ending and the original trailer.
A DVD zone your library.