Kiss Me Deadly starts out better than virtually any movie made in the 1950's--- Cloris Leachman is running down a deserted street barefoot in a trench coat and nearly creamed by Mike Hammer in his Jaguar. Then the film descends into a series of hits and misses--- the raw noir look is the glue that holds an increasingly audaciously convoluted plot together. Spillane's plot is on par with the worst Ramond Chandler film adaptation, so all you can do is watch it with your brain disengaged. That said, it has several nice touches: I love Hammer's ability to slide into some of the most awesome cars available in 1955 (the wrecked--ouch!-- Jag is swapped out for a ultra-cool black Corvette). The under-rated Ralph Meeker (examine his range in Paths of Glory; the guy could act) just might be the prototypical Mike Hammer... bitch slapping virtually anyone at the slightest provocation. Watch Hammer's face: this guy enjoys violence. He also takes an unbelievable amount of abuse in the course of the movie, getting beat up, shot and irradiated (!). Kiss Me Deadly ultimately falls apart from the crazy plot but earns points for it's sheer outrageousness. Watch it for how wild 1950's film noir can get, logical or not.
Review of Kiss Me Deadly
