David O'ConnellKiss Me Deadly
November 30th 2010 04:50
Robert Aldrich was a magnificent Hollywood director of the old school, prolific and efficient, with a meaty body of work containing names like The Dirty Dozen (1967) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) that have retained their esteemed status over the years. A pair of superior 60’s melodramas are personal favourites of mine: Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Betty Davis and Joan Crawford going at it hammer and tong both on and off-screen, and the equally sensational Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), a ripe Southern Gothic mystery pulled off with exquisite, spellbinding dexterity.
But even before the arrival of these masterpieces, Aldrich was responsible for one of the more influential examples of film noir via his virtually flawless adaptation of Mickey Spillane’s novel Kiss Me Deadly (1955), featuring Ralph Meeker as iconic private eye Mike Hammer. In the opening scene, Hammer almost drives off the road to avoid hitting a distressed, barefoot woman in a trenchcoat, Christina (Cloris Leachman in her first screen appearance). Curious about her incongruous appearance on the roadway in the dead of night he goes along with her desperate charade upon arrival at a police stop where he’s quizzed about an escapee from a nearby mental facility who is quite clearly the disheveled Christina. Soon after their car is driven off the road, leaving Christina dead and Hammer in a bad way.
After release from his hospital bed a few days later, Hammer is determined to delve into the past of the mysterious Christina to uncover a reason for a murder that should have rightfully claimed his own life as well. His interactions with a series of strange, troubled characters, including the expected quotient of clingy damsels-in-various-states-of- distress, some in fear of their life, some still determined to end Hammer’s, continually putting him in harm’s way. Yet inexorably this tough-as-nails P.I. inches his way - often through brute force - to a solution that he’ll never fully comprehend.
Meeker is the perfect embodiment of Hammer; with a voice one might attribute to a soused-up Ed Harris, he's suave enough to draw the beauties like bees to honey whilst suitably mean and flinty when the prospect of a scrap arrives. The smirk on his face as he bowls a would-be killer down a flight of stairs or jams a money-hungry coroner’s fingers in a drawer for the key they cling to is golden. Combining the directorial artistry of Aldrich and his talented cinematographer Ernest Laszlo with Aldrich's regular composer Frank De Vol who adds the final touches, you’d have thought these guys had been churning out noir all their lives. From the opening credits in reverse to the sufficiently moody lighting to the continually fascinating choice of low angles, the hypnotic mood is sustained through every hardboiled twist of A.I. Bezzerides' serpentine adaptation.
Every thread of the mystery, with its clues foreshadowed in the poetry of Christina Rossetti to a voice steeped in eerily cultured and evasive tones that teases Hammer from his answering machine, masks danger. Between the lines tantalising clues are left to unravel the true meaning of the ill-fated Christina’s last written words, “Remember Me.” And yet ultimately it all boils down to the injection of something truly unique in worlds of noirish divisions: a science-fiction element that seems to have seeped in from monster movies of the era. A mysterious black box is what everyone is chasing, but what exactly is inside it? Hammer is offered a frightening clue: "Manhattan Project, Los Alamos, Trinity."
Kiss Me Deadly is a true marvel, a film that feels as fresh and vibrant today as it must have over half a century ago. Even without the hypnotic sci-fi undercurrent that carries it down into a vortex of conflicting interests, the film can be appreciated for the seismic influence it exerted on a raft of urban crime films to follow, set far and abroad, from every American metropolis to Godard’s France.
Meeker does Hammer time
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Comment by Matt Shea
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Alderich is in the upper realms of Directorial accomplishments for me too. Never seems to be bought up as often as he should.
From my own review of Kiss Me Deadly:
"Defining cinematic cool, every line is a keeper. The cinematography and music combine to create a threatening atmosphere that is palpable. The tight script has more turns than that street in San Francisco and unfolds into one hell of a satisfying yarn."
Along with reviewing Kiss Me Deadly, you may be interested in my spotlights on Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte and Whatever happened to Baby Jane
Comment by David O'Connell
20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic
Thanks JD! Just before I posted this I checked your site, suspecting you would have covered this at some stage. You rarely let us down mate, and we are definitely on the same page with Aldrich. This now rounds out my top trio of favourites alongside the amazing Charlotte and Baby Jane.