Kiss Me Deadly
(1955)
Directed by- Robert Aldrich
*Ralph Meeker, Maxine Cooper, Gaby Rodgers, Nick Dennis, Cloris Leachman
A sleepy film noir that takes the turn of a sci-fi espionage film by the end as it reaches maximum mystery and a chilling end!
Mike Hammer is a shady private eye who pimps his secretary for blackmailing wealthy and adulterous husbands.
One night while driving along the highway as he gives a lift to a mysterious girl he ends up getting caught in a web of unresolved answers and two-faced players.
Trying to find the killers of the mystery girl, he ends up losing his friends on this insane vendetta and much more.
But as the smoke clears and revelations are made Hammer looks in the face of a plot far more greater and sinister than he had ever imagined.
The film builds up slowly, never giving away what its really about as you hang on to loose ends while character after character are introduced and the protagonist gropes helplessly in the dark, but scriptwriter A. I. Bezzerides does a fantastic job with tying up those ends in a perfect knot which has the thrills and the chills.
The direction is also very good, some of the shots are clearly distinctive of a noir and go along with the detective-in-pursuit motif splendidly.
Meanwhile Meeker fills in the tough guy role effortlessly. He knows how to grin mercilessly as he tortures his victims and to clench his jaw when in a fix.
This film however has two femme fatales as opposed to the one. Maxine Cooper's slutty secretary Velda who traps rich husbands for her boss, however, pales in comparison to the diabolical vixen Gabrielle, played superbly by Gaby Rodgers. Her heel in the end is one of the most chilling femme fatale moments of film noir.
Overall the film which starts off as a cheesy, whodunit (and remains so until almost halfway through) boils down to a gritty nihilistic take on themes never before explored in this dark genre.
One of the pathbreaking films of Noir.
Rating- 3.7/5
Heavily recommended. You will be surprised.
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