Kiss Me Deadly
A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious “great whatsit.”
- Director: Robert Aldrich
- Genre:Crime / Film-Noir / Thriller
- Runtime:102 minutes
Cast
Ralph Meeker : Mike Hammer
Albert Dekker : Dr. G.E. Soberin
Paul Stewart : Carl Evello
Juano Hernandez : Eddie Yeager
Wesley Addy : Lt. Pat Murphy
Ralph Meeker plays Mike Hammer, a tough Los Angeles private eye who is almost as brutal and corrupt as the crooks he chases. One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina (Cloris Leachman), an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from a nearby mental institution. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer regains consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer decides to pursue the case, both for vengeance and in hopes that “something big” is behind it all.
The twisting plot takes Hammer to the apartment of Lily Carver (Gaby Rodgers), a sexy, waif-like blond who is posing as Christina’s ex-room mate. Lily tells Hammer she has gone into hiding and asks Hammer to protect her. It turns out that she is after a mysterious box that, she believes, has contents worth a fortune.
“The great whatsit” (as Hammer’s assistant Velda (Maxine Cooper) calls it) at the center of Hammer’s quest is a small, mysterious valise that is hot to the touch and contains a dangerous, shining substance. It comes to represent the 1950s Cold War fear and nuclear paranoia about the atomic bomb that permeated American culture.
Later, at an isolated beach house, Hammer finds Lily with her evil boss, Dr. Soberin. Velda is their hostage, tied up in a bedroom. Soberin and Lily are vying for the contents of the box. Lily shoots Soberin, believing that she can keep the mysterious contents for herself. As she slyly opens the case, it is ultimately revealed to be stolen radionuclide material, which in the final scene apparently reaches explosive criticality when the box (“Pandora’s Box”) is fully opened. Horrifying sounds are emitted from the nuclear material as Lily bursts into flames. Read more
