1955 / 106 mins. / b/w
Dir. Robert Aldrich / Scr. A. I. Bezzerides / Cine. Ernest Laszlo
Cast: Albert Dekker, Ralph Meeker, Paul Stewart
DCP courtesy Park Circus
Introduced by Richard Peña, Columbia University School of the Arts
Eight motion pictures have been made from books by hardboiled crime novelist Mickey Spillane, but only one is a masterpiece. Rather than a standard detective flick, director Robert Aldrich and screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides weave an ultra-noir nightmare that sometimes edges into David Lynch territory, decades before Lynch went there – especially in the film’s apocalyptic and distinctly un-Hollywood ending. Aldrich refuses to idealize Spillane’s brutal detective hero, Mike Hammer; instead, he casts Ralph Meeker as a thuggish Hammer who is no more likable than the bad guys. With its unhinged violence, Atomic Age paranoia, and frenzied nihilism, Aldrich’s phantasmagoria is a skeleton key that unlocks the entire Eisenhower era of dutiful conformity. 1950s America saw itself as Rock Hudson, but Kiss Me Deadly suggests that it looked a lot more like Ralph Meeker.
– Jack Lechner
About Richard Peña Selects
On the eve of his retirement, Professor Richard Peña has selected six films of particular importance to him and his career, ranging from classic Hollywood noir (Kiss Me Deadly) to one of the last Chinese films made before the Cultural Revolution (Two Stage Sisters) to screen in this three day festival.