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A doomed female hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman) pulls Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit." The film withstood scrutiny from the Kefauver Commission (who investigated the mafia), which called it a film designed to ruin young viewers, leading director Aldrich to protest the Commission's conclusions. Today, the film is preserved by the Library of Congress. We can see who won in the long run.
"Kiss Me Deadly" remains one of the great time capsules of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills; the Bunker Hill locations were all destroyed when the downtown neighborhood was razed in the late 1960s.
Homage is paid to the glowing suitcase MacGuffin in the 1984 cult film "Repo Man", the film "Ronin", and in Tarantino's film "Pulp Fiction". The "shiny blue suitcase" is referenced with other famous MacGuffins in "Guardians of the Galaxy". In the film "Southland Tales", Richard Kelly pays homage to the film, showing the main characters watching the beginning on their television and later the opening of the case is shown on screens on board the mega-Zeppelin.
This is, indeed, the greatest of all private eye stories and film noir. With all due respect to such greats as "Asphalt Jungle", this is the real deal.
score 9/10
gavin6942 2 September 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3309664/ |
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4-3-2021 12:07:08