Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Name: Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
Duration: 1 h 46 min

1hr 46m

1hr 46m
4.0/5 (8.2K)
80%

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit". More Details »

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Videos & Photos

Three Reasons Criterion trailer (01:30)

Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Robert Aldrich

Writer:

Mickey Spillane, A.I. Bezzerides

Release Date:

Apr 23, 1955

Runtime:

1hr 46m

Synopsis

A doomed female hitchhiker pulls Mike Hammer into a deadly whirlpool of intrigue, revolving around a mysterious "great whatsit".

Cast

Ralph Meeker
Albert Dekker
Paul Stewart
Juano Hernandez
Wesley Addy
Marian Carr
Marjorie Bennett
Mort Marshall
Fortunio Bonanova
Strother Martin

Letterboxd User Reviews

4.0

RATINGS 236 FANS

4.0

Apr 21, 2022

A masterclass of aggressive framing. Every shot a new punch. Another statement of purpose: the movie doesn't move towards an apocalyptic ending, but it reinforces that its world is long gone and beyond saving. Aldrich don't offer any out, but he crafts a visual style that…

633 Likes

Filipe Furtado

Nov 30, 2021

Sleaze has never been poured so slickly into a suit and tie as in “Kiss Me Deadly.” Director Robert Aldrich heels ever met a genre he couldn’t exploit. He turned melodrama into hagsploitstion in “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,” and war epics into… Nazikillingsploitation…

399 Likes

theriverjordan

Jun 13, 2025

The last film noir, maybe, but so far ahead of its time. This thing rips. Better with repeated viewings. (Great LA movie too.)

261 Likes

carrieandtracy
Mar 11, 2017

The thug who asked too many questions.

251 Likes

Filipe Furtado

Nov 6, 2020

The "woman in trouble" metaphor beckons the apocalypse. A monument to film noir as an aesthetic and a foundation where strict rules are followed and leads are chased until the inevitable collapse of genre gives way to a nuclear anxiety that not only destroys the film, but…

223 Likes

Willow Maclay

Nov 24, 2020

In my opinion, every movie should just be about a hard nosed L.A. gumshoe trying to track down a mysterious box

215 Likes

nickusen
Aug 5, 2023

Action! - The Postwar Hollywood 3: Reworking Aldrich I remember the ending here being wild, but not THAT WILD. Jeez! Only the opening of the Ark in Riders gets close to beat it. I don't have much to add to what I said in my first review. I've come to love even more…

212 Likes

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine

Jun 23, 2017

DEADLY" "KISS ME It's all about the reaction shots here. They reveal Mike Hammer may be a rough PI but he doesn't have a heart of gold - he doesn't even have a heart. He leers, he snarls, he grins, and generally comes off as a sadistic misanthrope who somehow stumbled…

201 Likes

Joe

May 31, 2022

93/100 Fourth viewing, last seen 2009. (And before that 1996, so I've entered a cicada-esque 13-year cycle. Check back in 2035.) My difficulty here—which has delayed this review by a couple of days; I'm now trying to push through the block by acknowledging it—is that Kiss…

192 Likes

Mike D'Angelo

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Top Reviews

Ellis is "meh" on

Kiss Me Deadly

Idk kinda hard for me to care when the movie is about a boring man who’s trying to find out more about a woman who seems like she was probably far more interesting than he is, but she barely got any screen time. But I did like when that guy said “heh my mustache, my father’s mustache 😄”.

1Y

Lee liked

Kiss Me Deadly

Who else watched after learning Tarantino was influenced by this for his Pulp Fiction briefcase.

2Y

Vogue Italia liked

Kiss Me Deadly

fun noir with highly fascinating concept!!

1Y