Kiss me deadly [videorecording] / Metro Goldwyn Mayer ; Victor Saville presents ; screenplay by A.I. Bezzerides ; produced and directed by Robert Aldrich ; a Parklane Picture.
Material type:
FilmPublisher number: CC2022D | The Criterion CollectionSeries: Criterion collection (DVD videodiscs) ; 568.Publication details: [Irvington, NY?] : Criterion Collection, 2011.Edition: Special edDescription: 1 videodisc (106 min.) : sd., b&w ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet ([24] p. : ill. ; 19 cm.)ISBN: - 160465435X
- 9781604654356
- Mickey Spillane's Kiss me deadly
- Spillane, Mickey, 1918-2006 -- Film adaptations
- Hammer, Mike (Fictitious character) -- Drama
- Murder -- Investigation -- New York (State) -- New York -- Drama
- Private investigators -- New York (State) -- New York -- Drama
- Radioactive substances -- Drama
- Women -- Crimes against -- New York (State) -- New York -- Drama
- Photographed by Ernest Laszlo ; film editor, Michael Luciano ; music composed and conducted by Frank DeVol ; "Rather have the blues" sung by Nat "King" Cole, Kitty White ; orchestrations by Albert Harris ; art director, William Glasgow ; set decorator, Howard Bristol ; sound, Jack Solomon.
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adult DVD
|
Dr. James Carlson Library | DVD | DRAMA Kiss me | Available | 33111006955815 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
Regarded by many critics as the ultimate film noir , and by many more as the finest movie adaptation of a book by Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly stars Ralph Meeker as Spillane's anti-social private eye Mike Hammer. While driving down a lonely road late one evening, Hammer picks up a beautiful blonde hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman), dressed in nothing but a raincoat. At first, Hammer assumes that the incoherent girl is an escaped lunatic; his mind is changed for him when he and the girl are abducted by two thugs. The men torture the girl to death as the semiconscious Hammer watches helplessly. He himself escapes extermination when the murderers' car topples off a cliff and he is thrown clear. Seeking vengeance, Hammer tries to discover the secret behind the girl's murder. Among those who cross his path in the film's tense, tingling 105 minutes are a slimy gangster (Paul Stewart), a turncoat scientist (Albert Dekker), and the dead woman's sexy roommate (Gaby Rodgers). All clues lead to a mysterious box -- the "Great Whatsit," as Hammer's secretary Velda (Maxine Cooper) describes it. Both the box and Velda are stolen by the villains, at which point Hammer discovers that the "Whatsit" contains radioactive material of awesome powers. The apocalyptic climax is doubly devastating because we're never quite certain if Hammer survives (he doesn't narrate the story, as was the case in most Mike Hammer films and TV shows). Director Robert Aldrich and scriptwriter Jack Moffit transcend Kiss Me Deadly's basic genre trappings to produce a one-of-a-kind melodrama for the nuclear age. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Based on the novel by Mickey Spillane.
Originally produced as a motion picture in 1955.
Supplements: Audio commentary by film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini; Director Alex Cox on Kiss me deadly; "Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane" documentary directed by Max Allan Collins; excerpts from The long haul of A.I. Bezzerides; "Bunker Hill, Los Angeles" video piece on film's locations by Jim Dawson; "Ending altered" truncated ending which was presented as the film's ending for three decades; Theatrical trailer. Booklet: "The thriller of tomorrow" by J. Hoberman; "You can't hang up the meat hook" by Robert Aldrich.
Photographed by Ernest Laszlo ; film editor, Michael Luciano ; music composed and conducted by Frank DeVol ; "Rather have the blues" sung by Nat "King" Cole, Kitty White ; orchestrations by Albert Harris ; art director, William Glasgow ; set decorator, Howard Bristol ; sound, Jack Solomon.
Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, Marion Carr, Marjorie Bennett, Fortunio Bonanova, Madi Comfort, Robert Cornthwaite, Nick Dennis, Jack Elam, Jesslyn Fax, Percy Helton, Jack Lambert, Mort Marshall, Strother Martin, James McCallion, Silvio Minciotti, Ben Morris, Paul Richards, James Seay, Leigh Snowden, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rodgers.
While driving down a lonely road late one evening, Hammer picks up a beautiful blonde hitchhiker, dressed in nothing but a raincoat. At first, Hammer assumes that the incoherent girl is an escaped lunatic; his mind is changed for him when he and the girl are abducted by two thugs. The men torture the girl to death as the semiconscious Hammer watches helplessly. He himself escapes extermination when the murderers' car topples off a cliff and he is thrown clear. Seeking vengeance, Hammer tries to discover the secret behind the girl's murder.
Not rated.
DVD; region 1, NTSC; widescreen (1.66:1) presentation; Dolby Digital, monoaural.
In English with optional subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.