Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides based on a Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery story.

Related Topics:
Film - Robert Aldrich - Ralph Meeker - A. I. Bezzerides - Mickey Spillane - Mike Hammer

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Kiss Me Deadly is considered a classic of the film noir genre. References appear in such diverse films as Alex Cox's Repo Man (1984), Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994), as well as Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997).

Related Topics:
Film noir - Alex Cox - Repo Man - 1984 - Quentin Tarantino - Pulp Fiction - 1994 - Steven Spielberg - Raiders of the Lost Ark - 1981 - David Lynch - Lost Highway - 1997

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The picture grossed $726,000 in the States and a total of $226,000 overseas.

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Meeker plays Hammer, a tough Los Angeles private eye who is just slightly less brutal and modestly more honest than the crooks he chases.

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One evening, Hammer gives a ride to an attractive hitchhiker potrayed by Cloris Leachman, whom he picks up on a lonely country road. Thugs waylay them and force his car over a cliff, killing the hitchiker. Hammer declares vengeance and sets out to even the score, one by one. Central to Hammer's quest is a mysterious and small but highly valued box containing a powerful but dangerous glowing substance.

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In 1999 Kiss Me Deadly was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Related Topics:
1999 - Library of Congress - National Film Registry

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