Kiss Me Deadly is a chilling film noir from 1955 based upon a Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery. Ralph Meeker plays Hammer, tough-guy private eye who is just slightly less brutal and modestly more honest than the crooks he chases. As everyone tries to get a hold of the secret "whatsit," the body count and paranoia keep rising to an unexpected ending. It is considered to be the American godfather to the French New Wave, directed with skill by Robert Aldrich and introducing Cloris Leachman.
In 1999 the film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
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