Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) directed by Robert Aldrich is a filmed based on a Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery. However, this film transcends the genre with the adaptation from screenwriter A. I. Bezzerides who takes liberties with Spillane's story and introduces elements of cold war paranoia about nuclear weapons. The adaptation is further enhanced by Aldrich's direction and aesthetic choices throughout the film. For example, he chose to shoot most of the film in the now defunct working class Bunker Hill area in Los Angeles that is very atmospheric and noir-like. The film may seem somewhat tame by modern standards, but there were battles with the MPAA prior to its release. Aldrich solved some of these problems by not showing violence in key scenes and leaving it up to the audience to imagine the violence rather than showing it on the screen. There's a suitcase that has something mysterious in it and glows and amkes a high pitched noise when opened that has been influential in subsequent films like Alex Cox'S Repo Man and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The Criterion edition that came out this year has audio commentary by film noir specialists Alain Silver and James Ursini, a video tribute by Alex Cox, experts from The Long Haul of A.I. Bezzerides (a 2005 documentary on the screenwriter), Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane (a 1998 documentary about the life of and work of the author), video pieces on the film's locations, the altered ending, and a booklet featuring an essay by the critic J. Hoberman and a 1955 reprint by director Robert Aldrich. It is a classic LA film noir.