Kiss Me Deadly

This article is about the 1955 film. For the Mickey Spillane novel, see Kiss Me, Deadly. For other uses, see Kiss Me Deadly (disambiguation).
Kiss Me Deadly
In the upper half of the poster, there's a torso painting of a man embracing a woman. He's kissing her neck just below her left ear. The man is wearing a business suit. The woman is in a strapless gown; her skin is bare above her chest. She's leaning away from the man, with her eyes open and a quizzical expression; she's holding a small pistol in her right hand, which is dangling loosely. In the upper right corner, the words "Blood Red Kisses!" are lettered in red. In the middle of the poster, and just below the right corner of the painting of the couple, the phrase "Mickey Spillane's Latest H-Bomb" is lettered. Below the left corner: "White Hot Thrills" is lettered. Below the center is a painting of parted red lips with "Kiss Me Deadly" lettered on them; in smaller letters above the lips is "Parklane Pictures presents". There's a small billing block at the lower left of the poster: "starring Ralph Meeker / with Albert Dekker - Paul Stewart - Juano Hernandez / Produced and directed by Robert Aldrich / screenplay by A.I. Bezzerides / Released through United Artists". There are several small paintings of scenes from the film scattered around the poster.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRobert Aldrich
Screenplay byA.I. Bezzerides
Robert Aldrich (uncredited)
Based onKiss Me, Deadly
1952 novel
by Mickey Spillane
Produced byRobert Aldrich
Starring
CinematographyErnest Laszlo
Edited byMichael Luciano
Music byFrank De Vol
Production
company
Parklane Pictures
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • May 18, 1955 (1955-05-18)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$410,000[1]
Box office$726,000 (USA/Canada)
$226,000 (foreign)
436,699 admissions (France)[2]

Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 American film noir produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, and Wesley Addy. It also features Maxine Cooper and Cloris Leachman appearing in their feature film debuts. The film follows a private investigator in Los Angeles who becomes embroiled in a complex mystery after picking up a female hitchhiker. The screenplay was written by Aldrich and A.I. Bezzerides, based on the 1952 crime novel Kiss Me, Deadly by Mickey Spillane.

Kiss Me Deadly grossed $726,000 in the United States and $226,000 overseas. The film received the condemnation of the Kefauver Commission, which accused it of being "designed to ruin young viewers", a verdict that director Aldrich protested. Despite initial critical disapproval, it is considered one of the most important and influential film noirs of all time.

The film has been noted as a stylistic precursor to the French New Wave, and has been cited as a major influence on a number of filmmakers, including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alex Cox, and Quentin Tarantino. In 1999, Kiss Me Deadly was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][4]

  1. ^ Silver & Ursini 1995, p. 238.
  2. ^ French box office results for Robert Aldrich films at Box Office Story
  3. ^ "Preserving the Silver Screen (December 1999) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin". www.loc.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).