Criterion Retrospective - Kiss Me Deadly 

I can't disagree more when it comes to this guy's comments about the acting. The slightly over-the-top performances that surround Meeker help to define this film as true film noir. Each character is perfectly defined and though some may only be on the screen for a couple of minutes they all come across as being an intrical part of this wickedly brilliant film. This is the true definition of character acting.

Since first seeing this have placed this film at the top of the short noir core

From the Wikipedia bio of Gaby Rodgers ("Lilly") : "Rodgers was the daughter of Jewish art dealer Saemy Rosenberg, and the great-niece of the philosopher Edmund Husserl. Rodgers was born in Germany but emigrated with her family to Amsterdam, London and finally into the United States because of the Third Reich. In Amsterdam, she played marbles with Anne Frank as her family knew the Franks. "

The ending of this movie scared me as a kid and it still is scary when you think about it my dad was born in the early 50s so I was exposed to a lot of retro media. And my dad read me a few hard boiled detective books. In retrospect his Spilian writing wasn’t that good. And I’m glade Robert Aldrich ripped the piss out of the character. I think it’s a riot that even the real cops think the Hammer books were fascist. Thanks for still keeping this video up

I dread whenever 20-somethings try to review classic old films. I doubt he even knows "Christina" was Oscar and Emmy winning actress Cloris Leachman in one of her first film roles. Aldrich was creating a tone with the bizarre characters, which he's done throughout his career (again, lost on a RU-vid movie vlogger).

27:22 It doesn't get more shrill and phony that your fake laughing throughout this segment. At least the actress's weird performance matched the otherworldly weirdness of the film.

Great overview...I felt bad for Mike and Velda...They couldn't trust anyone...even each other. Mike has such a disdain for everything and everyone. I believe that's the real allure of film noir. It gave a reassuring sense that the fantasy world Hollywood portrays isn't the real world.

Your comment about the transitions (specifically fades - of which there are many in this movie) being "unrestored" by Criterion suggests you don't understand how these were accomplished in the era. Fade transitions were created using 'process camera' in post production that created a dupe for the purpose. This dupe was lower quality, but it was spliced into the final neg. The critical eye can easily see the sudden jump to a reduced quality print during a transition. This is apparent in many, many films of the era. "Kiss Me Deadly" was a clear influence on future filmmakers (including Quinton Tarantino). Criticizing the dated and silly parts of the film completely ignores the innovative narrative perfectly suited for the decade. Imagine yourself watching this movie in 1955 - in the theater - the only venue the filmmakers could imagine at the time. It was a easily digested narrative with a few fun twists and a nod to the nuclear fears of the time. The sexism, violence, and completely lack of intellect were deliberate and unashamed.

One of the all time GREAT noirs, far ahead if its time. And one of my 13 all time favorite films. I cant believe how amazing this film is.

He's shot at the end, so I think it's more a case of her helping him escape

One of the greatest film noir pictures of all time and quite prophetic if one is familiar with the 'demon core' incidents of nuclear laboratories ! A '55 Corvette convertible helps with it's 'cool' vibe!

I'll give you a word of advice. Eliminate the laughing. You do a terrific job with your presentation and show great potential for a channel but some of your criticisms should probably be made in a slightly different manner. There are a lot of people, myself included, that find it off-putting that you go out of your way to laugh at many of the scenes in this movie. I take no issue with you disagreeing with me on the acting. It's the manner in which you do it. Even without seeing your picture, it becomes obvious that you are from a younger generation that has a very different and very opinionated way of looking at the world. Again, it's fine to a have a different opinion. It's not fine to insult your audience (indirectly) and make it seem as if they lack taste. You seem to acknowledge that this is a very good movie, yet state that pretty much all of the acting, except for Meeker, is terrible. I'd have to believe that at least part of the reason this movie is so well loved is because the acting is good. Having not listened to any of your other video's, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just go with the assumption that you were trying to do something different with your criticisms and not all of your video's, in which you are reviewing acting you don't like, are handled in this manner. My criticism's aside, your video presentation is excellent. Just keep in mind that your current audience and future audience like movies like these types of films. Everyone knows there are flaws in every movie and even more so in movies from the early days of Hollywood. Don't waste your talent by criticizing these flaws in an immature way.

I really like the acting in Kiss Me Deadly. Same with the cheesy soundtrack and hokey off-screen deaths. There is this weird and uncanny dissonance between Meeker's acting (as well as the brutality of his character) and the highly artificial filmic world he inhabits. Intentional or not, it adds to the satire of 1950's conservatism for me and feels like its laying bare a facist darkness hidden beneath the surface of Hollywood films. Reminds me of David Lynch or Natural Born Killers. With that said, those are still super valid criticisms. I guess for me it just happens to be a case of flaws becoming strengths.

I'm surprised that you didn't mention how the box not only inspired Repo Man's Chevy Malibu but also Pulp Fiction's briefcase.

I just finished watching this movie. I really enjoyed it. Lots of action

9:46 "The great whats-it." Hitchcock called it the Maguffin

Yes, check Raiders of the Lost Ark, and also I've Heard The Mermaids Singing (and, as noted below, Repo Man and Pulp Fiction), for glowing sources of awe in film.

20:36 - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) brought me here. Thanks, Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm Ltd.

25:54-“Then there’s the woman-hold on to your pants!” That’s a hell of a segue there! 😹

Very we'll done. Or medium rare, as is best. Thank you!!

Wait, so this was the first iteration of the “glowing box without showing the contents,” gag?? Wow

To judge characters outside of time and place is shortsighted. I've known people like the character Lily in Kiss Me Deadly. A lot of the characters seem odd, because they represent twisted, upside down '50's conventions. The entire film is out of the norm, and Hammer is a kind of lens we see it all through. Happy weird and delicious film noir, my friend. 😜

Appreciated your critique. Well done. Having only recently read the book, then movie disappointed me. However, your commentary put it into perspective.

I suspect you don't understand the Gaby Rodgers/Lily Carver character at all. She's a murderous gangster impersonating a damsel in distress; she's not supposed to be a real damsel in distress. In the movie she's a thief and a killer, not a slick actor doing a good job of playing Cloris Leachman's roomie (a roomie who of course she has already murdered, albeit off-screen). It is actually one of film's creepiest performances of a vicious villain. It all reminds me of John Gavin performing like a cardboard cutout when he's talking to Norman Bates in Psycho - a superficially clunky, wooden performance which is actually damn near perfect for that scene. Similarly for the party girl at the pool. She's obviously a professional paid to "entertain" the guests, so, mistaking Ralph Meeker for just another one of the customers, that's what she's doing. She's not supposed to be a 1950's "girl next door." The character which made me feel like leaving whenever he came on was the Vroom, Vroom! guy. Ugh. Sometimes an ultimate ham can really make a movie, like Robert Newton in Treasure Island. But sometimes he's just cold leftovers.

You think this movie was an influence on David Lynch

Your childish giggling at Gaby Rodgers acting is far more annoying than what you consider her poor acting skills.

OK. Wooden actors everywhere. However, you've got Western bad guy Jack Elam as one of the sadistic heavies at the Malibu house sporting his divergent eyes. There's the woman in the trench coat on the PCH. That's Cloris Leachman. And, the leader of the hoods was the butler in Citizen Kane. When I was a grip, our location on Chicago Hope one day was the Hollywood Athletic Club. I realized we were in THE locker room as seen in Kiss Me, Deadly.

So.....how much would it cost to own every spine in The Criterion Collection ®?

Am I remembering wrong, or did you once have an accompanying video on the history of Mike Hammer on TV and film? Trying to find that again.

i found that mechanic to be so annoying. i swear every time he came on screen there was an eye-roll. the whole "vroom vroom" line was just cringe worthy. you could imagine the satisfaction i felt when his character was killed off. i really dig this video because it justified my initial feelings about the film. i didn't like it; or better yet i didn't understand why so many LOVED it. i see it now, but my feelings for the film remain the same and this is coming from someone who absolutely loved cox's repo man.

Bunkerhill CA never seen b4 & earliest answering system I hve ever seen.

29:03 I dunno, I actually find it kinda unsettling. A sort of uncanny valley effect.

The comments on the acting are way off, in my opinion. And why do you keep saying "woman" when you mean "women"?

great film

I wonder what was violent movies before Brian de'Palama ?

Freakin’ groundbreaking film -that to planet of the apes, and hundreds of nihilist films of the ‘60s and ‘70-like ‘’SOYLENTGREEN’-IZPEOPLE!!!!!!

What is the music from the opening of the video?

what's the movie shown at 30:38 ?

SPOILER ALERT. I really think that when the original ending in the 50's was cut out, with the survival of Mike and Velda not revealed., they took somewhat the soul of the film. When they head into the ocean, both MIke and Velda, I would disagree with Mick Lasalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, who said, the slime returned back into the ocean. I strongly disagree with him. At the beginning when he and Christina are held hostage, Christina goes unconcious as she is beilng tortured. One of the men who is doing this asks if thye should wake her back up, A voice says no, saying do you want to wake her up, as if it is a religious wakeup. Can't remember the exact words. MIke of course has survived, because he was not uncious as they thought, and he some how survived, though is this the dreams of a dead man? This Mike Hammer as we know is a scum bag, who thinks that he is a good person somewhat. But because of him, some one is killed, and his secretary is kidnapped. There is a scene where he trys to run away from the two goons, going into the ocean, but they pull him back out. He of course does get back at them, kills two, frightens the other one off, and returns back. Latter on, he finds Velda, and is shot by the bad woman of the film, apparently killed. But what happens, he gets up, as if rising from the dead. and resuces Velda. They run into the ocean, and I feel, with the water cleansing them of their sins.

And here we are again on the edge of nuclear war. . #donbassGenocide

I loved Gaby and thought she was the sexiest woman in the film. Am I weird?

Mmmmm....Gaby Rodgers..... what a BAD Girl. 8P

Bond and the women in those films behave the same. I fail to see the problem. Both Hammer and Bond are pulp stories.

Your laugh can cure hepatitis.

Wow! And NOT a good wow

You talk too much.