Noir City: Kiss Me Deadly

(1955) dir Robert Aldrich w/Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Marian Carr, Cloris Leachman [106 min; DCP]

America’s anti-Communist crusaders found their superhero in crime writer Mickey Spillane’s private eye hero, Mike Hammer, who enjoyed a flurry of film adaptations in the ‘50s. But in this one, screenwriter Bezzerides pulled the rug out from under Hammer, slyly subverting his ‘heroics’ and replacing Spillane’s routine crime plot with a jaw-dropping doomsday scenario. Ralph Meeker is uncomfortably attractive as Hammer: sexy, sadistic, and terminally stupid. Aldrich directs the twisted plot with a bust-out verve that heralded both the end of traditional film noir and the start of a new, more aggressive style of cinema.

A "Double Feature" ticket additionally allows admission into the 9:30 PM screening of A KISS BEFORE DYING. No additional purchase is necessary.