Kiss me Deadly is one of the best movie adaptations of a novel of Mickey Spillane with his hard boiled creation, detective Michael Hammer as the protagonist. The movie is an adaptation of Spillane’s novel of the same name. Ralph Meeker plays the legendary Hammer,

The movie opens with a woman seen frantically running on in terror on a Highway on a dark night. She wears a trench coat with nothing underneath. She hails a few cars for a ride, but they drive right past her. In desperation, she stands in the way of a small convertible with outstretched arms.

The convertible swerves to the side and almost crashes, as the driver maneuvers it to a safe halt. The driver is upset, but notices that she is in a state of shock and can hardly say a word. She avoid any of his questions, but tells him that she is on her way to Los Angeles.

There is a roadblock, and the cops are looking for a missing woman, in a trench coat. The man’s quick thinking, manages to get them out of that situation. It is revealed that the man is none other that Michael Hammer. The woman seems to be a romantic, who speaks of love sonets and keeps telling him to remember her. Hammer, the stoic has no interest in any of her ramblings.

In a moment, the two are waylaid. Thugs knock out Hammer and torture and kill the woman. A dazed Hammer can hear her screams. After putting both of them both in Hammer’s convertible, the thugs push the car over a cliff.

Hammer wakes up in a hospital where he sees his devoted secretary, Velda by his side. Hammer leaves the hospital, and is later interrogated by hostile cops. Hammer suspects that the girl was involved in a major conspiracy and decides to investigate the mystery behind the death of the woman.

Lt. Pat Murphy, no fan of Mike’s takes away his gun and revokes his license. Velda tells Mike that the dead girl Christina was held at a mental asylum.

Hammer’s investigation leads him to Christina’s apartment. The landlord informs Hammer that the police had already questioned him about Christina. As Hammer walks away, an old man gives Hammer a location, where he says Christina’s roommate was murdered.

Hammer meets the roommate, Lily Carver, Carver informs Hammer that Christina was in fear. Hammer gets a threatening call asking him to stop investigating any further. Hammer a, as expected refuses. The next morning, Hammer and his mechanic friend, Nick find that Hammer’s car has been rigged with explosives. The two defuse the bombs.

Mike would learn, that there were others who were killed like Christina was killed. Mike’s investigation would lead him to gangster Carl Evaello and his henchmen, Charlie and Sugar. Following this Nick would be murdered by unknown assailants. Next, Velma is kidnapped. Mike too is caught, roughed up and taken to a beach house, by thugs. There, he is injected with a truth serum.

How Mike escapes and uncovers a shocking, sinister conspiracy, forms the rest of the plot. The book was written at the time of the Cold War, when fear of a nuclear holocaust prevalent. Like other noirs of its time, the plot’s narrative capitalizes on this fear.

Meeker is a ruthless Hammer, who does not hesitate to inflict violence, on his attackers. He is a philanderer, who at times, seems to take Velda’s affection for granted. This is one movie, where Mike does not use a firearm and has to rely on his fists.

It is said that the screenplay by Bezzerides for this movie, did not sit well with Spillane. The end result is probably the best Michal Hammer film, that makes its mark as a classic Film Noir. This movie is an essential watch for any fan of film noir.

Cast: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juana Hernandez, Maxine Cooper

Director: Robert Aldrich

Screenplay: A. I. Bezzerides