Title: Brilliant realist late film noir
Product review: Kiss Me Deadly seems light years ahead of the studio made film noirs of just ten years earlier. Seventy-five per-cent of it is shot on location in Los Angeles circa mid fifties. Likewise the performances by Ralph Meeker and company are gritty and disturbingly honest. Meeker is the master of understatement and his Mickey Spillane is by far the quintessential reading of this pulp detective. Meeker inhabits his roles so thoroughly it's hard to pick him out in his various screen performances. The great fun of this cienimatic ride is following Spillane thru seedy L.A. and meeting the underworld characters, B-girls, and working-class joes that populate his world. Hold on to your hats for the surprise ending as Spillane follows the links to the contraband he was hired to find.
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