{"id":147,"date":"2007-08-11T14:55:22","date_gmt":"2007-08-11T21:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/?p=147"},"modified":"2007-08-13T10:21:01","modified_gmt":"2007-08-13T17:21:01","slug":"kiss-me-deadly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"Kiss Me Deadly"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>film-noir.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Stop , I’m naked under this trench coat!<\/p>\n

Whenever I’m at my local video store and I see someone perplexed at what to rent , I ask if they like film noir. If they say yes I recommend Kiss Me Deadly<\/em>. This is a film I saw many times as a kid , usually on Channel 5 late at night. I couldn’t believe how cool it was , from the opening crazy nighttime drive down the California coast , a sexy Cloris Leachman , naked under a trench coat , Ultra cool , amoral blockhead Ralph Meeker driving a sleek Jaguar roadster. Credits in reverse on the dark road. (The blacks are really black in this film, they seem blacker than normal) Torture , violence , a sadistic hero who uses his girl Friday\/ girlfriend as man bait for married cheaters. Maxine Cooper is Velma.
\nmikevelma.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Mike Hammer and his Voluptuous Velma<\/em><\/p>\n

Then there’s Nick, his beboppin’ Greek mechanic. He keeps Mike’s cars zooming and he’s always yelling “Va va Voom” and ” Pow”! He’s like a walking , talking Batman comic. His Va Va Voom was sampled by Ry Cooder for his Chavez Ravine<\/em> album, check out the opening of “Muy Fifi”..<\/p>\n

kiss-me-deadly-01.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Va-Va-Voom!<\/em><\/p>\n

Don’t forget Albert Dekker. He was Dr. Cyclops<\/em> and was found dead, tied up, shot up, hanging and overdosed and it was ruled a suicide!
\ndrcyclops.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Albert Dekker plays Dr. Cyclops , only not in this film<\/em><\/p>\n

Lazy Eye poster boy Jack Elam is here, he’s one of the gunslingers laying for Charles Bronson at the begining of Once Upon A Time In The West<\/em>.
\njack_elam.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

He started in the movies as an accountant<\/em><\/p>\n

Strother Martin , the Southern Gothic slimy wierdo who had a failure to communicate with Paul Newman shows up here. <\/p>\n

martin.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Strother, Baby<\/em><\/p>\n

Great Los Angeles 1950’s locations ( I think this movie was one of the reasons I wanted to move here ), It even features Angel’s Flight , the super cool little funicular railway that went up Bunker Hill! This groovy trolley is in several excellent noirs , like Criss Cross<\/em> for example.
\nangelflight.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

A sure sign of a cool LA noir<\/em><\/p>\n

This movie was shot by B-movie maven Robert Aldritch in 3 weeks! Due in no small part to the excellent screenplay by the legendary A.I. Bezzerides ( there’s a documentary about A. I. out , check it out). <\/p>\n

buzz-close-up-3.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Buzz Bezzerides at 90<\/em>
\nThe movie’s MacGuffin is a mysterious box that emits a blinding light and Banshee scream when opened, a direct antecedent to the briefcase in Pulp Fiction<\/em>.
\ncinaldrich.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Aldrich directs Gaby Rodgers<\/em><\/p>\n

Kiss Me Deadly<\/em>, the chicks are hot, the gansters grotesque, the hero’s handsome, the cars Cool, and the locations are outstanding. So please, if you haven’t seen it, rent or buy or borrow a copy and check it out. Then stroll down to your nearest dive bar, drop a quater in the jukebox , play a Sinatra tune , order a whiskey and think about Velma.<\/p>\n

kiss-me-deadly-1.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Atom Age Pandora<\/em>
\nkissmedeadly1000-1.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

Is this the end of Mike Hammer?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stop , I’m naked under this trench coat! Whenever I’m at my local video store and I see someone perplexed at what to rent , I ask if they like film noir. If they say yes I recommend Kiss Me Deadly. This is a film I saw many times as a kid , usually on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.filmforno.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}