Kiss Me Deadly (1956) Robert Aldrich

Nothing seems to make sense in “Kiss Me Deadly,” even the opening credits roll backwards. Author Mickey Spillane hated the movie, screenwriter AI Bezzerides hated the book and film goers back in 1955 must have been confused with what it was they were exactly looking at. Sure there was a P.I. and plenty of hot looking dames with legs that went from one end of the screen to the other but, this is the 1950′s, the time of The BOMB, we’re not just dealing with dope here, this time it’s serious.

Ralph Meeker’s Mike Hammer may just be the dumbest P.I. to ever grace the screen, still director Robert Aldrich gives us one of the great film noirs of all time with a touch of science fiction tossed in just for good measure. It’s violent, sexy, nasty, and one of a kind. The film’s ending is one of those, to use an antiquated 1960’s term, mind blowing, one of the great film endings that will stay with you long after the film is over. Meeker is perfect as the thuggish Mike Hammer, a bedroom dick, who is not beyond letting his secretary/ lover, Velda (Maxine Cooper) have sex with someone just to gain information on the case.

The Killers (1946) Robert Siodmak

This review is part of the FOR THE LOVE OF FILM: THE FILM PRESERVATION BLOGATHON  to benefit the film noir foundation who work for the restoration of decaying noir films. The blogathon runs from Feb. 14th through Feb. 21st. For more information on how you can help by donating please check out our blogathon hosts, The Self Styled Siren and Ferdy on Films.

Here is a link to the organization’s facebook page.

“The Killers” is a hard-boiled film noir that starred an unknown 32-year actor making his film debut and a contract player from MGM, of limited talent, with little in her filmography at that point in time, to prove she would amount to anything.  “The Killers” is intricate and visually stunning with its black blacks and pure white whites. Just take a look at the opening scene when the two killers arrive in town, the film is a dark fatalistic work of photographic beauty, a visual feast of light, darkness and shadows. Credit goes to director Robert Siodmak and cinematographer Elwood “Woody” Bredell. The opening is also enhanced by Miklos Rozsa’s music, which may sound familiar to some who remember the theme from the old TV police show “Dragnet.”

Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers”, written in a hotel room in Madrid sometime in 1926, first appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in March 1927. The story is characteristic of themes that would continue to emerge in Hemingway’s work, the inescapability of death and the emptiness of life.  Producer, newspaper columnist and theater critic, Mark Hellinger purchased the film rights for $36,750.  Hemingway’s story is about two killers who come to the small town of Summit, Ill. (changed to Brentwood, New Jersey in the movie), looking for a man known as The Swede. Why is never said. Most of the short story takes place in Henry’s Diner where The Swede is known to come for dinner most nights. Hemingway’s story ends after Nick Adams, Hemingway perennial character, and a customer in the diner at the same time the two killers show up and announce they are going to kill The Swede, sneaks out to warn him of the two men out to kill him. The Swedes’ fatalistic resolve that there is nowhere left to run, to just remain where he is, accepting the consequences is where the short story ends. It leaves open a multitude of questions. What did The Swede do that these two guys want to kill him. Who hired them? Why has The Swede given up running readily accepting his doomed fate?

Middle of the Night (1959) Delbert Mann

Middle of the Night is a story of a May/December romance. Written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Delbert Mann. Mann directed three films written by Cheyefsky, Marty, his first film which won Best Picture of the Year and Best Director awards, followed by The Bachelor Party and Middle of the Night. Later on Cheyefsky would write the screenplays for Network and The Hospital. He also adapted the William Bradford Huie novel, The Americanization of Emily for the screen.  Middle of the Night began as a TV episode on the anthology series “The Philco Television Playhouse”, starring E.G. Marshall and Eva Marie Saint. In 1956, Cheyefsky turned it into a play and it opened on Broadway with Edward G. Robinson as the older man and Gena Rowlands as the young woman. In 1959, the  movie version was released with Fredric March and Kim Novak in the roles.

Jerry (Fredric March), a 56 year old lonely widower, is a successful businessman in the garment district in New York and 24 year old Betty (Kim Novak) is working there as a receptionist and part-time model. Betty is newly divorced and uncertain about her future. The story centers on their romance and eventual decision to marry, the ups and downs in any relationship and specifically about one with a wide age difference. One of the more uncomfortable scenes is when Jerry meets Betty’s mother who it turns out is approximately the same age as he is. Later there is an even more painful confrontation with his family, which includes his daughter, a year younger than Betty, and his single over protective nagging sister. Everyone seems to have an opinion though the one thing everyone is in agreement on is that they are against the marriage. If all that is not enough there are the couples  own insecurities, Jerry’s jealousy when she talks to younger men or will she leave him in a few years? Betty anxieties are over her newly divorced husband, a musician who wants her back, and then there is her father fixation. In the end, despite all the objections from family and their own uncertainties they realize they love each other and maybe just maybe, they have a chance.

Fredric March is excellent as Jerry who at 56 feels that life has passed him by. Family and friends tell him that he should relax in his old age and take it easy. Jerry feels like everyone is ready to put him out to pasture until he starts dating Betty who makes him feel alive again. He tells everyone he’ll have enough time to take it easy when he’s dead! (Jerry would liked Warren Zevon’s song, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead). You absolutely believe March in this role, the struggles and fears that he is facing at this particular junction in his life. Kim Novak also does a fine job as the young and insecure Betty whose father dumped his family when she was young. Conflicted about the breakup of her marriage she finds comfort and security with Jerry. She brings a nice vulnerability to Betty that makes her real. Throughout her career Novak has been underrated as an actress. She holds her own here with a magnificent cast that includes Lee Grant, Martin Balsam, Albert Dekker and Glenda Farrell. There are also some nice location scenes of New York’s garment district and other areas circa the late 1950’s. 

One aspect that I found interesting is how old the actors look considering the age they are portraying. Fredric March who was 62 at the time portrays a man who is 56. Albert Dekker’s character was 59 ( he was 54 in real life), however both men look closer to being in their late 60’s maybe even in their 70’s. Compared to some of today’s actors equivalent in age like Dennis Quaid (55) or Jeff Bridges (59) or Harrison Ford (66) they looked much older than the ages they are portraying. Lifestyle? Healthier living? Whatever it is, people do look a lot young today than their counterparts of forty or fifty years ago.

Delbert Mann began his career during the Golden Age of Television drama. When people discussed directors from the Golden Age of Television who came to film in the late 50’s and early 60’s the names usually consist of John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet and Arthur Penn. Delbert Mann is rarely mentioned yet his filmography in those early years is pretty impressive. His debut film was Marty, which as previously mentioned won a few Oscars. That was followed by The Bachelor Party in 1957, Desire Under the Elms, Separate Tables, Middle of the Night and Dark at the Top of the Stairs. All of these were adaptations of stage plays except for Marty and The Bachelor Party. In the 1960’s Mann had success with two Doris Day comedies, That Touch of Mink and Lover Come Back. He made a few more films including Mister Buddwing and The Pink Jungle before going back to television in the 1970’s and 1980’s. While no auteur, Mann was a solid actor’s director and always told a good story.

****

The Killers (1946) Robert Siodmak

   “The Killers” is a hard-boiled film noir that starred an unknown 32-year actor making his film debut and a contract player from MGM, of limited talent, with little in her filmography at that point in time, to prove she would amount to anything.  “The Killers” is intricate and visually stunning with its black blacks and pure white whites. Just take a look at the opening scene when the two killers arrive in town, the film is a dark fatalistic work of photographic beauty, a visual feast of light, darkness and shadows. Credit goes to director Robert Siodmak and cinematographer Elwood “Woody” Bredell. The opening is also enhanced by Miklos Rozsa’s music, which may sound familiar to some who remember the theme from the old TV police show “Dragnet.”

    Ernest Hemingway’s short story “The Killers”, written in a hotel room in Madrid sometime in 1926, first appeared in Scribner’s Magazine in March 1927. The story is characteristic of themes that would continue to emerge in Hemingway’s work, the inescapability of death and the emptiness of life.  Producer, newspaper columnist and theater critic, Mark Hellinger purchased the film rights for $36,750.  Hemingway’s story is about two killers who come to the small town of Summit, Ill. (changed to Brentwood, New Jersey in the movie), looking for a man known as The Swede. Why is never said. Most of the short story takes place in Henry’s Diner where The Swede is known to come for dinner most nights. Hemingway’s story ends after Nick Adams, Hemingway perennial character, and a customer in the diner at the same time the two killers show up and announce they are going to kill The Swede, sneaks out to warn him of the two men out to kill him. The Swedes’ fatalistic resolve that there is nowhere left to run, to just remain where he is, accepting the consequences is where the short story ends. It leaves open a multitude of questions. What did The Swede do that these two guys want to kill him. Who hired them? Why has The Swede given up running readily accepting his doomed fate?

    Hellinger, working with Richard Brooks, developed the story line beyond Hemingway’s original piece. Brooks came up with the ideal of centering the story on a determined insurance investigator checking into The Swede’s death. According to Lee Server in his biography “Ava Gardner Love is Nothing“  Brooks tracked down  Hemingway and  asked what happened afterward, Hemingway responded,  “how the hell do I know.” The screenplay was written by John Huston and Anthony Veiller, though Veiller received, sole credit due to Huston’s being under contract with Warner Brothers. Reading the short story is like reading the first ten to fifteen minutes of the script except for a few minor changes. Wisely, the screenwriters kept most of Hemingway’s hard-boiled, wise-ass dialogue in tact.

    After the murder of The Swede, we meet the character who could be considered the real lead of the movie, insurance investigator Jim Reardon (Edmond O’Brien). It is Reardon who puts together all the pieces of a convoluted puzzle, a story of cross and double cross, and in the middle of it all is a dame.   

    Burton Lancaster made his Broadway debut (it was his first and last Broadway appearance) as Sgt. Joe Mooney in a little known play called “A Sound of Hunting” which closed after only 23 performances. Also in the cast was Sam Levene who would play Lt. Sam Lubinsky in “The Killers.” Hollywood agents, always checking out plays for new talent, were in the audience and the buzz was a new star was in the making.  Enter agent Harold Hecht who was in the audience one night and came back again and again. It was the beginning of a relationship that would last for years (Lancaster and Hecht along with James Hill would later on form one of the earliest independent producing teams responsible for works that include “Apache”, “Vera Cruz”, “Marty” and “Sweet Smell of Success.”).

    Mark Hellinger meanwhile was looking at actor Wayne Morris for the role of Ole “The Swede” Anderson. Morris, best remembered these days as the naive boxer in Warner Brothers “Kid Galahad” aka “The Battling Bellhop.”  Morris’ career lasted until his death in 1959, was under contract to Warner Brothers who were willing to loan him to Hellinger, though for a price higher than he was willing to pay. Waiting in the dugout was newcomer Lancaster, who physically fit the role of the former boxer and Hellinger could pay a cheap salary. Suddenly, Burt Lancaster was in his very first movie and had top billing!

    At this point in her career, Ava Gardner had mostly small and uncredited roles in her résumé.  She recently completed a lead role in a low budget potboiler called “Whistle Stop” with George Raft when MGM loaned her out to Universal for the role of the treacherous Kitty Collins. Gardner was not just gorgeous but managed to project a wicked lethal dose of seductive ruthlessness. The first time we see her, she is dressed in a slinky black gown standing by a piano singing. When The Swede enters the nightclub and spots her, as we do, for the first time he is captivated. Everyone else in the room, including the girl (Virginia Christine) he came with, is obliterated from his vision. It is an audience seducing moment. A weak man, falling under the spell of a duplicitous woman, and with Ava Gardner as the woman, you believed it. The role of Kitty Collins is not very large though it is central to the entire tale being told, and Lancaster and Gardner sizzle in their scenes together. When Ava Gardner went back to MGM, she went back a star.

    Edmond O’Brien who would become a staple in crime movies, appearing in “711 Ocean Drive”, “Brute Force”, “The Hitchhiker” and “D.O.A.,” played the determined insurance investigator, a character reminiscent, and mentioned by many others, of Barton Keyes,  Edward G. Robinson’s character in Billy Wilder’s exemplary “Double Indemnity.”  It is O’Brien’s character that links the multiple flashback sequences together, yet it is Lancaster’s Swede and Gardner’s Kitty Collins that are the guts of the film.

     The cast also included Sam Levene, Albert Dekker and Jeff Corey with Charles McGraw and William Conrad as the two cold-blooded killers. For Mark Hellinger, along with a great script, his choice of director and cinematographer were key to the look and success of “The Killers.”  Robert Siodmak was born in Germany and came to America following his younger brother Curt. A student of German Expressionism, Siodmak fit right in with other German exiles helping create and develop the film noir style. One of his earlier films in America was “Son of Dracula” based on a screenplay by his brother, Curt. He would quickly establish himself as a master of suspense in stylish films like  “The Spiral Staircase,” “Criss Cross,” “Christmas Holiday,” “The Suspect,” “Cry of the City” and “Phantom Lady.”  Under contract to Universal, Hellinger wisely selected the talented Siodmak.

    When the film opened in August 1946, it was an immediate hit praised by critics and public alike. The film was so popular when it first opened in New York City; the Winter Garden Theater on Broadway ran the film twenty-four hours a day straight.  

    In 1964, Universal updated and remade “The Killers.” Directed by B-film action director, Don Siegel, who was once considered to direct the original. The remake is not nearly on the same level as the original though it is still a decent film. There are a couple of reasons thatmake this film worth a look. First, this is the only film where Ronald Reagan for the first and only time in his acting career played a slimy bad dude. According Kirk Douglas in his autobiography, “The Ragman’s Son”, Reagan did not like doing this film because he had to slap femme fatale Angie Dickinson around in one scene. Dickinson, by the way, mentions in the DVD commentary that while making this film, word came about her friend, and rumored lover, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Additionally, when this film was made it was initially planned to be the first original two hour made for TV movie, However, the final product was considered too violent at the time, and subsequently Universal released it instead in theaters. Finally, there is Lee Marvin, as one of the two killers (Clu Gallaghar was the other), who is the glue that holds and drives this film.  The plot for this version is simplified compared to the 1946 original and less faithful to both the original film and the short story. In this version, Marvin’s character is one who is curious to know why their target (John Cassavetes) did not run, so readily accepting his doomed faith while other marks always ran. Marvin is a tough SOB. Toward the end, Angie Dickinson’s character pleads for her life. Hitman Marvin coolly aims his gun saying, ‘Lady, I don’t have the time,” killing her with one shot.Like the original, much of the story is told in flashback.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources: Burt Lancaster: An American Life – Kate Buford

               The Ragman’s Son – Kirk Douglas

               Ava Gardner Love is Nothing – Lee Server

               Don Siegel: A Siegel Film  - Don Siegel