Film Noir | Notes | Kiss Me, Deadly

Kiss Me, Deadly Discussion Notes

Based on book by Mickey Spillaine
UR (UnRated) - had it been rated it would of been bad
Book universally disliked by critics, but enormously popular
- sold many books and grew the paperback industry
Spillaine started writing comics at first (Captain America and Batman etc)
1949 - "I the Jury" first book (Mike Hammer #1)
- Graphic and perverse
- Anti-communist
- Defends against communist, fellow travelers, and anti-American spies

He was anti-communist, patriot, unsupportive of McCarthy, seen as a fascist and masogynist
Liked Ann Rand (intelligent, wrote "Atlas Shrugged" and has a following of people, libertarian to the point of true altruism)
Early 1950s became a Jehovah Witness - went door to door distributing "Watch Tower"
Nothing contrary between book and beliefs, "I don't have fans I have customers."
Book sales in the millions
Later in life he wrote children's books
Appeared in Miller Light Commercials - "The Case of the Missing Case"
His work influenced Frank Miller "Sin City"
The Bond Franchise took over the detective scene

Best and most interesting version of the Mike Hammer books
Mike a sleazy, erotic detective looking for the great 'whatzit'
Spillaine didn't like what they did with his book, like changing the drugs to a bomb
Film is thought of as art, like Detour, but Spillaine is not an artist, not the voice of the film
Chandler is considered an artist
Kiss Me, Deadly got the public to review Spillaine, Chandler, and Hammett's work
Borde and Chaumeton saw it as exploring the genre
The movie was banned by the British, but the French saw it as ironic

How is Mike Hammer different from Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe?
What does Gallafent say about the difference between the novel and the film?
What are Gallafent's major arguments about the women in this film?
What are the recurrent images in the film?
What does the ending mean? What do we do with the bomb blast at the end?
What is the split between the art of the past and modern technology?
How is race represented in this film?
Do you think Hammer is un-self aware of his actions as Bannion in The Big Heat

The bomb - sending noir out with "a bang"
Recurring images: phones, boxes, speed, women, bombs, technology, violence, sports car, "Remember Me"
Un-self aware - Scene investigators: He's aware he is bad, but does not know how bad (he think hes 'cool' - not bad). When he is told how bad it is he admits "I didn't know" (Revealing Clip)
Marlowe vs Hammer: how the environment changes the character and then they have to confront themselves
Race - Kiss Me, Deadly was more white-wash, black men in the gym and one in the bar - they do exist, in good light (but placed in the film where the scenes could easily be removed for the southern states)
Women's representation - Mike pimped out his secretary out, or using a sleazy degraded way of doing business. Christine was maybe raped as well as tortured in the film. All women criticize Hammer and are attracted to him. The three main women have a scene where they are only wearing a robe of some sort - trench coat, cotton robe, and a dressing robe with no shoes.
Unrestored version - they did not go into the sea, were they annihilated?
If it is the Atomic blast or nuclear annihilation it doesn't matter if they're in the sea or not - it does not save them.

Marlowe	Hammer
Heroic Man	Sleazy
Masochist	Sadist
Takes a job and wants to finish - do the right thing	Looks out for himself
Not in it for the money	Greedy
Eagle Scout in the wrong business	Misogynist
Pre-bomb	Post-bomb
Happy Ending	End of the World?
Falls with Schrader's 1rst Phase

It is like how the old detectives may evolve/devolve into a Mike Hammer

"THE END" scene could also mean the end of the world. The atomic age was a topsy turvy age - so it all fits

Book

Film

1953 clip from The Bandwagon "Girl Hunt" scene is a spoof or parody of film noirs
It has all the tropes of noir (sadly the link is only part 2, the first half has more noir tropes)
The American public recognized noir before they came up with a term to describe it