Kiss Me Deadly

Ralph Meeker is private detective Mike Hammer, a caveman in a suit going around and bitchslapping various people, trying to find out who killed Cloris Leachman. Also starring Jack Elam in a non cowboy role. And... what's in the box? Directed by Robert Aldrich.

I accidently caught this film on tv years ago, not knowing anything about it, but recognizing Mike Hammer from having read some Mickey Spillane novels. Mike Hammer is a mean bastard - you can see a link from this character to James Bond. The opening credits of the film goes downwards instead of the usual upwards, creating an impression that something is wrong right from the beginning. It has an amazing black and white cinematography from Ernest Laszlo. Car scenes seem to be shot in the street, and not in a studio using back projections. You can see why the French nouvelle vague directors liked it. There's a scene showing what I assume was the Angel's Flight funicular in Bunker Hill, Los Angeles. And wow, the ending...