Review of Kiss Me Deadly (1955) by Gregory S — 15 Mar 2009

When Godard reviewed Kubrick's mediocre 'The Killing' he pointed out how it was a film that was good pupil nothing more, pointing out how all Kubrick was able to do was sample Aldrich's approach to violence and paranoia.

Years later that review feels more relevant than ever when a filmmaker whose career is uneven as Kubrick is hailed as a master by every film student who thinks he's a 'film buff' while the filmmakers he sampled from seem almost forgotten.

Aldrich's film just about reaches the peak or paranoia in the genre and gives us a vision of a world that's damn near on the brink of apocalypse. Now why this film is so overlooked now I suspect is almost classicist these were essentially B-movies (in terms of budget of course not quality) so obviously they'd be overlooked by pretty much any canon at the time (it took the french to really give the genre it's due) all we can do now is continue to watch films by Ulmer, Preminger, Ray, Fuller, Aldrich, Siodmak, and at the same time avoid overrating minor efforts from guys like Kubrick.