Kiss Me Deadly
“Blood red kisses! White hot thrills! Mickey Spillane’s latest H-bomb!”
One evening, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker on a lonely country road, who has escaped from the nearby lunatic asylum. Thugs waylay them and force his car to crash. When Hammer returns to semi-consciousness, he hears Christina being tortured until she dies. Hammer, both for vengeance and in hopes that "something big" is behind it all, decides to pursue the case.
Genres
Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Studio
Parklane Pictures Inc.
Language
en
Status
Released
How Kiss Me Deadly performed
Budget
$410,000
Worldwide Gross
$726,000
Gross Profit
$316,000
Return
1.8× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$119K
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~47/53, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (35% of the domestic run, typical for Mystery) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Cast
Mike Hammer
Ralph Meeker
Mike Hammer
Dr. G.E. Soberin
Albert Dekker
Dr. G.E. Soberin
Carl Evello
Paul Stewart
Carl Evello
Eddie Yeager
Juano Hernández
Eddie Yeager
Lt. Pat Murphy
Wesley Addy
Lt. Pat Murphy
Friday
Marian Carr
Friday
Velda
Maxine Cooper
Velda
Christina Bailey
Cloris Leachman
Christina Bailey
Lily Carver
Gaby Rodgers
Lily Carver
Nick
Nick Dennis
Nick
Sugar Smallhouse
Jack Lambert
Sugar Smallhouse
Charlie Max
Jack Elam
Charlie Max
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