KISS ME DEADLY

Directed by a young Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?) and now regarded as a classic. Tough-as-nails P.I. Mike Hammer gets ensnarled with a mysterious and lethal “Great Whatsit” box — a mad chase brimming with Cold War paranoia as people are literally dying to possess it. Watch Cloris Leachman in a riveting first screen role, plus extended looks at two iconic sports cars: the 1954 Chevrolet Corvette C1, one of the earliest screen appearances for the Corvette, and a sleek 1951 Jaguar XK120 roadster. The dark tonality and spiraling apprehension strap you in for the ride.

For a pulp-fiction Mickey Spillane thriller, it got decent reviews at release. Low-budget trash, but sensational, cutting-edge trash. Since then, the film has achieved both cult and critical status. Directors Tarantino and Truffaut loved it.

Filmed in downtown Los Angeles in 1955, it is a unique time capsule of a once elegant neighborhood in decline that would soon be transformed by urban development.