Actor

Ralph Meeker

2: briefs
13:00: average
26 min: in total

On film.briefs2

Kiss Me Deadly

Robert Aldrich · 1955

Robert Aldrich’s 1955 Kiss Me Deadly recasts Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer as a morally adrift private investigator drawn into a conspiracy centred on a mysterious, glowing suitcase. Shot on location in a decaying Los Angeles, with stark cinematography by Ernest Laszlo and a percussive score by Frank De Vol, the film rejects noir conventions of resolution and moral clarity. Its power lies in accumulation — of dread, ambiguity, and physical consequence — culminating in an ending that offers no salvation, only exposure.

13:00

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick · 1957

Stanley Kubrick's 1957 film, adapted from Humphrey Cobb's novel based on the real Souain corporals affair, follows Colonel Dax as he leads a suicidal attack demanded by his superiors and then defends three of his own men, chosen at random, against a court-martial for cowardice. Shot in Bavaria because its portrayal of the French military barred it from filming, or release, in France for fifteen years, the film starred Kirk Douglas, whose production company financed it on a budget reported near $935,000, and drew acclaim that only grew once France finally allowed it to screen in 1972.