I've been a long time fan of detective films, especially ones made in
the 40s and 50s, so when I see one listed in the local TV guide I set up
the VCR to record it for later viewing. Last week I spotted a listing
for the 1955 movie version of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer epic, KISS
ME DEADLY. A couple of nights ago I finally got around to watching it.
What does this have to do with British car, you might well ask. Well,
the first scene takes place on a nearly deserted country road where a
woman (who we find out later is clad only in a trench coat) is
desperately trying to flag down Mike Hammer's XK120 Jag. At least I
think it was a 120. Did 140s have those hideous rear fender skirts?
Anyway, after nearly crashing to avoid the woman, Hammer picks her up
and they drive off. A little later, the Jag is run off the road by a
bunch of baddies in a big black roach-like Caddy. It seems they're the
ones the woman was running from.
After torturing the woman to death, the baddies stuff the body and
Hammer into the Jag then shoved it off the road into a steep canyon in
an attempt to knock off Hammer too. Ooops, sorry. The film's quality
wasn't all that hot but I ran this sequence through several times in
slow motion and it appeared to me that a ringer was used in place of the
Jag for the crash sequence.
Three days later Hammer wakes up in the hospital, shaken up but
otherwise okay in spite of the fact the car appeared to catch fire
during the crash. After he's up and around he goes to see his Brit car
mechanic buddy to see how his Jag fared. Completely trashed. No
Problemo, he just wheels out his backup car, an MG TD. Later on, a girl
friend of one of the baddies (Hammer is hot on their trail by now)
drives up in what looked like a Hillman convertible. There were several
other British cars at the mechanic's garage that looked familiar but I
couldn't identify them. At another point in the film the baddies gave
Hammer a black '54 or '55 Corvette to prove there were no hard feelings
as long as he was willing to "cooperate". After removing all of the
booby traps, Hammer abandoned the TD in favor of the 'Vette.
I think the sound man for this film may have worked on some of the James
Bond flicks in the 60's because the 'Vette's engine sounded suspiciously
like the Jag's.
There were a number of other curiosities in the film but they didn't
have anything to do with Brit cars so I wont bore everyone with any more
of the gorey details.
Roland
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