Lists
- ranked 55 in Total Film's 100 Greatest Movies Of All Time
- ranked 389 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 428 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 578 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills Nominees
- one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
- one of Rosenbaum's Alternate 100
- one of They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 250 Quintessential Noir Films (1940-1964)
Wait, what? Right from the superb opening sequence it's obvious that Kiss Me Deadly is something special, but it isn't until the finale that "special" begins to feel like it ought to be followed by "needs" or "Olympics". There's plenty to like, from the startlingly modern style -- it feels more like a 2000-era indie noir pastiche than a noir itself -- to the subversively villainous anti-hero, a callous reinterpretation of Mickey Spillane's hardboiled detective Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker).
Less likeable are the last ten minutes, when the film enters the twilight zone: they're well-done, certainly, and without question the primary reason why the film is so well-remembered, but utterly out of place. Worth watching, but what the hell?