5/18/1955 Kiss Me Deadly at the movies

May 18, 1955.  Well, that is one ugly poster.  On this date Kiss Me Deadly was released, the second movie based on one of Mickey Spillaine's Mike Hammer novels.  Ralph Meeker starred as Miss Marple.  Okay, he played Mike Hammer.  In 1999 it was added to the National Film Registry, along with Laura, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Duck Amuck, among others.

5/18/1955 Kiss Me Deadly is released

May 18, 1955.  Well, that is one ugly poster.  On this date Kiss Me Deadly was released, the second movie based on one of Mickey Spillaine's Mike Hammer novels.  Ralph Meeker starred as you-know-who.  In 1999 it was added to the National Film Registry,    along with Laura, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Duck Amuck, among others.

3/9/1918 Mickey Spillaine is born

March 9, 1918.  One of the most controversial of crime writers was born this day in Brooklyn.  His books about private eye Mike Hammer were panned by many critics as hyper-violent and sub-literate, but the public bought them by the millions.  In 1995 the Mystery Writers of America gave him the Grand Master Award.  He passed away in 2006 in the part of South Carolina he had made his home since he first flew over it in an Air Force plane in the 1940s.