Mike Hammer is a tough, Los Angeles-based private investigator who, with the assistance of his secretary/lover Velda, typically works on "penny-ante divorce cases". One evening on a lonely country road north of the city, Hammer gives a ride to Christina, an attractive hitchhiker wearing nothing but a trench coat, who has escaped from a nearby psychiatric hospital. Thugs waylay them, and Hammer awakens in some unknown location where he hears Christina screaming and being tortured to death. The thugs then push Hammer's car off a cliff with Christina's body and an unconscious Hammer inside. Hammer next awakens in a hospital with Velda by his bedside. He decides to pursue the case, for vengeance, a sense of guilt (as Christina had asked him to "remember me" if she got killed), and because "she (Christina) must be connected with something big" behind it all.
The twisting plot takes Hammer to the apartment of Lily Carver, who says she is Christina's ex-roommate. Lily tells Hammer she has gone into hiding and asks Hammer to protect her. It turns out that she is after a mysterious box that, she believes, has contents worth a fortune. Hammer soon finds himself being stalked by Charlie Max and Sugar Smallhouse, two hired killers working under gangster Carl Evello; they are also seeking the mysterious box. Hammer manages to track Carl, and confronts him during a party at his lavish mansion. Carl is initially impressed by Hammer's brazenness and offers to work out a deal, but swiftly rescinds.....
Directed by Robert Aldrich
Produced by Robert Aldrich
Screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides
Robert Aldrich (uncredited)
Based on Kiss Me, Deadly
by Mickey Spillane
Starring
Ralph Meeker
Albert Dekker
Paul Stewart
Juano Hernandez
Music by Frank De Vol
Cinematography Ernest Laszlo
Edited by Michael Luciano