So many unlikable characters, especially that irritating cop that took away Hammer's PI licence. Mike Hammer did all the work, if it wasn't for him the dumb cops wouldn't have solved anything. And not even a thank you, just a smart arse remark near the end.

Best line in the movie:

Mike Hammer: Okay, how much did they give you? I'll top it.

Eddie Yeager: You can't top this. They said they'd let me breathe.

@ausfem said:

So many unlikable characters, especially that irritating cop that took away Hammer's PI licence. Mike Hammer did all the work, if it wasn't for him the dumb cops wouldn't have solved anything. And not even a thank you, just a smart arse remark near the end.

Best line in the movie:

Mike Hammer: Okay, how much did they give you? I'll top it.

Eddie Yeager: You can't top this. They said they'd let me breathe.

Yes, director Robert Aldrich's very dark and disturbing reworking of Mickey Spillane's novel does have many unlikable characters, including Hammer himself (until later in the film, when the lines he read from the Christina Rossetti poem "Remember" finally seem to transform him into something more chivalrous).

This film is much more complex and multi-leveled than many viewers may realize; which is perhaps why, in 1999, Kiss Me Deadly was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Here is an excellent extended analysis of the film from the Caffé [sic] Noir blog.

Thanks for that, it was very interesting. I guess when the movie was released in the 50's it would have been considered ultra violent. These days though you don't even blink an eye when it comes to Hammer's personality traits or thuggery as we've seen much worse in movies today.