On Sunday I spent a lot of the day
writing about the events of Friday.
In
the late afternoon I once again rode up Broadview to Mortimer and down Donlands
to avoid the Taste of The Danforth festival. I took Warden to Sherry Rd and
followed that to where it ends at Sinnott. Industrial streets are so nice and
peaceful on Sundays, although they smell a little oily.
There’s
construction on Birchmount at a certain point and traffic is narrowed to a
single lane, so no one could pass me as I was climbing the hill. An SUV was
beeping impatiently. When I got past the narrow part there were two teenage
guys barely old enough to drive grinning at me from the vehicle.
I
stopped again at Starbucks to use the washroom. Most of the bike lock rings
were tied up but I knew a secret that the attendees of the festival did not
know. The rusted green and yellow locked on the curb side of the ring beside
Starbucks is an abandoned bike that’s been there since April. I just locked my
velo to the forsaken one and went inside. There was a long line-up as there had
been throughout the Danforth festival. There were two attractive women in their
thirties ahead of me in line who looked like they could have been sisters. They
both had long brown hair with blonde highlights and had a sexy accent. I was
thinking that they looked Lebanese but I guess they could have been Greek.
Usually no one in line needed to know the key code to open the washroom doors
because when someone came out they would hold the door for the next person. But
one of the women was holding the door to the accessible washroom for an old
lady with a walker and so the door on the other washroom shut before she could
get to it. She was futilely trying to open the door by the handle and so I
said, “Excuse me!” She turned her head and I told her the code. While her
friend or sister was waiting for the washroom on the left to be vacant she
asked me to repeat the code. I told her it was 147#. She had me repeat it a
couple of times but still didn’t seem to get it. I tried to explain that 147
are just all of the numbers on the left side of the keypad, but then the door
opened, the person held it and she went in. When her friend or sister came out
of the washroom on the right she gave me a friendly smile.
This
time I didn’t dick around on my way home but rather went up to Mortimer as soon
as I could and took that to Broadview. I got home half an hour sooner than I
had the day before.
For
dinner I heated up some frozen chicken fingers that I’d gotten from the food
bank. They were good with ketchup, hot sauce and a beer. I watched the second
ever Mike Hammer film, Kiss Me Deadly from 1955. It was based on the 1952 novel
of the same name, which was Mickey Spillane’s sixth Mike Hammer novel. The
movie was much better made than I the Jury and it was classic film noir as all
Mike Hammer films should be. This was set in LA, though in the novel it’s New
York.
The
movie begins with a frightened young woman, played by the great Cloris Leachman
in her first film appearance, running from something out on a dark highway. A
car is approaching and she stands in its path, hoping it will stop, but closing
her eyes in case it doesn’t. The 1951 Jaguar XK 120 Roadster driven by Mike
Hammer veers away from her at the last instant and comes to a stop just off the
side of the road. He yells at her for almost wrecking his car but seeing the
state she’s in he tells her to get in. As they begin to drive, “I’d Rather Have
the Blues” by Nat King Cole plays over the radio and the opening credits roll.
When the song is finished a news report comes on, warning listeners about a
woman that has escaped from a local mental hospital. Her description fits that
of Hammer's passenger. She doesn't deny that it's her but when they come up to
a police roadblock Hammer pretends that she's his wife and the cops let them
through.
Hammer stops at a service station because one of his wheels is pulling to the right. The woman goes to the washroom. The attendant finds that the branch of a bush had gotten wedged around the wheel. The woman comes back and asks the attendant to mail a letter for her. She and hammer continue on and the plan is for him to drop her off at the nearest bus stop. He asks her name and she says she is named after a poet called Christina Rossetti. She tells him, "If you drop me off at the bus stop you can forget me, but if we don't make it, remember me". They don’t make it to the bus stop. The road is blocked by cars and enough men to overwhelm Hammer. Next, in a cheap room while Hammer is unconscious on a mattressless bed, Christina is tortured to death and then both of them are put into Hammer’s Jaguar and pushed over a cliff.
Hammer stops at a service station because one of his wheels is pulling to the right. The woman goes to the washroom. The attendant finds that the branch of a bush had gotten wedged around the wheel. The woman comes back and asks the attendant to mail a letter for her. She and hammer continue on and the plan is for him to drop her off at the nearest bus stop. He asks her name and she says she is named after a poet called Christina Rossetti. She tells him, "If you drop me off at the bus stop you can forget me, but if we don't make it, remember me". They don’t make it to the bus stop. The road is blocked by cars and enough men to overwhelm Hammer. Next, in a cheap room while Hammer is unconscious on a mattressless bed, Christina is tortured to death and then both of them are put into Hammer’s Jaguar and pushed over a cliff.
Hammer
wakes up in the hospital. When he's more or less recovered he begins to
investigate. Christina was not a patient in the hospital. She was being
interrogated.
Hammer goes to see a man named Ray Diker who left a message with his address and is followed for a long walk by a man who finally pulls out a switchblade. Hammer stops him with a few hard punches. He meets Diker and he tells Hammer that Christina was afraid like he is. Her name was Christina Bailey and Diker gives him her last address. Hammer goes to the address and the landlord lets him see her room. Her roommate, Lilly Carver moved suddenly out a couple of days ago. In the bedroom Hammer finds a book of poems by Christina Rossetti and takes it. On his way out an old man tells Hammer that he moved Carver out and she was like someone afraid to die. He tells her where he moved her. At that address he finds a woman with a trench coat on in a bed and pointing a gun at him. He sits on the bed to talk to her. She seems like she is somewhat neurotic. She puts the gun down as they talk. She says the police took Christina away. When men came to talk to her too she didn't stick around to find out what they wanted. When Hammer gets home he receives a call from a man telling him to forget he ever picked Christina up. He says it’s not a threat but says for him to look outside his door the next morning. The next morning Hammer's mechanic Nick is walking by and sees that Hammer has a new car parked outside his home. He gets in and decides to take it for a ride around the block but before he can turn the key Hammer shouts from his door for him to stop. He tells him to open the hood and he finds dynamite connected to the starter. They start driving and Nick suggests they take it out on the freeway to open it up but Hammer says they have to go to the garage to remove the other bomb that's connected to the speedometer first. Hammer promises Vic a new car if he can find out who planted the bomb. Back at his office Hammer’s secretary tells him Ray Diker left him two names: Kawolsky and Raymondo. Kawolsky was a boxer. They both knew Christina and died in traffic “accidents”. Hammer goes to see a man named Walls who drove the truck that ran over Kawolsky. He says it seemed like someone pushed him in front of his truck. Hammer goes to a gym where Kawolsky used to train but the trainer said two guys named Charlie Max and Sugar Smallhouse had already come by to warn him not to talk about the dead fighter if he valued breathing. Hammer calls someone and finds out that Max and Smallhouse work for Karl Evalo. Hammer goes to Karl’s mansion where several men are listening to a horse race and gambling around the pool. Karl’s half sister immediately accosts Hammer and begins kissing him, though they've never met. Karl sees Hammer go into the pool house and Karl sends Charlie and Sugar after him. Sugar attacks Hammer but he uses some kind of special move that we don’t see and the Sugar collapses, causing Charlie to run. Karl invites Hammer into the house. Karl admits to planting a bomb in his car. Hammer goes to see a retired opera singer who knows Nicholas Raymondo. He says he knows nothing. Hammer takes one of his rare opera records of Caruso and breaks it. The singer says Raymondo was a sad scientist with a secret and he hid something from some people. Hammer goes back to see Lilly Carver and she says they came for her the night before but she hid in the basement. Takes her to his place and tells her to lock the door, then he goes to see Nick and finds that he has been crushed to death under a car. Hammer goes to a Black bar and gets drunk while a singer does the same song he’d heard over his car radio when he picked up Christina. Hammer blacks out at the bar and the bartender wakes him up tell him that somebody just came in with a message that they've got Velda. Hammer goes back to the service station where he'd stopped with Christina and finds out that the letter that Christina had given the attendant to mail had been addressed to him. He goes back to his office to find it. Charlie and Sugar are waiting for him. They knock him out and take him to a beach house. He tries to get away but they overpower him and he ends up tied face down and spread eagle on a bed. A man enters whose face we can't see. He injects Hammer with sodium pentothal and tries to find out what “Remember me” means but all Hammer does is mumble incoherently. When they leave him alone he manages to slip one of his hands from the ropes and then puts it back in to make it look like he’s still bound. He calls for them and Karl comes in. Hammer tells him he needs to whisper the information. We don't see him take out Karl but he does. Charlie hears Karl say, “Hammer talked. He’s yours”. Charlie comes in and stabs the man tied to the bed, but it's Karl. Sugar hears a scream and comes in to find both Karl and Charlie dead. Hammer goes home and finds Lilly dressed in Velda’s clothes. He gets Lilly to read the poem "Remember" by Christina Rossetti: “Remember me when I am gone away ... if the darkness and corruption leave a vestige of the thoughts that I once had / better by far you should forget and smile / than that you should remember and be sad.” Hammer is about to leave but Lilly tells him they tried to get in last night so he takes her with him to the morgue to see Christina’s body. He figures that the "vestige" left by the corruption mentioned in the poem must be a thing that Christina swallowed and that the man that did the autopsy has it. He admits that he does. He shows Hammer a key and Hammer gives him some money but he wants more. He goes to put the key back in his desk drawer when Hammer slams the drawer hard on his hand. Hammer takes the key, which has the letters “HAC”. He drives to the Hollywood Athletic Club and tells Lilly to wait in the car. He shows the man at the desk the key but he won't help him because he's not a member. Hammer offers him money but he refuses and so Hammer slaps him till he gives in. It’s a locker key belonging to Raymondo. The locker contains a leather box. He undoes the traps. Inside the leather box is a metal box that is hot to the touch. He opens it a crack and inside is a bright light and it makes a sound like a howling wind. He closes it quickly but his hand has been burned. He says to not let anyone near it. Outside, Lilly is gone but when hammer goes to talk to the cops, Pat Chambers tells him that they fished Lilly Carver’s body out of the harbour a week ago. Pat tells Hammer that he’s found the kind of stuff that goes into an atomic bomb. Hammer calls the athletic club but there is no answer. We see the locker open, the box gone and the clerk dead. Hammer goes to see Ray Diker and forces him to tell him who the man is that he’d introduced to Velda. It’s William Mist. Hammer breaks in to the Mist Gallery. When Mist hears him he takes drugs to incapacitate himself so he can’t talk. The name on the prescription bottle is Dr Soberin, who Velda had mentioned before. Soberin’s answering service says he might be at his beach cottage.
We see Soberin with Gabrielle, the woman who’s been posing as Lilly. They have the box. Though she doesn’t know what's in the box she knows it's valuable and wants it. She shoots and kills Soberin. As he dies he tells her not to open it. Gabrielle starts to open the box and Hammer arrives. She points her gun at Hammer, tells him to kiss her and then shoots him. He Collapses on the floor. Gabrielle opens the box and begins to scream in agony. Hammer recovers and crawls out of the room as Gabrielle is engulfed in flames. The sound effects for the radiation are ridiculous. It's that electronic squeaking one heard from flying saucers in movies of the same era. He calls for Velda and finds her in another locked room. They escape from the house just before it explodes.
Hammer goes to see a man named Ray Diker who left a message with his address and is followed for a long walk by a man who finally pulls out a switchblade. Hammer stops him with a few hard punches. He meets Diker and he tells Hammer that Christina was afraid like he is. Her name was Christina Bailey and Diker gives him her last address. Hammer goes to the address and the landlord lets him see her room. Her roommate, Lilly Carver moved suddenly out a couple of days ago. In the bedroom Hammer finds a book of poems by Christina Rossetti and takes it. On his way out an old man tells Hammer that he moved Carver out and she was like someone afraid to die. He tells her where he moved her. At that address he finds a woman with a trench coat on in a bed and pointing a gun at him. He sits on the bed to talk to her. She seems like she is somewhat neurotic. She puts the gun down as they talk. She says the police took Christina away. When men came to talk to her too she didn't stick around to find out what they wanted. When Hammer gets home he receives a call from a man telling him to forget he ever picked Christina up. He says it’s not a threat but says for him to look outside his door the next morning. The next morning Hammer's mechanic Nick is walking by and sees that Hammer has a new car parked outside his home. He gets in and decides to take it for a ride around the block but before he can turn the key Hammer shouts from his door for him to stop. He tells him to open the hood and he finds dynamite connected to the starter. They start driving and Nick suggests they take it out on the freeway to open it up but Hammer says they have to go to the garage to remove the other bomb that's connected to the speedometer first. Hammer promises Vic a new car if he can find out who planted the bomb. Back at his office Hammer’s secretary tells him Ray Diker left him two names: Kawolsky and Raymondo. Kawolsky was a boxer. They both knew Christina and died in traffic “accidents”. Hammer goes to see a man named Walls who drove the truck that ran over Kawolsky. He says it seemed like someone pushed him in front of his truck. Hammer goes to a gym where Kawolsky used to train but the trainer said two guys named Charlie Max and Sugar Smallhouse had already come by to warn him not to talk about the dead fighter if he valued breathing. Hammer calls someone and finds out that Max and Smallhouse work for Karl Evalo. Hammer goes to Karl’s mansion where several men are listening to a horse race and gambling around the pool. Karl’s half sister immediately accosts Hammer and begins kissing him, though they've never met. Karl sees Hammer go into the pool house and Karl sends Charlie and Sugar after him. Sugar attacks Hammer but he uses some kind of special move that we don’t see and the Sugar collapses, causing Charlie to run. Karl invites Hammer into the house. Karl admits to planting a bomb in his car. Hammer goes to see a retired opera singer who knows Nicholas Raymondo. He says he knows nothing. Hammer takes one of his rare opera records of Caruso and breaks it. The singer says Raymondo was a sad scientist with a secret and he hid something from some people. Hammer goes back to see Lilly Carver and she says they came for her the night before but she hid in the basement. Takes her to his place and tells her to lock the door, then he goes to see Nick and finds that he has been crushed to death under a car. Hammer goes to a Black bar and gets drunk while a singer does the same song he’d heard over his car radio when he picked up Christina. Hammer blacks out at the bar and the bartender wakes him up tell him that somebody just came in with a message that they've got Velda. Hammer goes back to the service station where he'd stopped with Christina and finds out that the letter that Christina had given the attendant to mail had been addressed to him. He goes back to his office to find it. Charlie and Sugar are waiting for him. They knock him out and take him to a beach house. He tries to get away but they overpower him and he ends up tied face down and spread eagle on a bed. A man enters whose face we can't see. He injects Hammer with sodium pentothal and tries to find out what “Remember me” means but all Hammer does is mumble incoherently. When they leave him alone he manages to slip one of his hands from the ropes and then puts it back in to make it look like he’s still bound. He calls for them and Karl comes in. Hammer tells him he needs to whisper the information. We don't see him take out Karl but he does. Charlie hears Karl say, “Hammer talked. He’s yours”. Charlie comes in and stabs the man tied to the bed, but it's Karl. Sugar hears a scream and comes in to find both Karl and Charlie dead. Hammer goes home and finds Lilly dressed in Velda’s clothes. He gets Lilly to read the poem "Remember" by Christina Rossetti: “Remember me when I am gone away ... if the darkness and corruption leave a vestige of the thoughts that I once had / better by far you should forget and smile / than that you should remember and be sad.” Hammer is about to leave but Lilly tells him they tried to get in last night so he takes her with him to the morgue to see Christina’s body. He figures that the "vestige" left by the corruption mentioned in the poem must be a thing that Christina swallowed and that the man that did the autopsy has it. He admits that he does. He shows Hammer a key and Hammer gives him some money but he wants more. He goes to put the key back in his desk drawer when Hammer slams the drawer hard on his hand. Hammer takes the key, which has the letters “HAC”. He drives to the Hollywood Athletic Club and tells Lilly to wait in the car. He shows the man at the desk the key but he won't help him because he's not a member. Hammer offers him money but he refuses and so Hammer slaps him till he gives in. It’s a locker key belonging to Raymondo. The locker contains a leather box. He undoes the traps. Inside the leather box is a metal box that is hot to the touch. He opens it a crack and inside is a bright light and it makes a sound like a howling wind. He closes it quickly but his hand has been burned. He says to not let anyone near it. Outside, Lilly is gone but when hammer goes to talk to the cops, Pat Chambers tells him that they fished Lilly Carver’s body out of the harbour a week ago. Pat tells Hammer that he’s found the kind of stuff that goes into an atomic bomb. Hammer calls the athletic club but there is no answer. We see the locker open, the box gone and the clerk dead. Hammer goes to see Ray Diker and forces him to tell him who the man is that he’d introduced to Velda. It’s William Mist. Hammer breaks in to the Mist Gallery. When Mist hears him he takes drugs to incapacitate himself so he can’t talk. The name on the prescription bottle is Dr Soberin, who Velda had mentioned before. Soberin’s answering service says he might be at his beach cottage.
We see Soberin with Gabrielle, the woman who’s been posing as Lilly. They have the box. Though she doesn’t know what's in the box she knows it's valuable and wants it. She shoots and kills Soberin. As he dies he tells her not to open it. Gabrielle starts to open the box and Hammer arrives. She points her gun at Hammer, tells him to kiss her and then shoots him. He Collapses on the floor. Gabrielle opens the box and begins to scream in agony. Hammer recovers and crawls out of the room as Gabrielle is engulfed in flames. The sound effects for the radiation are ridiculous. It's that electronic squeaking one heard from flying saucers in movies of the same era. He calls for Velda and finds her in another locked room. They escape from the house just before it explodes.
Velda
was played by Maxine Cooper. Karl’s sister, Friday was played by Marian Carr,
Gabrielle was played by Gaby Rodgers and of course Cloris Leachman was
Christina. Gaby Rodgers was married to Jerry Lieber, who co-wrote Jailhouse
Rock.
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