Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

 Kiss Me Deadly is a film noir to end all film noirs, which in a way it was; it was one of the last true film noirs of the cycle that began after WW II and eventually ended in 1955 with this corrosive essay about the anger, violence and fear of nuclear war that lay not too far beneath the placid surface of Eisenhower America.  Some of the things I like best about Kiss Me Deadly include:

The titles, which roll upward, alerting us to the many off-kilter elements of the film, including everything from Velda's ballet barre to Hammer's early answering machine using a reel-to-reel tape recorder.

It captures the diversity of 1950's America, the film including Greeks, Italians, gay men and women and a significant number of African-Americans, including a boxing promoter (Juano Hernandez), a singer (Mady Comfort) and a bartender (Art Loggins).

An unusual number of important roles for women: Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rogers, Maxine Cooper.

An impressive number of top-notch character actors: Percy Helton, Jack Elam, Strother Martin

An impressive script by A.I. Bezzerides from Mickey Spillaine's novel (which the script undermines and parodies).  It effectively uses cultural and mythical references, including Caruso and Cerberus 

A superb performance by Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer, capturing the character's sleazy charm as well as his general cluelessness.

Black-and-white cinematography by Ernest Laszlo who, as he did in D.O.A.(1949), captures the darkness of Los Angeles even in the broad daylight, using different camera angles to capture the confusion of Hammer as he tries to figure things out.

The direction of Robert Aldrich, as he uses violence as Hammer's way of finding out things until Hammer and his girlfriend themselves become the victims.

The ending. The movie originally released ended with Hammer and Velda in a beach house that blows up; now Aldrich's original ending has been restored, with them both making it to safety in the ocean, suggesting that life will begin all over again after a nuclear war, as it did later in Roger Corman's marvelous Teenage Caveman (1958).