Stunning noir - somebody, I think it was either Scorsese or Mark Cousins, claimed that Noir began with Double Indemnity and ended with this. (It was Scorsese.)
Great opening in which Ralph Meeker barely stops to help damsel in distress - who then is tortured to death, naked... Ernest Laszlo is shooting the night exteriors from the back of the car, giving it a great look.
Meeker as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer looks positively gleeful when he's sadistically hurting people. (The adaptation is A.I. Bezzerides.)
Aldrich shoots for the acting and uses impressive angles to provide tension - frequently from very high. And that ending - the Pandora's Box, the sound effects, the couple in the sea.. incredible.
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