Kiss Me Deadly (1955)

Maxine Cooper: Velda Wickman

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mike Hammer : You're never around when I need you.

  Velda : You never need me when I'm around.

• Velda : Do me a favor, will you? Keep away from the windows. Somebody might... blow you a kiss.

• Velda : You want to avenge the death of your dear friend. How touching. How sweet. How nicely it justifies your quest for the great whatsit.

• Velda : Christina Georgina Rossetti. Poetess, English, born 1830, died 1894. Your Christina was being held in that hospital for interrogation... What's the point of all this, if it's any of my business?

  Mike Hammer : She told me if I dropped her off at the bus station, I could forget her. But if she didn't make it, she said, "Remember me."

  Velda : So, remember her. She's dead. But I'm not dead. Hey, remember me?

  Mike Hammer : Yeah. I remember you from somewhere.

• [Lily is hiding in Mike's apartment] 

  Mike Hammer : *They* tried to get her last night.

  Velda : They? A wonderful word. And who are they? They're the nameless ones who kill people for the great whatsit. Does it exist? Who cares? Everyone everywhere is so involved in the fruitless search for what? Why don't you turn her over to Pat? It's his job to protect her, if she needs protection. Or to question her if that's what's needed. Why are you always tryin' to make a noise like a cop?

• Mike Hammer : We're gonna steer away from these penny-ante divorce cases for a while. I've got a line on something better. That girl I picked up was mixed up in something big.

  Velda : And a cut of something big could be something big.

  Mike Hammer : I want you to find out all you can about her.

  Velda : First, you find a little thread, the little thread leads you to a string, and the string leads you to a rope, and from the rope you hang by the neck. What kind of a girl was she, this friend of yours, Christina?