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Rating:  -
A Gratin of spastic awkward forced contoversy fisting its way stiffly through its 1950's girdle, Naked Kiss seeks to be a controversial film yet doesn't feel remotely real in any way. Comically sad and stiffly acted, it is the epitome of a 1950's "B" movie (although a "B" may be somewhat kind) it is the vegas lounge singer of movies not purposefully campy or kitsch, it truly tries to get off the ground but has no wings... or legs for that matter yet it nobly pushes forth its best effort and THAT is the stuff of which genres are born.
In many ways, this film is kind of what the transition between the '50's & '60's were about. An awkward attempt to grow up too fast without knowing how. We get to watch the spasmotic growing pains of the "Me generation" pushing farther & faster than they can handle.
Come for the cheese, stay for the quirkyness.
Rating:  -
I'm on Day Three of a self-imposed Sam Fuller marathon. I had never heard of him until recently and now I can't stop watching. It's drive-in noir--tasteless, exploitative, compelling, well-photographed, neatly cast, and, for the most part--and with some eye-popping exceptions--astonishingly well-acted for what they are. A couple more of his movies, and I will be able to recognize a Sam Fuller blindfolded.
Rating: -
Taken by many as one of Sam Fuller's masterpieces, THE NAKED KISS is so completely over-the-top that it seems to create a world all its own. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about it is that the film seems to be advertising itself as a form of hyperrealism in its sensational exploitation of prostitution, child molestation, civic corruption, and (above all) capitalism, yet everything it does is so operatic and charged with hallucinatory detail that it might as well be taking place in Narnia and Middle Earth. The bordello in the film's locale, for example, features prostitutes who ply their wares wearing high heels, teddies, and giant satin heart-shaped headpieces; the hospital for handicapped children seems to force all its patients to wear pirate hats around the clock (even to bed!). And there's no explanation offered for even smaller details, such as why the film's heroine (a former hooker trying to walk the straight and narrow) handles all problems large or small by adminstering vicious beatings, or even why she is almost the only character in the entire film who goes by her first name (rather than by her last name, as Griff and Grant do, or by an exotric moniker, as in the case of Bunny, Buff, Marshmallow, and Hatrack). It might be mere camp, given this surrealism and also the lusciously overripe dialogue Fuller provides his characters, but it becomes genuinely elevated to a much higher level by the artistry of Fuller's sensational direction, particularly in the phenomenal opening scenes involving the (temporarily balded!) heroine beating her pimp and her pick-up by the town's corrupt cop; by the beautiful cinematography of Stanley Cortez; and by the very sincere and thoughtful performance in the lead role of Constance Towers, who is rather like a more expressive Tippi Hedren and who gets to display her beautiful singing voice in yet another of the film's bizarre and inexplicable plot turns.
Rating: -
This review is for the 1998 Criterion DVD.
The movie revolves around a nomadic prostitute named Kelly (Constance Towers) who comes to a small town and as luck would have it, her first client or "john" is a local plainclothes policeman, who clearly has too much free time on his hands, named Captain Griff. The morning after her "trick" with this self-righteous, sexually-exploitive cop, she takes a long look in the mirror and decides to become Mother Superior and work in a local hospital for disabled kids. Later, Kelly meets one of the country's most eligible bachelors, J.L. Grant, who also happens to be Captain Griff's best friend. Kelly impresses J.L. by being the beautiful and brilliant "renaissance woman" and they fall in love and plan to marry. But between Griff's knowledge of Kelly's past and J.L.'s dark, hidden secret, things just don't go as planned.
The movie was clearly shot on a shoestring budget. The acting is at times suspect and there are instances where the macabre and controversial issues aren't "sold" that well to the audience. I have to give the film some credit in that it takes on a number of taboos issues for 1964 and even today such as prostitution, abortion and criminal sexual perversion, and clearly chastises behaviors as morally repugnant. The one topic that it glazed over with no proper recourse was the hypocrisy of the sexual relationship of the police captain with Kelly. But all in all, it's a movie that's interesting to watch, but personally, I didn't feel entertained by the topics nor was I impressed with the overall production of the film.
The B&W widescreen transfer is a minor disappointment - especially since this was released by of all companies, Criterion. Tiny specs of deterioration were observable throughout the entire picture. I guess this was one of Criterion's earlier projects and they've certainly flattened the learning curve since. Another "Un-Criterion" disappointment was that the only bonus is the original trailer.
Movie: B-
DVD Quality: B
Rating:  -
Sam Fuller was well ahead of his time and that shows in most of his movies but this in my opinion was probably his best film. It is almost indefinable.
From the first few minutes of the movie when we find ourselves in an unexplained and unprefaced violent fast action darkly lit sequence of a knock down drag out fight between a man and a woman who in the process looses her wig to reveal her bald head, to quote the Wizard of Oz, we realize are not in Kansas anymore.
The first time I watched this movie after the initial scene of violence the film almost seemed like a bad "b movie" except that it continued to show strange little nuances of brilliance. The combination makes one both entertained, off balance and uneasy.
Constance Towers plays Kelly is a prostitute who tries to escape her past but her initial attempt lands her back in a house of ill repute. Finally fed up with that life she tries again to move to quaint Grantville where she finds work as a nurse working with children. She catches the eye of the town's leading citizen (aptly named Grant). They fall in love but Kelly finally feels compelled to tell Grant about her past. Rather than be repulsed he proposes marriage. He too has a secret life.
The studio edited some of the scenes of the original film and Fuller threatened to take his name off the picture but the edits, some of which are obvious, I believe are "happy accidents" that actually contribute to the power of the film.
Somehow Sam Fuller takes all the elements of a trashy movie and makes them into a surreal social commentary.
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