The Naked Kiss (1964) When it came to opening scenes that would grab an audience by their throats and dare them to watch the rest of the movie, iconic pulp fictioneer Sam Fuller had no equal......
And the opening minutes of the celebrated writer-director's most lurid film became instantly legendary, beloved forever by cinema historians.....
Unless you slipped into a coma before the lights went down, how could anyone not pay attention to the spectacle of a tall blonde prostitute beating the crap out her pimp, yanking off her blonde wig to reveal a shaved bald head shinier than Yul Brynner's.......
Our take-no-crap workin' girl Kelly (Constance Towers) only extracts from the pummeled procurer the 75 bucks owed her and promptly departs for a small, sleepy town in the heartland. She's hoping to carve out an all new respectable life and what a perfect place to start......a town centered around and devoted to its hospital for ailing children....
But after a picking up some quick cash with a roll in the sheets from the town's top cop Griff (Anthony Eisley), he tells her to hit the road for the neighboring burg.. Over there, he explains, she can find suitable trade in the house of Bon Bons, run by Madame Candy (Virginia Grey).
Kelly still yearns for a normal, apple-pie life, so she quickly becomes the most valued, cherished nurse at the kids' hospital, Even further outraging Griff, she wins the heart of his best friend, the dashing young Grant (Michael Dante) the wealthy beloved scion of the town's founding family.
Delirious with happiness she's never known, Kelly finds out soon enough she's in a Sam Fuller movie, where the fertilizer will inevitably hit the ventilator......
And sure enough, Grant's revealed as a pedophile, regularly molesting his little niece. Disgusted and horrified, Kelly bashes his head in with a phone receiver. With Grant permanently disconnected and Kelly up for Murder One, she has one tough time convincing Griff his late pal was a perv who boinked little girls.
All of this plays out with Sam Fuller's trademarked, propulsive melodramatics, with every scene crafted to keep your eyes glued to the screen. You can feel free to pick your own favorite moments.....for BQ, it's Kelly laying down the law to Madame Candy when she tries to recruit one of Kelly's fellow nurses to join the 'Bon Bons'. (This consists, as you knew it would, of Kelly administering a beatdown to Candy and literally stuffing the 'Bon Bon' cash down her throat.....)
And as if to more starkly contrast the film's perversity with innocence, Fuller shamelessly Disney-fies the crippled, sick children, constantly throwing their angelic little faces at us in extreme close-ups. The only thing missing from these kids are halos and fluffly wings to go along with their crutches.....
Pure pulp goodness and prime Fuller, "The Naked Kiss" remains a defining landmark in this one-of-a-kind cinema artist's career. Not to be missed by anyone.....5 stars (*****) a BQ FIND OF FINDS. Stop in to Sam's sleepy little town real soon.....but leave the kids at home....
.
No comments:
Post a Comment