Amazon.com Review

Until Sam Fuller came along, movies in the 1960s were stillbound by Hollywood's self-imposed and often hypocritical rules ofdiscretion. The crimes and misdemeanors of lurid pulp fiction remainedon drugstore spin-racks and newsstands, diluted on screen until Fuller,with his cigar-chomping audacity and confrontational style, liberatedmovies from artificial restraint and kicked them into the meaner,darker, but more honest maturity of the post-Kennedy era. ShockCorridor announced Fuller's brazen agenda a year earlier, butThe Naked Kiss is even more astonishing because its trashy,provocative plot dares to find depth and humanity beneath the hardenedshells of corrupted souls.

The film begins like no other before it: Kelly (Constance Towers) beatsher pimp with a handbag, grabs the cash he owes her, adjusts hertelltale wig and makeup, and sets out to begin life anew, free from theshame of prostitution. Two years later she's in Grantville, a typicallyRockwellian slice of Americana, working wonders with disabled kids andgaining distance from her miserable past. She's even engaged to thetown's most respected citizen, but dark clouds are gathering: a corruptcop knows Kelly's hidden secrets; a nearby brothel taints thecommunity; and a pedophile is lurking in the shadows. Through it all,Fuller calibrates The Naked Kiss with such precision thatsentiment and sordidness can run parallel without colliding, shiftingfrom outrageous vice to shameless tear-jerking with equal facility.With twisted tricks up his sleeve, Fuller can be accused of tabloidtackiness, but that would be missing the point: In Fuller's cruel andugly world, compassion still finds a way to survive. --JeffShannon ... Read more

Reviews (20)

CRIPPLED SOULS
Produced, written and directed by Samuel Fuller, THE NAKED KISS is a little jewel. Constance Towers, in a " à la Gena Rowlands " role, gives a performance you won't forget easily. A great thanks then to Criterion which allows us to rediscover this wonderful movie.

Samuel Fuller, from his 1940 debut in Hollywood until his last movies in France, deserves to be considered as one of the great american directors of the last fifty years. He mainly visited the western, war movies and film noir genres and gave us such masterpieces as FORTY GUNS, SHOCK CORRIDOR and UNDERWORLD, U.S.A. With no big stars but with a style of its own. Raw, violent and provocative, for the eyes and also for the intellect.

THE NAKED KISS is a movie destined to shock the audience. An emotionally ultra-violent first scene prepares us to a journey through Cinderella Land and the Garden of Evil. Samuel Fuller won't let anybody unharm. The Charming Prince, the Hooker with a heart big as the world, the Cop blasé : everybody will suffer in front of Fuller's camera.

It's the third time I watch THE NAKED KISS, the first time on DVD, and I like it even more now. Its atmosphere is one of the strangest you can find on film. Remember Charles Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ? One can feel a bit of this dreamy atmosphere in Fuller's movie. The child song Constance Towers sings with the handicapped children will give you the chill.

Image is great, a few white spots now and then coming from a non-perfect copy. The sound is good but you'll have to turn your volume control. Scene access and theatrical trailer as bonus features.

A DVD for your library.

The double moral
Fuller gave us a ravishing work. plenty of kinetic energy, without anu pause, directly he engages the viewer, around a prostitute who refuses making that job, and to establish in another land with the illusion of reborn with a new name and profession.
She turns in nurse and works in a hospital. she's very pretty and soon she'll meet a man who ask for her to marry him.
Suddenly she finds out awful who'll give her life a twist of fate.
You are the judge and make your own opinion. But meanwhile her past is known by the little neighborhood and you can imagine what that means.
After inquiring her, she'll be free, but she'll let the town, because it doesn't deserve the efforts made for her.
Fuller established this bitter film just in the middle of the sixties in a world shocked by high tension : Vietnam's war, Kennedy's murder, and the racial issues.
May be this was the main reason why this film was underrated. Too much high point temperature in the social body of USA in that moment. Please notice the films awarded by the Academy in that age, there were elusive pictures, think it Mary Poppins, My fair Lady, Tom Jones , Irma la dulce , for avoid to remind the troubled state of things for that special moment.
However the film has prevailed and thanks to the efforts of Criterion it's possible to appreciatte this cult movie.
Don't miss this one.

Whatever you were expecting....
doesn't prepare you for the musical number halfway through the picture. Jarring is perhaps the best description. Just roll with it and enjoy the denouement.

an interesting and unusual film
This review is for the Criterion Collection edition

In this film a former prostitute who moves to a small town to try and get on with her life. She takes a job as a nurse in a children's hospital. She makes several friends in the town and later finds herself in trouble.

This movie has a very interesting plot and touching end but I don't want to give any spoilers

Criterion only added a theatrical trailer for special features making it kind of dull. The accompanying paper still has the standard essay on the film though.

So bad its...bad.
Don't get me wrong; I like trash. But this manages to be both very dull and very over the top at the same time. Constance Towers is ok (its no wonder she ended up doing soaps; she has that "almost convincing" way of acting). Anthony Eisley is fair. The movie has some of the absolute worst, terrible, shockingly bad child actors imaginable.

The bad acting, fake streets and sets, stereotypical characters and sheer length make this painful. Nothing rings true enough to take it seriously--but how can you laugh at crippled children and child molesters? Its like Roger Corman without the fun.

Worth seeing--maybe--but how people can attach such importance to imcompetant schlock..... ... Read more

Reviews (20)

CRIPPLED SOULS
Produced, written and directed by Samuel Fuller, THE NAKED KISS is a little jewel. Constance Towers, in a " à la Gena Rowlands " role, gives a performance you won't forget easily. A great thanks then to Criterion which allows us to rediscover this wonderful movie.

Samuel Fuller, from his 1940 debut in Hollywood until his last movies in France, deserves to be considered as one of the great american directors of the last fifty years. He mainly visited the western, war movies and film noir genres and gave us such masterpieces as FORTY GUNS, SHOCK CORRIDOR and UNDERWORLD, U.S.A. With no big stars but with a style of its own. Raw, violent and provocative, for the eyes and also for the intellect.

THE NAKED KISS is a movie destined to shock the audience. An emotionally ultra-violent first scene prepares us to a journey through Cinderella Land and the Garden of Evil. Samuel Fuller won't let anybody unharm. The Charming Prince, the Hooker with a heart big as the world, the Cop blasé : everybody will suffer in front of Fuller's camera.

It's the third time I watch THE NAKED KISS, the first time on DVD, and I like it even more now. Its atmosphere is one of the strangest you can find on film. Remember Charles Laughton's NIGHT OF THE HUNTER ? One can feel a bit of this dreamy atmosphere in Fuller's movie. The child song Constance Towers sings with the handicapped children will give you the chill.

Image is great, a few white spots now and then coming from a non-perfect copy. The sound is good but you'll have to turn your volume control. Scene access and theatrical trailer as bonus features.

A DVD for your library.

The double moral
Fuller gave us a ravishing work. plenty of kinetic energy, without anu pause, directly he engages the viewer, around a prostitute who refuses making that job, and to establish in another land with the illusion of reborn with a new name and profession.
She turns in nurse and works in a hospital. she's very pretty and soon she'll meet a man who ask for her to marry him.
Suddenly she finds out awful who'll give her life a twist of fate.
You are the judge and make your own opinion. But meanwhile her past is known by the little neighborhood and you can imagine what that means.
After inquiring her, she'll be free, but she'll let the town, because it doesn't deserve the efforts made for her.
Fuller established this bitter film just in the middle of the sixties in a world shocked by high tension : Vietnam's war, Kennedy's murder, and the racial issues.
May be this was the main reason why this film was underrated. Too much high point temperature in the social body of USA in that moment. Please notice the films awarded by the Academy in that age, there were elusive pictures, think it Mary Poppins, My fair Lady, Tom Jones , Irma la dulce , for avoid to remind the troubled state of things for that special moment.
However the film has prevailed and thanks to the efforts of Criterion it's possible to appreciatte this cult movie.
Don't miss this one.

Whatever you were expecting....
doesn't prepare you for the musical number halfway through the picture. Jarring is perhaps the best description. Just roll with it and enjoy the denouement.

an interesting and unusual film
This review is for the Criterion Collection edition

In this film a former prostitute who moves to a small town to try and get on with her life. She takes a job as a nurse in a children's hospital. She makes several friends in the town and later finds herself in trouble.

This movie has a very interesting plot and touching end but I don't want to give any spoilers

Criterion only added a theatrical trailer for special features making it kind of dull. The accompanying paper still has the standard essay on the film though.

So bad its...bad.
Don't get me wrong; I like trash. But this manages to be both very dull and very over the top at the same time. Constance Towers is ok (its no wonder she ended up doing soaps; she has that "almost convincing" way of acting). Anthony Eisley is fair. The movie has some of the absolute worst, terrible, shockingly bad child actors imaginable.

The bad acting, fake streets and sets, stereotypical characters and sheer length make this painful. Nothing rings true enough to take it seriously--but how can you laugh at crippled children and child molesters? Its like Roger Corman without the fun.

Worth seeing--maybe--but how people can attach such importance to imcompetant schlock..... ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Tear 'Em Up!
I remember sitting in a dark theater back in '71, gobbling popcorn, slurping coke, and seeing how many Milk Duds could fit in my mouth, when suddenly, "Willard" began! I was 9 and nothing could have prepared me for the treat I was about to see! "Willard" is the story of a social outcast who has a crazy mother, a total creep of a boss, and no friends. He finds some rats and becomes close to them instead. Ben and Socrates (the white rat) are the standouts. Willard (Bruce Davidson) befriends his furry pals and teaches them lots of tricks. Everything's great until Willard takes Ben and Socrates to work with him. He hides them, but they are discovered. Willard's creepy boss (Ernest Borgnine) kills Socrates. That's when things get ugly! Willard unleashes his rodent horde on his boss, telling them to "Tear him up!". It's all downhill from there, as Willard goes increasingly insane, and Ben rises to turn the rats against him. The end is great and spawned the sequel "Ben". A classic...

A boys best friend are his rats: The original "Willard"
"Willard" is not so much a great horror film as it is a [crude] film. If you are talking about a great horror film where masses of creatures attack humans than go check out Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds." With this 1971 film from director Daniel Man we are talking [scaring one with] a whole bunch of rats. The twist here is that these rats have their own Pied Piper in the person of social misfit, Willard Stiles (Bruce Davidson). The only friends poor Willard has in this world are his four-legged little friends, including his two favorites, Ben and Socrates, who he starts training to obey his every whim. Eventually he decides that his boss, Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine), needs to be taught a lesson in what ends up being one of the more memorable scenes by the former Academy Award winning actor. Willard even finds love in the figure of Joan (Sondra Locke). Unfortunately, his rat friends do not like being neglected.

This is an old fashioned film, which means these rats were actually trained by Moe and Nora Di Sesso to do thinks like walk planks and chew on someone's face. No computer generated effects for this film. But then just the idea of a horde of rats descending on a human being should be enough to send you cowering. Final Notes: Willard's mom is played by Elsa Lanchester, the original "Bride of Frankenstein." "Willard" was followed by the sequel "Ben," with its infamous title song sung by Michael Jackson. A remake of "Willard" is coming out soon and it will be interesting to see if a slick production of this story manages to take it to a new level beyond what this dark little film achieved by the strategic placement of cheese...

good horror with simplicity, a must for rat lovers
Willard is a quality horror movie. It was low budget and did not have the best film quality, but the story and plot were great. a must for rat lovers ... Read more