The Naked Kiss (Widescreen)

The film begins like no other before it: Kelly (Constance Towers) beats her pimp with a handbag, grabs the cash he owes her, adjusts her telltale wig and makeup, and sets out to begin life anew, free from the shame of prostitution. Two years later she's in Grantville, a typically Rockwellian slice of Americana, working wonders with disabled kids and gaining distance from her miserable past. She's even engaged to the town's most respected citizen, but dark clouds are gathering: a corrupt cop knows Kelly's hidden secrets; a nearby brothel taints the community; and a pedophile is lurking in the shadows. Through it all, Fuller calibrates The Naked Kiss with such precision that sentiment and sordidness can run parallel without colliding, shifting from outrageous vice to shameless tear-jerking with equal facility. With twisted tricks up his sleeve, Fuller can be accused of tabloid tackiness, but that would be missing the point: In Fuller's cruel and ugly world, compassion still finds a way to survive. --Jeff Shannon

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.   March 16, 2004
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.....


DON'T MAKE KELLY MAD.....   October 20, 2002
Sensational 60's b&w shocker from Sam Fuller about a hooker named Kelly who, as we see in the opening, has a nasty temper. Her "tout" shaved her head bald while she was passed out and she beats the hell out of him with her clutch bag! She splits and becomes a traveling hooker. (Well, I guess it beats peddling Mary Kaye.) She winds up in a very small town and her first customer is the local cop. Coming to like the small town life, she rents a room from a sweet old lady who has her own sad story and decides to go straight. But the cop is nervous about having Kelly around so he sends her across the river to a whorehouse run by Candy who takes a liking to her and offers her a job as one of her "Bon-Bons". But Kelly nixes the offer and goes back to the small town and gets a job as a nurse's aide in the crippled children's wing of the local hospital. There she finds what she's been looking for---purpose. Kelly is really a good person. But she has to make one more trip across the river to Candy's. She beats the hell out of Candy (with that trusty clutch bag again) for trying to recruit a down-on-her-luck co-worker at the hospital. She then stuffs the money Candy had given the girl right in Candy's mouth. Then things really begin to happen. A rich guy who's the "pillar" of the community wants to marry her and Kelly thinks she's met her Prince Charming until she catches him molesting a little girl! That nasty temper flares again and she shoots him. Of course this isn't the end but I can't say any more. The serpentine story never stops. The acting is first rate and the cast is perfect for each of their individual roles. Especially Constance Towers as Kelly and Virginia Grey as Candy. The two have memorable confrontations. As Kelly sits in jail for murder, Candy is called in to give a statement. She does. She says to Kelly, "Nobody stuffs dirty money in MY mouth!" This is an engrossing, if somewhat campy, film but well worth the watching. Criterion has done a fine job in the DVD presentation. Check it out and enjoy.