The Naked Kiss (1964)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

From my favorite movies..

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

After watching The Naked Kiss I'm disappointed that music isn't like this in more modern day movies. I don't know why, but, the smooth jazz that is heard in the movie adds a flare to it that keeps me glued to the screen. It honestly something I was not going to expect from a film during the 1960s. And that opening scene is just so perfectly done. The shakiness of the camera along with the jazz music it is just so good that from that point on I had no idea what to expect. Either way the film left me impressed by the end of it that I was not disappointed. I loved everything about it that it definitely needs to be something you watch when you have the free time. Cause it will help you develop more love for these classic films.

This was kind of an odd movie. I liked how different it was and the fact that a female was the protagonist and "villan" in the movie. I liked the way how the lighting was alternated between light and dark, it really gave a deceiving feel; it was as though everything was all happy and bright but there was a lot of evil lurking beyond our eyes. The characters did really well at portraying their roles. You could see how hard she was trying to keep a normal life and you could see that he wasn't all good looks and charms and he had another side to him, too. I felt like the meaning was that you don't know what kind of secrets people can hide. It was showing that no matter how perfect someone comes off as, they will definitely have skeletons in their closet, maybe less or more than yours.

If no one had told me The Naked Kiss was a low-budget movie, I wouldn't have known. In addition to not appearing to be a low-budget movie, it also doesn't appear out of place in the context of today's movies.Both the editing and movement of the camera were skillful. The film utilized techniques like ellipses and eyeline-matching to tell the story of Kelly (Constance Towers) not just well, but in a stunning manner. Take, for instance, the opening scene: a (mostly) POV shot of Kelly in the middle of an outrage, followed by the credits posed over her, fixing her appearance, the camera acting as the "mirror." This is the kind of stylistic choice that consistently adds to the power that Towers brings to the table throughout the film.My largest complaints with the movie, however, are with Kelly's relationship to Griff (Anthony Eisley), a local police captain. Griff's character very clearly represents male expectations of and disdain for a non-virginal (and unapologetic) woman operating on her own whims, wants, and principles. However, he seems to be so arbitrarily hot-and-cold with Kelly, leading me to feel quite confused about his contradictory actions toward the end.Maybe it's the independence of low-budget filmmaking that allowed The Naked Kiss to tackle the controversial topics that it does. Though the topics it covers even get upsetting, the film is somehow absolutely a feel-good movie. The prostitute-turned-saint-and-savior story told by The Naked Kiss isn't only what it sounds like, and the ride along the way is enjoyable from beginning to end.The audience gets to see many different sides of Towers' character Kelly. Her "past" self, her desire to be "better," her kind actions and fantasies (one particularly sweet fantasy sequence during a story-telling session at the children's hospital comes to mind) and even what she is capable of. Towers' performance is excellent in all of these aspects.The story told by The Naked Kiss, in addition to the way it was told, is still incredibly relevant and important.

Others who understand Samuel Fuller's brave, groundbreaking daring genius have written excellent reviews of this highly unusual if technically lacking film that from 1964 explores topics still shocking today. I'm not easily forgiving or surprised, but "The Naked Kiss" manages to overcome its faults (wooden acting, sometimes bludgeoning but perhaps necessary sermonizing)by producing what no other film or film maker that I know of did at the time, maybe still. It is a film about the seamy underside of life and its human actors that tells it like it almost is, as much as it could at the time. Like one alcoholic sharing his story with another, it works because we believe in the sincerity of the storyteller. Forget all the low budget criticism; what studio actor would dare have been associated with a film about prostitutes, abortion, violence and pedophilia, all in the perspective of a prophet revealing the hypocrisy of moral society. The biblical prophets were unpopular in their time, too, and Sam Fuller remains a visionary whose work and voice are and remain absolutely unique.