Review of The Honeymoon Killers (1970) by Allan C — 27 Jan 2018

Interesting if flawed film deserves it's cult status. Shirley Stoler plays an obese nurse who teams up with her toupee-wearing gigolo boyfriend, Tony Lo Bianco, to romance and swindle money from lonely rich women.

Writer/director Leonard Kastle made this film in response to "Bonnie & Clyde," which he felt was too romanticized of a young-lovers-on-the-run crime story. Kastle instead makes this a gritty, black & white, kitchen sink drama type of film that often seems intentionally repellent and off putting to it's audience, which I quite liked.

What I didn't like was Stoler's over-the-top performance, which seemed more appropriately placed into a low-budget John Waters film than a legitimate drama. Despite her over-acting, it's a fascinating tale of jealousies between the two lovers and never knowing who is going to stab who in the back first.

An interesting note of trivia is that Martin Scorsese was the original director on this film, but was fired over creative differences. Overall, "The Honeymoon Killers" is a fascinating film and although French New Wave director François Truffaut called this his favorite American film, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far.