Review of The Naked Kiss (1964) by Dustin G — 17 Jul 2011

I love Sam Fuller. A great storyteller, enthralling to listen to and watch in interviews, uncompromising in his vision.

Which is why it pains me to rate this film so low. I just did not get this movie. Or, I did get it and just felt it sucked. I know it's a B-movie, as many of Fuller's films were, and certain things are to be forgiven in that context, but even with that in mind I didn't think this was a good movie.

The acting was terrible, though Constance Towers was pretty good I guess, the story was uninteresting and slow, though one brave, shocking revelation (especially for 1964) toward the end of the film was the best bit of the whole yarn. The dialogue was overly cheesy, as was most of the stuff with the handicapped children and the ending felt like a cop out and silly.

I'm sure to hear Fuller tell this story to you himself, it would be fascinating and wonderful, but somewhere between that meeting with his producer and the finished product, something went wrong and The Naked Kiss is Fuller's worst realized picture.