When writer-director Billy Wilder made `Kiss Me, Stupid' in 1964, he was riding high: His comedy-drama `The Apartment' had won the Oscar as best picture in 1960 and Wilder's `Irma La Douce,' released in 1963, had been a smash. `Stupid,' however, would not receive critical raves or a warm reception at the box office. Instead it would be condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, banned in several cities and dropped by its original distributor United Artists, which gave `Stupid' a limited and unsuccessful release through its art-film branch Lopert Films. Seen today, it's laughable to think that this innuendo-laden but mostly innocuous comedy created such a furor. Admittedly, Wilder pushed the boundaries of good taste with some of the dialogue and imagery. Even so the movie is far more nutty than smutty. Set in the Nevada hamlet of Climax, `Stupid' tells the story of church organist and piano teacher Orville J. Spooner (Ray Walston), who is insanely overprotective of his adoring and adorable wife Zelda (Felicia Farr, who was married to Jack Lemmon offscreen). Orville and buddy Barney (Cliff Osmond) write songs in their spare time one is called `I'm Taking Mom to the Junior Prom Cuz She's a Better Twister Than My Sister,' and another begins, `I'm a poached egg without a piece of toast/Yorkshire Pudding without a beef to roast' and they're excited when singing sensation Dino (Dean Martin as the same kind of leering lush he usually played in his nightclub act and on TV) is stranded in town. Orville thinks he can sell some material to Dino, but the aspiring tunesmith is alarmed by Dino's reputation as a great seducer and fears Zelda, a Dino fan, will end up in the star's clutches. So Orville hires Polly (Kim Novak), a trampy type with teased platinum hair who works at the local dive known as The Belly Button, to pretend to be his wife while he entertains Dino for an evening. Thanks to a series of surprises, it becomes a night to remember for all concerned, including Zelda, who wasn't even supposed to be a part of it in the first place. As the somewhat similar `Indecent Proposal' would do almost 30 years later, `Stupid' ultimately states that the best way to test a relationship is to walk away from it for a while and see what happens. What separates `Stupid' from so many of the so-called `sex comedies' of the period is its combination of cynicism and directness. Beneath the teasing and the titillation there are some genuinely provocative themes about human nature and the sacrifices we're willing to make to catch a break. Although the movie has what might be termed a happy ending, it's a conclusion with more than a few dark clouds hanging over it. Wilder and Diamond must have somehow known that the second half of the 1960s would be fraught with social changes and the re-evaluation of old standards. What looked like trash in 1964 seems pretty prescient when screened today.
97 Reviews
The souring of the American Dream
MOscarbradley18 July 2005
This is a low and deeply cynical comedy even by Billy Wilder's standards. It's about the American Dream and says a man would sell his wife to achieve it. Ray Walston, (brilliantly cast; nobody played sharper or more venal in comedy than he did - remember, he once even played the devil?), is the small-town songwriter who tries to sell some of his songs to a visiting superstar called Dino, (Dean Martin, parodying himself as a womanizing, hard-drinking piece of scum). The way he does it is to pass his wife off as a piece of bait for Martin to sleep with and hopefully take his songs. But being the all-American hypocrite that he is, he can't bring himself to use his real wife so he packs her off to a motel and hires the local floozie Polly the Pistol (Kim Novak) to take her place.
The film is very funny in the way it undermines our conventional sense of morality. It's like a French Farce full of dirty American gags and in some ways is one of Wilder's best (though under-valued) films. The only 'nice' character in the whole picture is Polly and Novak brings to the part the same kind of touching naiveté we associate with Monroe. (It's a very Monroe-like performance). And this is probably the best acting Novak has done outside of "Vertigo" and possibly "Picnic"; (her Polly is like an older, more sullied version of the character she played in "Picnic"). A lot of Americans found this film deeply offensive, (it was a bigger success in Europe), and it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency.
The film is very funny in the way it undermines our conventional sense of morality. It's like a French Farce full of dirty American gags and in some ways is one of Wilder's best (though under-valued) films. The only 'nice' character in the whole picture is Polly and Novak brings to the part the same kind of touching naiveté we associate with Monroe. (It's a very Monroe-like performance). And this is probably the best acting Novak has done outside of "Vertigo" and possibly "Picnic"; (her Polly is like an older, more sullied version of the character she played in "Picnic"). A lot of Americans found this film deeply offensive, (it was a bigger success in Europe), and it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency.
Unjustly Maligned-Not Great but Far From a Disaster
Franklin-21 December 1999
Billy Wilder's career as a hitmaker ended with this for-its-time smutty sex comedy, yet it shows all of the flaws and strengths that once made him one of Hollywood's top directors and, for all its sexual innuendo, is really a very sweet film. Although Ray Walston is terribly miscast as small-town songwriter Orville J. Spooner, who hires a local prostitute (Kim Novak) to impersonate his wife (Felicia Farr) so he can use her to sell singing star Dino (Dean Martin) his songs, the other three stars are dynamite. Farr displays a crack sense of comic timing. Martin, one of Hollywood's most underrated actors, is dead on in a parody of his own image. And Novak gives the performance of her career as the romantic small-town slut trying to earn enough money to get her trailer out of the desert.
As with most of Wilder's films, all the cynicism and sex play mask a romantic heart: Polly and Orville begin to believe in her masquerade as his wife, until he kicks Dino out to protect her honor. The two develop a genuine affection for each other that transcends their brief sexual encounter.
At the time of its release, it was a major scandal, condemned by the Legion of Decency and disowned by United Artists. Now, it seems less shocking and ranks among the second tier of Billy Wilder's work. It's hardly as good as "Some Like It Hot" or "Sunset Boulevard," but never descends to the shoddiness of "The Front Page."
As with most of Wilder's films, all the cynicism and sex play mask a romantic heart: Polly and Orville begin to believe in her masquerade as his wife, until he kicks Dino out to protect her honor. The two develop a genuine affection for each other that transcends their brief sexual encounter.
At the time of its release, it was a major scandal, condemned by the Legion of Decency and disowned by United Artists. Now, it seems less shocking and ranks among the second tier of Billy Wilder's work. It's hardly as good as "Some Like It Hot" or "Sunset Boulevard," but never descends to the shoddiness of "The Front Page."
Very Funny in Two Versions
lzf027 June 2002
Did you know that there are two released versions of this film? The European release is slightly different from the American release. I have just seen the European version in a sparkling print shown in New York. The tint of the American prints seem to be a darker than the European print. The biggest difference is the trailer scene between Dean Martin and Felicia Farr. Wilder was forced to re-shoot the scene by the American censors. In the European version, there is no doubt that Martin and Farr have a sexual encounter during their night together. This makes the film stronger, but the American scene is much, much funnier and we are left with a doubt as to whether Dean and the pianist's wife had a one night stand.
Seeing this film with an audience was a revelation! The jokes work 99% of the time and laughter filled the theater from the first frame until the last frame. I do feel that with Kim Novack and Ray Walston in pivotal roles, we are given the bus and truck company instead of the heavy hitters. What a film this would have been had these roles been played by Marilyn Monroe and Peter Sellers! Jack Lemmon would have been an excellent choice as well for the Walston role. Now Walston is fine; he is a skillful comic actor but he lacks a certain charisma which prevented him from becoming a top star. Novack, while never a great actress, actually plays the comedy quite well. It is a pleasant surprise. I have also been bothered by Ian Freebairn-Smith's dubbing of Walston's singing voice in the two songs "Sophia" and "All the Livelong Day". Walston had a musical comedy background and sang in the movies "Damn Yankees" and "South Pacific". Maybe the vocals were recorded while Peter Sellers was still on the project. Of course, Dean Martin is perfect in this film. He plays himself, or shall I say he plays his known caricature, and he does it beautifully. He proves what a fine comedian he has always been. Take that Jerry!
Seeing this film with an audience was a revelation! The jokes work 99% of the time and laughter filled the theater from the first frame until the last frame. I do feel that with Kim Novack and Ray Walston in pivotal roles, we are given the bus and truck company instead of the heavy hitters. What a film this would have been had these roles been played by Marilyn Monroe and Peter Sellers! Jack Lemmon would have been an excellent choice as well for the Walston role. Now Walston is fine; he is a skillful comic actor but he lacks a certain charisma which prevented him from becoming a top star. Novack, while never a great actress, actually plays the comedy quite well. It is a pleasant surprise. I have also been bothered by Ian Freebairn-Smith's dubbing of Walston's singing voice in the two songs "Sophia" and "All the Livelong Day". Walston had a musical comedy background and sang in the movies "Damn Yankees" and "South Pacific". Maybe the vocals were recorded while Peter Sellers was still on the project. Of course, Dean Martin is perfect in this film. He plays himself, or shall I say he plays his known caricature, and he does it beautifully. He proves what a fine comedian he has always been. Take that Jerry!
Billy Wilder, as the production code ends
AlsExGal28 January 2023
In this sex comedy from writer-director Billy Wilder, Dean Martin stars as Dino, a Vegas singer and comedian who heads to Hollywood to make his next picture. His ends up in the small town of Climax where his car "breaks down", leading him to stay at the home of local piano teacher and aspiring songwriter Orville (Ray Walston), who hopes to get Dino buy some of his songs. The only problem is that Dino wants a woman for the night, and the insanely jealous Orville is afraid he'll target Orville's wife Zelda (Felicia Farr). So Orville arranges for the real Zelda to be gone, and hires local cocktail waitress Polly (Kim Novak) to pose as her and take the brunt of Dino's charge. Also featuring Mel Blanc.
This was highly controversial upon release, condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, and lambasted in the press as smutty and prurient. Even Barbara Stanwyck made public condemnations of the film. Now of course it doesn't come across as anything more than a typical primetime sitcom, and even tame by those standards. I wasn't too fond of Walston, although I learned that he was a late replacement for Peter Sellers, who suffered a series of heart attacks after filming began. In fact, the main cast was originally supposed to be Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and Shirley MacLaine in the Martin, Farr, and Novak roles, respectively. Dean Martin's exaggerated spoof of his own persona seems to have been a forerunner of later "meta" self-parodies like Being John Malkovich, Topher Grace in the Ocean's movies, or the entirety of This Is the End.
This was highly controversial upon release, condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, and lambasted in the press as smutty and prurient. Even Barbara Stanwyck made public condemnations of the film. Now of course it doesn't come across as anything more than a typical primetime sitcom, and even tame by those standards. I wasn't too fond of Walston, although I learned that he was a late replacement for Peter Sellers, who suffered a series of heart attacks after filming began. In fact, the main cast was originally supposed to be Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and Shirley MacLaine in the Martin, Farr, and Novak roles, respectively. Dean Martin's exaggerated spoof of his own persona seems to have been a forerunner of later "meta" self-parodies like Being John Malkovich, Topher Grace in the Ocean's movies, or the entirety of This Is the End.
With-it sex satire, stunted by '60s morals and a miscast co-star...
moonspinner555 August 2007
Billy Wilder's failed satire of sex comedies involves famous crooner and ladies' man Dean Martin stranded in a small town on the Nevada border, befriended by hack songwriter Ray Walston who hopes to sell Dino his novelty songs. To sweeten the pot, Walston gets curvy waitress/prostitute Kim Novak to pose as his wife and seduce the star. Controversial when first released (and condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency!), the film isn't quite as risqué today, playing like an extended episode of TV's "Three's Company". However, it does push some effective buttons and has edgy moments of comedy (it may be an oldster's idea of hip, but it's pretty close to the real thing and not a poser). Martin, Novak, and Felicia Farr are all engaging, and director Wilder sets up the running gags with his customary aplomb, yet not much can be done with Ray Walston, an eleventh-hour replacement for Peter Sellers and a complete mismatch for this ribs-nudging material. Hurt overall by a claustrophobic production and the dingy design, disappointing cinematography and balky early pacing, which is far too staid. **1/2 from ****
BILLY WILDER'S MOST UNDERRATED FILM
KatMiss10 May 2001
Billy Wilder's "Kiss Me,Stupid" was one of the few flops in the great writer/producer/director's canon. It was condemned by the Catholic League and was not well received by the critics or public. And it's a shame because this is one of Wilder's very best films; a cynical, often very funny comedy about a very touchy subject: fidelity (which probably accounts for its PG-13 rating; an oblique tribute to its' power)
Ray Walston stars as Orville Spooner, a third rate songwriter from a small town who has yet to chart a big hit. The role was originally cast with Peter Sellers, but after suffering seven heart attacks in a row, Wilder recast the part with Walston. I think it works out better this way. Sellers' greatest strength is improvisation, which Wilder is dead against. Walston has a dry, scorching delivery that works wonders with Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's crisp dialogue. This is his best film work and he deserved an Oscar for this role.Dean Martin is cast as "Dino", a drunken, womanizing singer (how much of that was fiction?). Kim Novak is surprisingly good as the town hooker. Between "Vertigo", "Picnic" and this, who would have thought what a great actress Novak really is? She takes such great risks that a bigger actress wouldn't. And last, but not least, Wilder regular Cliff Osmond has the showiest of his Wilder roles as Walston's songwriting partners. (His lyrics for Walston's music are a riot)
I'm not going to give away the plot here because so much of the film's success is dependent on the element of surprise and there are many. But what amazes me is that you can take the riskiest of material and make it funny. Anything can be funny. It's all in how you do it. For example, Tom Green's "Freddy Got Fingered" wallows in just being disgusting and on that level, it is very wretched indeed. In fact, one could say that "Kiss Me, Stupid" was the "Freddy Got Fingered" of its' day. But Billy Wilder isn't just satisfied with presenting something. He has wit and he has ideas. He takes this material and presents it in such a way that it works as drama too.
It's also a great piece of filmmaking. Wilder's film is widescreen black and white, which emphasizes the characters and story. This is important because if it had been in color, we might have gotten caught up with atmosphere. While sometimes that's a good thing, this film has too many rich characters to care with the atmosphere.
Wilder is a master of the "serious comedy", movies in which we laugh so we may not cry. His titles include "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" ( a wonderful film which was never seen as fully intended) , "Ace In The Hole", "Stalag 13", "The Apartment", "Irma La Douce" and "The Fortune Cookie". "Kiss Me, Stupid" is very much in key with his body of work. It's a shame that this film still hasn't gotten the respect it deserves. It's a bigger shame that even fewer people understand it . That's a biting observation of our society.
**** out of 4 stars
Ray Walston stars as Orville Spooner, a third rate songwriter from a small town who has yet to chart a big hit. The role was originally cast with Peter Sellers, but after suffering seven heart attacks in a row, Wilder recast the part with Walston. I think it works out better this way. Sellers' greatest strength is improvisation, which Wilder is dead against. Walston has a dry, scorching delivery that works wonders with Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond's crisp dialogue. This is his best film work and he deserved an Oscar for this role.Dean Martin is cast as "Dino", a drunken, womanizing singer (how much of that was fiction?). Kim Novak is surprisingly good as the town hooker. Between "Vertigo", "Picnic" and this, who would have thought what a great actress Novak really is? She takes such great risks that a bigger actress wouldn't. And last, but not least, Wilder regular Cliff Osmond has the showiest of his Wilder roles as Walston's songwriting partners. (His lyrics for Walston's music are a riot)
I'm not going to give away the plot here because so much of the film's success is dependent on the element of surprise and there are many. But what amazes me is that you can take the riskiest of material and make it funny. Anything can be funny. It's all in how you do it. For example, Tom Green's "Freddy Got Fingered" wallows in just being disgusting and on that level, it is very wretched indeed. In fact, one could say that "Kiss Me, Stupid" was the "Freddy Got Fingered" of its' day. But Billy Wilder isn't just satisfied with presenting something. He has wit and he has ideas. He takes this material and presents it in such a way that it works as drama too.
It's also a great piece of filmmaking. Wilder's film is widescreen black and white, which emphasizes the characters and story. This is important because if it had been in color, we might have gotten caught up with atmosphere. While sometimes that's a good thing, this film has too many rich characters to care with the atmosphere.
Wilder is a master of the "serious comedy", movies in which we laugh so we may not cry. His titles include "The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes" ( a wonderful film which was never seen as fully intended) , "Ace In The Hole", "Stalag 13", "The Apartment", "Irma La Douce" and "The Fortune Cookie". "Kiss Me, Stupid" is very much in key with his body of work. It's a shame that this film still hasn't gotten the respect it deserves. It's a bigger shame that even fewer people understand it . That's a biting observation of our society.
**** out of 4 stars
Bold
gavin694217 November 2013
Jealous piano teacher Orville Spooner (Ray Walston) sends his beautiful wife, Zelda (Felicia Farr), away for the night while he tries to sell a song to a famous nightclub singer Dino (Dean Martin), who is stranded in town.
The Catholic Legion of Decency strongly objected to the completed film and it was condemned, the second film to get such an honor -- the first being "Baby Doll" in 1956. One can easily see why, as while there is no nudity, there is plenty of humor revolving around prostitution, adultery and and Dean Martin being a "sex maniac".
A. H. Weiler of the New York Times called the film "pitifully unfunny" and "obvious, plodding, short on laughs and performances and long on vulgarity." This seems unfair. While it is not among Billy Wilder's best work, even Wilder's average films are better than many other people's greatest attempts. I can only say now (roughly fifty years after the film debuted) that while it was not perfect, it had its moments and was quite bold in its own way.
The Catholic Legion of Decency strongly objected to the completed film and it was condemned, the second film to get such an honor -- the first being "Baby Doll" in 1956. One can easily see why, as while there is no nudity, there is plenty of humor revolving around prostitution, adultery and and Dean Martin being a "sex maniac".
A. H. Weiler of the New York Times called the film "pitifully unfunny" and "obvious, plodding, short on laughs and performances and long on vulgarity." This seems unfair. While it is not among Billy Wilder's best work, even Wilder's average films are better than many other people's greatest attempts. I can only say now (roughly fifty years after the film debuted) that while it was not perfect, it had its moments and was quite bold in its own way.
Don't believe the critics.
kjason-230 May 1999
First stumbled across late one Friday night on Tv, this is a much maligned little film. Sure, it's a little odd, perhaps confrontational given the (alleged) morality of it's era but once you get over your initial surprise that Dean Martin star of so many truly awful Jerry Lewis films made something as quirky as this, then it's well worth staying up until two in the morning like I did. Dean Martin gives a good performance as - well, Dean Martin, but the show gets stolen by the husband and wife whose marriage is busy falling apart in smalltown America when Martin turns their world topsy turvy. Wilder, it seems, cannot make bad movies and this is a refreshing twist on the now over-used "handsome stranger stuck in small town after car trouble scenario." Much better than everyone claims....
Can Dean Act?
RARubin31 May 2006
Kiss Me Stupid is fair, but because it has some risqué moments, 1960's wisecracking and mild female form, it is noteworthy as a predecessor to the coming sexual revolution of the late 60's. There's a mention by lovely Felicia Farr (Zelda, Walston's harried wife) of the magazine, Playboy, referring to her amorous husband. Indeed, Hefner's hedonistic philosophy permeates the film. We see actual unheard-of-before, wife pandering between Dean Martin and Ray Walston. By 1964, this was real edgy stuff. Naturally, after a dalliance with Dino, no harm done, and Zelda is back with a more sensitive husband. This is the Heffner philosophy: If it feels good with mutual consent, then no harm done. Pleasure is its own end. Hubby meanwhile, has his indiscretion with va-va-voom, Kim Novak. The 50's star is on the hefty side as her screen siren days come to a close.
Dean Martin plays his image, the freewheeling Las Vegas cabaret singer, drunk, and a womanizer. His real persona was actually the opposite. Dino was a family man. Nevertheless, audiences loved the rat-pack joker and flocked to the screens to see the swinging Dino. One can only wonder if Dean Martin could act. We'll never find out.
Dean Martin plays his image, the freewheeling Las Vegas cabaret singer, drunk, and a womanizer. His real persona was actually the opposite. Dino was a family man. Nevertheless, audiences loved the rat-pack joker and flocked to the screens to see the swinging Dino. One can only wonder if Dean Martin could act. We'll never find out.
Billy Wilder's turning point...
JoeytheBrit15 August 2005
This film, following a near-unbroken 20-year run of commercial and critical successes, spelled the beginning of the end for Billy Wilder. Both ONE, TWO, THREE and IRMA LA DOUCE showed signs of incipient decline, but this 1964 effort forms the line beyond which little of worth was produced by the legendary Austrian. While this isn't a terrible movie, it isn't great; in fact it isn't even very good, despite a decent effort from Walston, a pretty good self-parody by Martin, and a game try by Novak to overcome her limited talents.
The story is based on an Italian play, and Wilder and his long-time collaborator I. A. L. Diamond do little to open up the story. Walston plays Oliver J. (for 'jerk' or 'Jeremiah') Spooner, piano teacher in a small desert town in Nevada called Climax. Oliver spends his time writing songs with his song-writing partner Barney (Cliff Osmond in a strangely dislikeable role) an attendant at the garage across the road from his house, and agonising over undeserved suspicions about the fidelity of his sexy young wife (Felicia Farr). Into Spooner's life drives Rat Pack superstar Dino (Guess Who), and a plot is hatched by the song-writing duo to keep the singer at Spooner's house overnight so that he can expose the star to their musical masterpieces which, needless to say, are pretty awful. The only problem is that Dino is a self-confessed sex hound and Oliver's nubile young wife was a founder member of the Dino fan club at high school. There then follows an over-complicated plot to install local waitress (and part-time hooker) Polly the Pistol (Novak) as Oliver's wife (without Oliver's real wife knowing) so that Dino can get as fruity as he likes with her without Oliver going off the deep end.
This is pretty cynical, downbeat stuff, complemented by a sombre black-and-white cinematography that seems to emphasise the bleakness of not just the character's surroundings, but their entire lives, and it's not easy to successfully translate this mood of dispirited ennui into a serviceable comedy. The screenplay is scattered with one-liners that, although they raise a smile on occasion, don't really belong in a film like this. It probably works best as a satire of the pursuit of the American dream and the lengths that ordinary people will go to obtain that dream, but offers little in the way of redemption for the lead character's by the end of the film. In fact every character is soiled in some way by the story that unfolds, and only Polly the Pistol comes across as a sympathetic character simply because her aspirations are more modest than those of the other characters. She wants what they already have, and what they are too selfish and blinkered to enjoy.
Martin comes across as pretty sleazy in this one. Playing up his boozing, womanising image, he comes across as a sleaze with no redeeming qualities and a total disregard for those around him. You kind of wonder what prompted him to take the part of such a nasty character especially as it is so clearly based on him. It's difficult to believe he wasn't aware of the despicable nature of his character. Perhaps, as another reviewer has suggested, he didn't care, or perhaps he simply wanted to thrust a finger in the face of the moral majority that criticised his way of life. Either way, if another actor parodied a celebrity like that today, the producers would find themselves with a libel suit on their hands before the film even saw the light of day. Brave or stupid, Martin gives a decent performance anyway.
Apparently Peter Sellers was slated to play Spooner, but lost the role when he suffered a series of heart attacks shortly after filming began. Although a grave misfortune for Sellers, this can only be good for this film. The role is annoying enough without being saddled with Sellers' self-indulgence. At least Walston does a pretty good job with a difficult role that tries hard to alienate the audience for most of the movie. Behaving the way Spooner does, he wouldn't hold onto a pretty young thing like Zelda for five months, let alone five years. Novak gives it her best shot as Polly the Pistol (no pun intended) but her range really is limited, and she too often falls into the breathy-Monroe style of acting (apparently her role was originally intended for Monroe). Her big scene with Zelda near the end of the movie is truly awful, which is a shame because Polly is a wholly likable character and the true heart of the story.
I don't think this is the undiscovered classic that some are trying to make it out to be, neither do I believe it deserves the tarnished reputation it has. The fact is, even great directors fire off the occasional blank and this film is one of Wilder's. KISS ME, STUPID isn't good and it isn't bad, and if it had been directed by anybody else it would have been forgotten a long time ago.
The story is based on an Italian play, and Wilder and his long-time collaborator I. A. L. Diamond do little to open up the story. Walston plays Oliver J. (for 'jerk' or 'Jeremiah') Spooner, piano teacher in a small desert town in Nevada called Climax. Oliver spends his time writing songs with his song-writing partner Barney (Cliff Osmond in a strangely dislikeable role) an attendant at the garage across the road from his house, and agonising over undeserved suspicions about the fidelity of his sexy young wife (Felicia Farr). Into Spooner's life drives Rat Pack superstar Dino (Guess Who), and a plot is hatched by the song-writing duo to keep the singer at Spooner's house overnight so that he can expose the star to their musical masterpieces which, needless to say, are pretty awful. The only problem is that Dino is a self-confessed sex hound and Oliver's nubile young wife was a founder member of the Dino fan club at high school. There then follows an over-complicated plot to install local waitress (and part-time hooker) Polly the Pistol (Novak) as Oliver's wife (without Oliver's real wife knowing) so that Dino can get as fruity as he likes with her without Oliver going off the deep end.
This is pretty cynical, downbeat stuff, complemented by a sombre black-and-white cinematography that seems to emphasise the bleakness of not just the character's surroundings, but their entire lives, and it's not easy to successfully translate this mood of dispirited ennui into a serviceable comedy. The screenplay is scattered with one-liners that, although they raise a smile on occasion, don't really belong in a film like this. It probably works best as a satire of the pursuit of the American dream and the lengths that ordinary people will go to obtain that dream, but offers little in the way of redemption for the lead character's by the end of the film. In fact every character is soiled in some way by the story that unfolds, and only Polly the Pistol comes across as a sympathetic character simply because her aspirations are more modest than those of the other characters. She wants what they already have, and what they are too selfish and blinkered to enjoy.
Martin comes across as pretty sleazy in this one. Playing up his boozing, womanising image, he comes across as a sleaze with no redeeming qualities and a total disregard for those around him. You kind of wonder what prompted him to take the part of such a nasty character especially as it is so clearly based on him. It's difficult to believe he wasn't aware of the despicable nature of his character. Perhaps, as another reviewer has suggested, he didn't care, or perhaps he simply wanted to thrust a finger in the face of the moral majority that criticised his way of life. Either way, if another actor parodied a celebrity like that today, the producers would find themselves with a libel suit on their hands before the film even saw the light of day. Brave or stupid, Martin gives a decent performance anyway.
Apparently Peter Sellers was slated to play Spooner, but lost the role when he suffered a series of heart attacks shortly after filming began. Although a grave misfortune for Sellers, this can only be good for this film. The role is annoying enough without being saddled with Sellers' self-indulgence. At least Walston does a pretty good job with a difficult role that tries hard to alienate the audience for most of the movie. Behaving the way Spooner does, he wouldn't hold onto a pretty young thing like Zelda for five months, let alone five years. Novak gives it her best shot as Polly the Pistol (no pun intended) but her range really is limited, and she too often falls into the breathy-Monroe style of acting (apparently her role was originally intended for Monroe). Her big scene with Zelda near the end of the movie is truly awful, which is a shame because Polly is a wholly likable character and the true heart of the story.
I don't think this is the undiscovered classic that some are trying to make it out to be, neither do I believe it deserves the tarnished reputation it has. The fact is, even great directors fire off the occasional blank and this film is one of Wilder's. KISS ME, STUPID isn't good and it isn't bad, and if it had been directed by anybody else it would have been forgotten a long time ago.
Cult Comedy Classic Reaches Climax
dbonk17 June 2005
In January 1965, I remember reading a TV Guide article bemoaning the immorality depicted in recent Hollywood films. Two movies, in particular, were singled out. The first, THE CARPETBAGGERS, was based on Harold Robbins trashy novel and KISS ME, STUPID, referred to as out and out'smut'by various film critics at the time.
The much maligned and savaged KISS ME,STUPID has aged far better than the previously mentioned title, thanks in large part to director Billy Wilder's razor sharp satiric barbs at the expense of small town America's morals and mores, in this case, Climax, Nevada.
Dean Martin portrays himself or rather a ratcheted up version of his 'Dino' persona. From his killer opening monologue at The Sands in Las Vegas surrounded by a bevy of beautiful showgirls, Martin establishes himself as the ultra cool embodiment of 'The Ratpack.' His comic timing is impeccable throughout this flick.
Kim Novak as 'Polly the Pistol' a cocktail waitress-cum-whore delivers a knock out sympathetic performance. Her physical presence in this film represents girlie magazines of the era such as 'Dude,'Gent,''Rogue,'and 'Nugget' i.e. big dames who are well proportioned. Another of the more interesting aspects watching Kim Novak on screen throughout her career is her facial expression which usually looks like she's in the midst of having sex.
When Martin and Miss Novak are on screen together, the sexual tension is palpable. In one scene, 'Dino' is sitting next to 'Polly' who is wearing a several sizes too tight dress, when he removes one of her high heels and starts lecherously tickling her foot. He then pours a long stemmed beaker of chianti into the high heel stiletto and proceeds to drink from it. During a period when an American sex comedy meant serving up Rock Hudson & Doris Day to titillate audiences, KISS ME,STUPID arrived on the scene like a ribald slap on a pretty girl's primly skirted derrière.
The movie has an alluringly seedy look about it. Debauchery plays much better in black & white than in Technicolor. Ray Walston(already a household name,thanks to "MY FAVORITE MARTIAN") portrays a manic version of a frustrated songwriter who imagines himself to be cuckolded up to a third of the way through the film. Even Walston's hair looks taut, almost spiked to add to his on the brink behavior. Felicia Farr as Walston's wife ,Zelda, provides a perpetually smiling, sometimes naive outlook on her life as one of the residents of Climax. (She was married to Jack Lemmon at the time, a Wilder favorite). Yet she does have the final word in this movie.
In the midst of adulterous affairs with impunity(in itself shocking four years before the MPAA codes were brought in) ultimately,KISS ME,STUPID is a love story. Miss Novak as 'Polly'explains in her husky yet nurturing voice "A woman without a man is like a trailer without a car." Who knows, maybe we can hitch a ride to "The Belly Button" where we can "Drop In And Get Lost."
The much maligned and savaged KISS ME,STUPID has aged far better than the previously mentioned title, thanks in large part to director Billy Wilder's razor sharp satiric barbs at the expense of small town America's morals and mores, in this case, Climax, Nevada.
Dean Martin portrays himself or rather a ratcheted up version of his 'Dino' persona. From his killer opening monologue at The Sands in Las Vegas surrounded by a bevy of beautiful showgirls, Martin establishes himself as the ultra cool embodiment of 'The Ratpack.' His comic timing is impeccable throughout this flick.
Kim Novak as 'Polly the Pistol' a cocktail waitress-cum-whore delivers a knock out sympathetic performance. Her physical presence in this film represents girlie magazines of the era such as 'Dude,'Gent,''Rogue,'and 'Nugget' i.e. big dames who are well proportioned. Another of the more interesting aspects watching Kim Novak on screen throughout her career is her facial expression which usually looks like she's in the midst of having sex.
When Martin and Miss Novak are on screen together, the sexual tension is palpable. In one scene, 'Dino' is sitting next to 'Polly' who is wearing a several sizes too tight dress, when he removes one of her high heels and starts lecherously tickling her foot. He then pours a long stemmed beaker of chianti into the high heel stiletto and proceeds to drink from it. During a period when an American sex comedy meant serving up Rock Hudson & Doris Day to titillate audiences, KISS ME,STUPID arrived on the scene like a ribald slap on a pretty girl's primly skirted derrière.
The movie has an alluringly seedy look about it. Debauchery plays much better in black & white than in Technicolor. Ray Walston(already a household name,thanks to "MY FAVORITE MARTIAN") portrays a manic version of a frustrated songwriter who imagines himself to be cuckolded up to a third of the way through the film. Even Walston's hair looks taut, almost spiked to add to his on the brink behavior. Felicia Farr as Walston's wife ,Zelda, provides a perpetually smiling, sometimes naive outlook on her life as one of the residents of Climax. (She was married to Jack Lemmon at the time, a Wilder favorite). Yet she does have the final word in this movie.
In the midst of adulterous affairs with impunity(in itself shocking four years before the MPAA codes were brought in) ultimately,KISS ME,STUPID is a love story. Miss Novak as 'Polly'explains in her husky yet nurturing voice "A woman without a man is like a trailer without a car." Who knows, maybe we can hitch a ride to "The Belly Button" where we can "Drop In And Get Lost."
Comedy of Errors.
rmax30482313 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
When this was released in 1964 it received a loud and hearty round of indifference from the critics. I don't know why. It's hard boiled, amusing, romantic, and ironic. It's not Wilder and Diamond's best work but it's a satisfying blend of funny incidents, single entendres, and moments that almost approach drama.
I'd guess there are at least two important reasons for the general lack of enthusiasm. One is that maybe Billy Wilder should never have directed such successful works as "Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment" in the previous few years. He got too many awards. The bar was lifted. After his great successes, everything had to be a masterpiece. His critical S&P rating underwent what's called a "correction." Another reason is that this is, after all, a movie in the classical style appearing in 1964. That's the year of the Beatles and Richard Lester and "A Hard Day's Night" and Carnaby Street and LSD and Timothy Leary. (Kids, you'll have to Google all that.) Wilder always had his actors stick to the script. (He wrote it.) And the camera wasn't carried by some guy on roller skates. Wilder's comedy, while always a little vulgar and often biting, demanded the viewer's attention. It was grounded, while much of pop culture was becoming absurd. I mean, here is Wilder, grinding out a more ribald version of the delicate Ernst Lubitsch type while critics are gobbling up Andy Warhol's "Sleep", an hour-long movie of John Giorno sleeping for five hours.
The story itself, though derived from an Italian play, is the kind that would interest Wilder. An ambitious, small-town song writer (Walston, my co-star in the excellent and under-appreciated "From the Hip") manages to trap pop singer Dean Martin in his house overnight. Walston tries to palm off a cheap local whore (Novak) as his wife (Farr), so that Martin doesn't wake up with a headache from lackanookie. Instead, Walston winds up spending the night with Novak and Farr spends the night with Dino. It all ends happily.
True, it's not that well written. Walston is overwrought. He's jealous of his wife, okay, but in fact he's unbelievably jealous and it's not particularly amusing when he tears the shirt off a fourteen-year-old piano student and throws him out of the house -- just for LOOKING at Farr. And the rest of the plot does have its longueurs. But none of these flaws torpedo what is basically a mildly diverting piece of entertainment. Dean Martin is especially enjoyable as his narcissistic self. Novak's coarse accent sounds more like Chicago than Jersey City. And Cliff Osmond, as a co-conspirator, isn't funny just because he's tall and fat and has a flat facial plane. So what? Even the silly songs (from an early Gershwin flop) are enjoyable, although they are no good. I'm qualified to make that judgment since I'm an expert musician, once having played the hydrocrystalophone in the Short Hills, New Jersey, Marching Band and Perloo Society.
You know, it's really a sin to expect too much of a movie or anything else.
I'd guess there are at least two important reasons for the general lack of enthusiasm. One is that maybe Billy Wilder should never have directed such successful works as "Some Like It Hot" and "The Apartment" in the previous few years. He got too many awards. The bar was lifted. After his great successes, everything had to be a masterpiece. His critical S&P rating underwent what's called a "correction." Another reason is that this is, after all, a movie in the classical style appearing in 1964. That's the year of the Beatles and Richard Lester and "A Hard Day's Night" and Carnaby Street and LSD and Timothy Leary. (Kids, you'll have to Google all that.) Wilder always had his actors stick to the script. (He wrote it.) And the camera wasn't carried by some guy on roller skates. Wilder's comedy, while always a little vulgar and often biting, demanded the viewer's attention. It was grounded, while much of pop culture was becoming absurd. I mean, here is Wilder, grinding out a more ribald version of the delicate Ernst Lubitsch type while critics are gobbling up Andy Warhol's "Sleep", an hour-long movie of John Giorno sleeping for five hours.
The story itself, though derived from an Italian play, is the kind that would interest Wilder. An ambitious, small-town song writer (Walston, my co-star in the excellent and under-appreciated "From the Hip") manages to trap pop singer Dean Martin in his house overnight. Walston tries to palm off a cheap local whore (Novak) as his wife (Farr), so that Martin doesn't wake up with a headache from lackanookie. Instead, Walston winds up spending the night with Novak and Farr spends the night with Dino. It all ends happily.
True, it's not that well written. Walston is overwrought. He's jealous of his wife, okay, but in fact he's unbelievably jealous and it's not particularly amusing when he tears the shirt off a fourteen-year-old piano student and throws him out of the house -- just for LOOKING at Farr. And the rest of the plot does have its longueurs. But none of these flaws torpedo what is basically a mildly diverting piece of entertainment. Dean Martin is especially enjoyable as his narcissistic self. Novak's coarse accent sounds more like Chicago than Jersey City. And Cliff Osmond, as a co-conspirator, isn't funny just because he's tall and fat and has a flat facial plane. So what? Even the silly songs (from an early Gershwin flop) are enjoyable, although they are no good. I'm qualified to make that judgment since I'm an expert musician, once having played the hydrocrystalophone in the Short Hills, New Jersey, Marching Band and Perloo Society.
You know, it's really a sin to expect too much of a movie or anything else.
cut
tvspace24 August 2002
Billy Wilder directed several of the greatest movies in Hollywood history: Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, and The Apartment, among others.
With Kiss Me, Stupid he diversified his resume by directing one of the most awful debacles ever to litter the screen.
This movie isn't just bad, it's excruciatingly painful to sit through. There's so much wrong with it that it's hard to know where to start, but seeping through it all is a mean-spirited cynicism that drains whatever goodwill we might have otherwise granted the director even in his worst moments.
Whether through bad casting or spectacularly misguided direction, Wilder summons forth performances from his lead actors that are uniformly humiliating. They're the kind of roles that could ruin an actor's career, and probably did for several of the performers. Ray Walston's turn as piano teacher Orville J. Spooner is a sad spectacle that sours the memory of his great role in The Apartment. Watching Cliff Osmand's gas station attendant is akin to rubbing two pieces of styrofoam together, the kind of useless torment that is made more aggravating by its pointlessness. Kim Novak is transformed into a pitiful dumb broad, and Dean Martin plays himself, or, more pointedly, he plays the version of himself that his worst enemy might have imagined in a feverish bout of spite.
Walston's role originally belonged to Peter Sellers, who suffered a heart attack and was forced to withdraw from the picture. It's interesting to speculate whether Sellers' peculiar brand of genius might have redeemed this mess, if somehow his presence at the center of things would have given the production an object around which to revolve. On the other hand it's more plausible that he took one look at the first set of dailies and keeled over in his own best interests.
With Kiss Me, Stupid he diversified his resume by directing one of the most awful debacles ever to litter the screen.
This movie isn't just bad, it's excruciatingly painful to sit through. There's so much wrong with it that it's hard to know where to start, but seeping through it all is a mean-spirited cynicism that drains whatever goodwill we might have otherwise granted the director even in his worst moments.
Whether through bad casting or spectacularly misguided direction, Wilder summons forth performances from his lead actors that are uniformly humiliating. They're the kind of roles that could ruin an actor's career, and probably did for several of the performers. Ray Walston's turn as piano teacher Orville J. Spooner is a sad spectacle that sours the memory of his great role in The Apartment. Watching Cliff Osmand's gas station attendant is akin to rubbing two pieces of styrofoam together, the kind of useless torment that is made more aggravating by its pointlessness. Kim Novak is transformed into a pitiful dumb broad, and Dean Martin plays himself, or, more pointedly, he plays the version of himself that his worst enemy might have imagined in a feverish bout of spite.
Walston's role originally belonged to Peter Sellers, who suffered a heart attack and was forced to withdraw from the picture. It's interesting to speculate whether Sellers' peculiar brand of genius might have redeemed this mess, if somehow his presence at the center of things would have given the production an object around which to revolve. On the other hand it's more plausible that he took one look at the first set of dailies and keeled over in his own best interests.
Seriously under-rated.
david-69714 November 2004
Some people still consider this movie a flop. Having just re-watched this movie for the first time in years, I can't see why. Perhaps Walston is a bit weak in a leading role (Sellers would have been fantastic), but the script is first rate, both funny and touching.
Dean Martin and Kim Novak are seriously under-rated actors in my opinion; here Dean sends himself up as 'Dino' and is not afraid to play himself as un-likable. Novak is, as always, wonderful. Sadly Kim never seems to get the appreciation she deserves, her performances in such movies as 'Vertigo' and 'Bell, Book & Candle' are never less than first class. While the lesser-known Felicia Farr comes across very well (she was also the wife of Wilder's frequent star, Jack Lemmon, I wonder how this film would have worked with Lemmon in the Walston role?)
This is a gem of a movie and one of Wilder's best.
Dean Martin and Kim Novak are seriously under-rated actors in my opinion; here Dean sends himself up as 'Dino' and is not afraid to play himself as un-likable. Novak is, as always, wonderful. Sadly Kim never seems to get the appreciation she deserves, her performances in such movies as 'Vertigo' and 'Bell, Book & Candle' are never less than first class. While the lesser-known Felicia Farr comes across very well (she was also the wife of Wilder's frequent star, Jack Lemmon, I wonder how this film would have worked with Lemmon in the Walston role?)
This is a gem of a movie and one of Wilder's best.
Curtis-Lemon-Monroe would have sold it...recall?
beauzee26 January 2015
let me say at the outset: Dean (DINO) Martin fans will love it...DEan gets off a surprisingly nuanced and often very funny self-parody!
he has a great line when an unsuccessful songwriting team fling their best tune at him > he has been forced by a detour into a small town, where he has been manipulated to stay the night: "just what I need...another Italian love song!".
problem is that his self parody has a seriously "dark" side > he is not the wine-women-song man but a leering letch, anxious to jump on Ray Walston's wife (actually KIm Novak, the small town hottest barmaid, playing proxy - SEE THE MOVIE). what was needed was a lot of great one liners and ad-libs (it's been said Wilder was against that).
I did not particularly enjoy Walston's performance...and the black and white lighting gives him a crazed, sinister look, at times.
Felicia Farr does very well but the constraints of the storyline call for her to physically resemble her overnite replacement...it gets just a little weird.
and so...here it comes...shoulda been Curtis as the Top 40 phenom, Lemmon as the totally paranoid, jealous hubby and Monroe as the outrageously sexy lust interest. okay, that means this film should have been made in 1960-61.
some viewers may find some of the sexual stuff very disturbing..young viewers today, used to the oversexed sitcom, may find it amusing. at the time, it was considered a rather immoral exercise.
he has a great line when an unsuccessful songwriting team fling their best tune at him > he has been forced by a detour into a small town, where he has been manipulated to stay the night: "just what I need...another Italian love song!".
problem is that his self parody has a seriously "dark" side > he is not the wine-women-song man but a leering letch, anxious to jump on Ray Walston's wife (actually KIm Novak, the small town hottest barmaid, playing proxy - SEE THE MOVIE). what was needed was a lot of great one liners and ad-libs (it's been said Wilder was against that).
I did not particularly enjoy Walston's performance...and the black and white lighting gives him a crazed, sinister look, at times.
Felicia Farr does very well but the constraints of the storyline call for her to physically resemble her overnite replacement...it gets just a little weird.
and so...here it comes...shoulda been Curtis as the Top 40 phenom, Lemmon as the totally paranoid, jealous hubby and Monroe as the outrageously sexy lust interest. okay, that means this film should have been made in 1960-61.
some viewers may find some of the sexual stuff very disturbing..young viewers today, used to the oversexed sitcom, may find it amusing. at the time, it was considered a rather immoral exercise.
Borderline bad idea redeemed by wonderful Wilder warmth
eschetic-228 December 2009
KISS ME, STUPID might have failed in 1964 for no better reason than the dreadful title (remember 1967's sublime THE HONEY POT?), but the film, drawn from an Italian play, "L'Ora della Fantasia" (filmed earlier as "Moglie per una Notte" or "Wife For A Night" with Gina Lollobrigida unexpectedly in the Felicia Farr role of the wife!) was essentially one long dirty joke about a jealous husband willing to sacrifice SOMEONE's virtue to get ahead, just not his wife's...except that it had Billy Wilder, who found something special there.
In 1964, Billy Wilder's production, the script lovingly crafted with frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond with excellent songs recrafted from the Gershwins' trunk by Ira (it's only the NON-song background music which was by Andre Previn), suffered from every problem imaginable. First Marilyn Monroe (slated for the Kim Novak role) died pre-production, then Peter Sellers (in the Ray Walston part) had a heart attack once it began. The Catholic League of Decency (never known for having any sense of humor) condemned it for daring to suggest that there was more to fidelity than mere form. One wonders if Wilder's earlier (and just as problematic) film "The Apartment" would have won its Best Picture Oscar in 1961 had the group been as vociferously narrow then.
The final insult came when U.S. exhibitors forced Wilder to re-shoot "the trailer scene" (included as a bonus track on the DVD) for U.S. release to imply that "nothing happened" - undercutting the finely crafted balance of the film - and then United Artists dropped the U.S. distribution anyway, putting a subsidiary's name on the film so as not to give "corporate offense" to U.S. bluenoses. U/A's back on the credits - as "An MGM Company" - for the DVD release, which is of the superior ORIGINAL print released abroad.
Commercial success was not to be for KISS ME, STUPID in 1964, and while many view the film today as an undiscovered masterpiece it remains a basically flawed piece - but it does have some amazing virtues - and mysteries. Key to the virtues is the canny casting of Dean Martin and Kim Novak in parodies of their public images: "Dino" the hard drinking, womanizing singer, Kim the actress of limited non-physical virtues specializing in trollop portrayals. Dean, of course delivers as the singer Ray Walston's piano-teacher/composer (with his mechanic/lyric writing partner Cliff Osmond) is desperate to sell a song to, making vintage and rewritten Gershwin songs ("Sophia" was originally "Wake Up, Brother, And Dance," cut from "Shall We Dance") sound as fresh as 1964 - but the key to the film is perhaps the ONLY near great performance of Kim Novak's career.
Under Wilder's direction (something not even Hitchcock could do), Novak makes "Polly the Pistol" a fully rounded character that the audience can care deeply about and be rewarded when Wilder and Diamond give her a genuinely hopeful happy ending - something they do for *everyone* in this unexpectedly warm film, unlike the possibly more realistic "...Apartment." Novak's brief scene with excellent second tier actress Felicia Farr as the wife (why did she never find the roles to make her a bigger star?), is a minor masterpiece and worth the whole film.
Those too shallow to understand why an artist like Wilder would choose to film in the more detailed visual vocabulary of black & white (or who miss Hays Code "morality") will probably never be the ideal audience for KISS ME, STUPID, even 'though the poorly chosen title might seem geared to that sort of "lowest common denominator" comedic taste. There are laughs aplenty here, but the essence of a Wilder comedy is its intelligence and heart.
If there is a problem of *craft* in the film (mainly flawed by the husband's basic attitude toward "his" wife - he does grow during the film - although many will still have problems with the method of surrogate teaching), it is the minor matter of Broadway star Ray Walston's voice when he is demonstrating his songs for "Dino." It is clearly NOT Walston singing and one can't help but wonder why. No one felt it necessary to dub him in 1958 when he recreated his London role (Luther Billis) in the film of "South Pacific" or his Broadway role (Mr. Applegate) in "Damn Yankees." One suspects that the obvious dubbing was in the service of an "in joke" in the Wilder/Diamond script where the wife insists to "Dino" that the song "Sophia" would be better suited to the voice of pop singer, Jack Jones. Walston's singing voice in the film sounds suspiciously like that of Mr. Jones!
Whatever the problems, this KISS ME, STUPID, is ripe for reevaluation and well worth a look. The famed "Wilder Touch" has never been more in evidence, giving essentially problematic material an undeniable warmth and lingering satisfaction for any audience sufficiently sophisticated to give it a chance. The performance Wilder gets from Kim Novak alone may leave people wondering how he could have won *only* six Oscars! A little film with a very big heart.
In 1964, Billy Wilder's production, the script lovingly crafted with frequent collaborator I.A.L. Diamond with excellent songs recrafted from the Gershwins' trunk by Ira (it's only the NON-song background music which was by Andre Previn), suffered from every problem imaginable. First Marilyn Monroe (slated for the Kim Novak role) died pre-production, then Peter Sellers (in the Ray Walston part) had a heart attack once it began. The Catholic League of Decency (never known for having any sense of humor) condemned it for daring to suggest that there was more to fidelity than mere form. One wonders if Wilder's earlier (and just as problematic) film "The Apartment" would have won its Best Picture Oscar in 1961 had the group been as vociferously narrow then.
The final insult came when U.S. exhibitors forced Wilder to re-shoot "the trailer scene" (included as a bonus track on the DVD) for U.S. release to imply that "nothing happened" - undercutting the finely crafted balance of the film - and then United Artists dropped the U.S. distribution anyway, putting a subsidiary's name on the film so as not to give "corporate offense" to U.S. bluenoses. U/A's back on the credits - as "An MGM Company" - for the DVD release, which is of the superior ORIGINAL print released abroad.
Commercial success was not to be for KISS ME, STUPID in 1964, and while many view the film today as an undiscovered masterpiece it remains a basically flawed piece - but it does have some amazing virtues - and mysteries. Key to the virtues is the canny casting of Dean Martin and Kim Novak in parodies of their public images: "Dino" the hard drinking, womanizing singer, Kim the actress of limited non-physical virtues specializing in trollop portrayals. Dean, of course delivers as the singer Ray Walston's piano-teacher/composer (with his mechanic/lyric writing partner Cliff Osmond) is desperate to sell a song to, making vintage and rewritten Gershwin songs ("Sophia" was originally "Wake Up, Brother, And Dance," cut from "Shall We Dance") sound as fresh as 1964 - but the key to the film is perhaps the ONLY near great performance of Kim Novak's career.
Under Wilder's direction (something not even Hitchcock could do), Novak makes "Polly the Pistol" a fully rounded character that the audience can care deeply about and be rewarded when Wilder and Diamond give her a genuinely hopeful happy ending - something they do for *everyone* in this unexpectedly warm film, unlike the possibly more realistic "...Apartment." Novak's brief scene with excellent second tier actress Felicia Farr as the wife (why did she never find the roles to make her a bigger star?), is a minor masterpiece and worth the whole film.
Those too shallow to understand why an artist like Wilder would choose to film in the more detailed visual vocabulary of black & white (or who miss Hays Code "morality") will probably never be the ideal audience for KISS ME, STUPID, even 'though the poorly chosen title might seem geared to that sort of "lowest common denominator" comedic taste. There are laughs aplenty here, but the essence of a Wilder comedy is its intelligence and heart.
If there is a problem of *craft* in the film (mainly flawed by the husband's basic attitude toward "his" wife - he does grow during the film - although many will still have problems with the method of surrogate teaching), it is the minor matter of Broadway star Ray Walston's voice when he is demonstrating his songs for "Dino." It is clearly NOT Walston singing and one can't help but wonder why. No one felt it necessary to dub him in 1958 when he recreated his London role (Luther Billis) in the film of "South Pacific" or his Broadway role (Mr. Applegate) in "Damn Yankees." One suspects that the obvious dubbing was in the service of an "in joke" in the Wilder/Diamond script where the wife insists to "Dino" that the song "Sophia" would be better suited to the voice of pop singer, Jack Jones. Walston's singing voice in the film sounds suspiciously like that of Mr. Jones!
Whatever the problems, this KISS ME, STUPID, is ripe for reevaluation and well worth a look. The famed "Wilder Touch" has never been more in evidence, giving essentially problematic material an undeniable warmth and lingering satisfaction for any audience sufficiently sophisticated to give it a chance. The performance Wilder gets from Kim Novak alone may leave people wondering how he could have won *only* six Oscars! A little film with a very big heart.
watch it ,stupid.
dbdumonteil3 February 2003
A legend goes a s far as pretending that "kiss me stupid" is subpar.As far as Wilder comedies are concerned it's only one notch or two under the two Monroe ones and probably the underrated "avanti",and probably superior to "apartment" "one two three" or "stalag 17" Reductio ad absurdum that love between husband and wife is laudable,playing with every cliché you can think of and creating absolutely stunning scenes out of them.
This is a movie one can only dream of ,nowadays ,when comedies are vulgar,not funny at all and gamble on audience's stupidity (!)Once again,once more ,Wilder 's screenplay is exciting,witty,now delirious-the parrot watching the telly-,now almost dramatic -the scene when Walston throws a loaded Martin out of his home,this admirable sequence when Novak thinks that it would be great to be a housewife .
Wilder plays with his characters ,no one is in the right place,no one acts as if he's supposed to do,and,that's the miracle,everything will turn right.Invention is everywhere ,in every scene,in every line of dialogue,even in these silly songs the hero and his pal want Dean Martin to sing (check the words:" when I'm without you,I'm a Yorkshire pudding without a roast beef(sic))
Wilder was a director who used to dare ,provocation was his forte :from the name of the one-horse town (Climax) to the holier-than-thou woman who set up a petition against the "belly button" ,this den of iniquity. And however,in the end ,his movie is more "moral" than one hundred of these sanitized contemporary comedies .As I said, reductio ad absurdum. God bless Billy Wilder for the fun he gave to the world!
This is a movie one can only dream of ,nowadays ,when comedies are vulgar,not funny at all and gamble on audience's stupidity (!)Once again,once more ,Wilder 's screenplay is exciting,witty,now delirious-the parrot watching the telly-,now almost dramatic -the scene when Walston throws a loaded Martin out of his home,this admirable sequence when Novak thinks that it would be great to be a housewife .
Wilder plays with his characters ,no one is in the right place,no one acts as if he's supposed to do,and,that's the miracle,everything will turn right.Invention is everywhere ,in every scene,in every line of dialogue,even in these silly songs the hero and his pal want Dean Martin to sing (check the words:" when I'm without you,I'm a Yorkshire pudding without a roast beef(sic))
Wilder was a director who used to dare ,provocation was his forte :from the name of the one-horse town (Climax) to the holier-than-thou woman who set up a petition against the "belly button" ,this den of iniquity. And however,in the end ,his movie is more "moral" than one hundred of these sanitized contemporary comedies .As I said, reductio ad absurdum. God bless Billy Wilder for the fun he gave to the world!
"We'll be rooting for you"
ackstasis20 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
When the Production Code was first actively enforced in 1934, adultery was one of its biggest gripes. True to his reputation for pushing boundaries, it was also one of Billy Wilder's favourite themes. Indeed, he utilised adultery in several of his most important pictures, either in a negative {'Double Indemnity (1944)' or 'The Apartment (1960)'}, ambiguous {'The Seven Year Itch (1955)'} or even positive light {'Avanti! (1972),' in which Jack Lemmon sleeps with another woman seemingly out of politeness}. This is not entirely unexpected, given that at least according to some biographies Wilder himself was regularly unfaithful to his first wife, Judith Coppicus. 'Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)' is the one Wilder film whose themes left something of a bitter taste in my mouth. The film is bold, certainly, but is it right? By 1964, Hollywood was finally breaking free from the shackles of censorship. A decade earlier, Wilder had been prohibited from implying a sexual encounter between Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe in 'The Seven Year Itch.' Now he could get away with it, and he didn't hold back!
The small town of Climax, Nevada, is not true to its name; nothing ever happens there. But that doesn't stop Orville Spooner (Ray Walston), a jittery piano teacher and song-writer, from constantly suspecting his beautiful wife Zelda (Felicia Farr) of adultery. That, at least, was until hard-drinking, womanising nightclub singer Dino (Dean Martin, boldly playing a sleazy satiric version of his own public image) passes through town, and is preoccupied with one thing, and one thing only. Fearing for his wife's faithfulness, but determined to sell Dino some of his own tunes, Orville sends Zelda away for the night, substituting her with a waitress/prostitute (Kim Novak) from the town's seedy bar joint, The Bellybutton. While arrogant scumbag Dino goes about his not-so-subtle business, Orville does his best to offer his "wife" to the celebrity, but eventually becomes fiercely protective of his fabricated spouse. This plot turn recalls 'Irma La Douce (1963),' incidentally another film about a prostitute with a heart of gold, in which Jack Lemmon inexplicably becomes jealous of himself.
Ray Walston's determined mugging in the main role almost got on my nerves, but thankfully lasted the film's running time. Even so, the more subtle touch of Peter Sellers who pulled out six weeks into shooting for health reasons would have been considerably more enjoyable. Novak and Farr (Jack Lemmon's wife) are solid in their respective roles, as is the juvenile Cliff Osmond, but it's Dino who steals the show. But 'Kiss Me, Stupid' is still one of Wilder's lesser efforts. Both the writing and the black-and-white photography are unpolished and occasionally uncomfortably vulgar (Joseph LaShelle, surprisingly, also shot the exquisite-looking 'Laura (1944)' and 'The Apartment (1960)'). The film ends, somewhat ambiguously, with both Orville and Zelda committing adultery, the former out of compassion, and the latter ostensibly to do her husband a favour. Cue the happy ending. How exactly are we, the audience, supposed to feel about this? That everything worked out all right in the end? I guess two wrongs do make a right, after all.
The small town of Climax, Nevada, is not true to its name; nothing ever happens there. But that doesn't stop Orville Spooner (Ray Walston), a jittery piano teacher and song-writer, from constantly suspecting his beautiful wife Zelda (Felicia Farr) of adultery. That, at least, was until hard-drinking, womanising nightclub singer Dino (Dean Martin, boldly playing a sleazy satiric version of his own public image) passes through town, and is preoccupied with one thing, and one thing only. Fearing for his wife's faithfulness, but determined to sell Dino some of his own tunes, Orville sends Zelda away for the night, substituting her with a waitress/prostitute (Kim Novak) from the town's seedy bar joint, The Bellybutton. While arrogant scumbag Dino goes about his not-so-subtle business, Orville does his best to offer his "wife" to the celebrity, but eventually becomes fiercely protective of his fabricated spouse. This plot turn recalls 'Irma La Douce (1963),' incidentally another film about a prostitute with a heart of gold, in which Jack Lemmon inexplicably becomes jealous of himself.
Ray Walston's determined mugging in the main role almost got on my nerves, but thankfully lasted the film's running time. Even so, the more subtle touch of Peter Sellers who pulled out six weeks into shooting for health reasons would have been considerably more enjoyable. Novak and Farr (Jack Lemmon's wife) are solid in their respective roles, as is the juvenile Cliff Osmond, but it's Dino who steals the show. But 'Kiss Me, Stupid' is still one of Wilder's lesser efforts. Both the writing and the black-and-white photography are unpolished and occasionally uncomfortably vulgar (Joseph LaShelle, surprisingly, also shot the exquisite-looking 'Laura (1944)' and 'The Apartment (1960)'). The film ends, somewhat ambiguously, with both Orville and Zelda committing adultery, the former out of compassion, and the latter ostensibly to do her husband a favour. Cue the happy ending. How exactly are we, the audience, supposed to feel about this? That everything worked out all right in the end? I guess two wrongs do make a right, after all.
Love movies with happy endings...
robpeters195126 February 2005
Okay, so it's Wilder. Forget all the other movies he's made. By itself - this one's got a plot, a funny one at that and Ray Walston's ability to replace Peter Sellers may not be possible - unless you never knew Peter Sellers had the part before him. Not a bad film at all - watched without any knowledge of Peter Sellers role or caring about what Billy Wilder had done previously (or since). I liked it - and the storyline fits the everyman dream of finding success (for almost everyone). Love those movies with happy endings. Whenever you see a movie it isn't always the people playing the characters that matter, it's the story being told and the craft with which it's told. This one fits now - may not have in 1964, but it does now.
Strange But Interesting
BoomerDT17 November 2020
I'm a fan of movies from this period. Hadn't ever seen this but caught it offered on Amazon Prime, which has some different movies from various eras available-a much more interesting library than Netflix. I would have passed it up by I did see that it was directed by the great Billy Wilder. Wilder deals again with marriage infidelity as he did "The Seven Year Itch" and "The Apartment." This time the married couple is Ray Walston and Felicia Farr, living in tiny Climax, NV. who end up with Dean Martin, ostensibly playing himself "Dino" who ends up in their home for the evening. Walston is an piano instructor are and co-author of incredibly bad songs-but if he can get Dino to buy one and sing on his TV show he thinks he can make it to the bigtime. Plot gets a bit complicated as Walston is afraid Dino will seduce is sexy and loving wife wife, so gets Kim Novak, playing a waitress/prostitute to replace her as his wife for the evening and it ends up that Kim falls, temporarily, for Walston and Dino ends up with his wife in Kim's trailer . Really rather risque for 1965, this could have never been made 10 years earlier. Originally this was to have been a Marilyn Monroe vehicle, Novak isn't bad in the part but MM would have been better. Jack Lemmon was to have had the Walston part but was busy and Peter Sellers fell seriously ill while filming, either would have been better than Walston who has the biggest part. Dino is Dino but I really enjoyed Felicia Farr, Jack Lemmons real life spouse, in her part as a loving and loyal spouse who finds her fidelity tested. I really found her very sexy, more so than Kim Novak. Some other familiar TV and movie faces from this period pop up, like Howard McNear, AKA "Floyd the Barber, as Farr's henpecked father -in-law. It's a strange plot line but interesting although about .15 could have easily been cut.
Even Wilder can stumble ...
fwmurnau17 November 2007
The brilliant Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond created some of the screen's most memorable films. This, sadly, is not one of them. In the 1950s Wilder tried very, very hard to make delightful sex comedies in imitation of his idol, Ernst Lubitsch.
But Wilder and Diamond's acidic cynicism could not be further from Lubitsch's affectionate, sophisticated farces. Lubitsch loved his charming cuckolds and adulterers and made us love them too. Wilder and Diamond seem to HATE every one of the crass, tacky characters in this movie.
Walston's deluded husband and his grease monkey friend are repellent and the women are degradingly portrayed as trashy sex objects or mindlessly compliant Stepford wives. The tone is as far from Lubitsch as A is from Z.
The misanthropy that proved so effective in the underrated ACE IN THE HOLE is totally wrong for this sex farce, whose characters act in ways that bear little resemblance to human behavior.
When the innocent wife peeks through a window and sees her husband embracing a prostitute, what does she do? Barge in and ask what the heck is going on? No. She repairs to the local brothel and gets blind drunk. HUH??? Similarly, the husband tries to drive his loving wife out of the house, so he can implement his money-making scheme, by being gratuitously cruel to her -- in a long scene so cringe-worthy it makes you feel like taking a shower after watching it. How could Wilder and Diamond possibly have thought this was funny? In place of Lubitsch's witty, risqué repartee, we get smutty one-liners that would be rejected by a third-rate burlesque comic.
Is KISS ME STUPID a neglected masterpiece? Some think so, but every bad movie has its passionate defenders. I've read that Wilder later came to his senses and disowned this mean-spirited misfire.
Lubitsch loved all his characters, even the ones who behave the worst. He never patronized or looked down on them. KISS ME STUPID is so filled with disgust, you can't help wondering what its creators were going through at the time that made them so bitter about love, marriage, and women.
"What would Lubitsch do?" read the sign Wilder kept over his desk. I'll tell you what Lubitsch NEVER would have done: KISS ME STUPID. Every genius is off his game from time to time. KISS ME STUPID is to Wilder's oeuvre what A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG is to Chaplin's. I bet Wilder wished in later years he could make it disappear.
(P.S. to the poster who wonders whether Dean Martin could act. See RIO BRAVO and you'll see with the right director he could. Dino is terrific in that late Howard Hawks masterpiece.)
But Wilder and Diamond's acidic cynicism could not be further from Lubitsch's affectionate, sophisticated farces. Lubitsch loved his charming cuckolds and adulterers and made us love them too. Wilder and Diamond seem to HATE every one of the crass, tacky characters in this movie.
Walston's deluded husband and his grease monkey friend are repellent and the women are degradingly portrayed as trashy sex objects or mindlessly compliant Stepford wives. The tone is as far from Lubitsch as A is from Z.
The misanthropy that proved so effective in the underrated ACE IN THE HOLE is totally wrong for this sex farce, whose characters act in ways that bear little resemblance to human behavior.
When the innocent wife peeks through a window and sees her husband embracing a prostitute, what does she do? Barge in and ask what the heck is going on? No. She repairs to the local brothel and gets blind drunk. HUH??? Similarly, the husband tries to drive his loving wife out of the house, so he can implement his money-making scheme, by being gratuitously cruel to her -- in a long scene so cringe-worthy it makes you feel like taking a shower after watching it. How could Wilder and Diamond possibly have thought this was funny? In place of Lubitsch's witty, risqué repartee, we get smutty one-liners that would be rejected by a third-rate burlesque comic.
Is KISS ME STUPID a neglected masterpiece? Some think so, but every bad movie has its passionate defenders. I've read that Wilder later came to his senses and disowned this mean-spirited misfire.
Lubitsch loved all his characters, even the ones who behave the worst. He never patronized or looked down on them. KISS ME STUPID is so filled with disgust, you can't help wondering what its creators were going through at the time that made them so bitter about love, marriage, and women.
"What would Lubitsch do?" read the sign Wilder kept over his desk. I'll tell you what Lubitsch NEVER would have done: KISS ME STUPID. Every genius is off his game from time to time. KISS ME STUPID is to Wilder's oeuvre what A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG is to Chaplin's. I bet Wilder wished in later years he could make it disappear.
(P.S. to the poster who wonders whether Dean Martin could act. See RIO BRAVO and you'll see with the right director he could. Dino is terrific in that late Howard Hawks masterpiece.)
If a Watusi wife catches another woman with a Watusi husband, you know what she does?
sharky_5512 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Some Like It Hot may have all but dismantled the Hays Code with its rapturous drag comedy, Marilyn Monroe sashaying around with one shoulder bare and its iconic final lines, but the reception of Kiss Me, Stupid was far from warm five years later. It was denounced by critics for its smutty vulgarity, leading to the film's release under their foreign distribution subsidiary. Although Wilder was persuaded to leave a little of Zelda and Dino's tryst to the imagination, the intent is clear: she has committed adultery, and her husband has very likely done so too. Who has committed the bigger sin? Maybe Zelda didn't know whether or not Orville had already done the deed, and simply jumped the gun on a chance with her longtime idol. You could also argue that Orville's incessant jealously and actions had practically closed the door on their marriage - the night was a free for all. But all this moralising and outrage is placed into perspective when we hear it from Wilder's himself. He argues that there was just as much, if not more infidelity in The Apartment, yet little of the same complaints. He has a point; in that film, one of Wilder's several masterpieces, Lemmon's love shack was not only a major plot point but wielded for personal gain, for ascending the corporate ladder. The film handles it all with a cheery tone, and although in the end he rejects the idea, there are plenty of other apartments available. To look for logic and reason in the crazy affairs of Kiss Me, Stupid is to deny that these characters are already a little stir crazy. Audiences weren't quite prepared for the radical notion that a marriage could be put on hold, or that a night of adultery could improve it. While that may not be emphatically true, the stars certainly aligned for the Spooners.
The most obvious perpetrator is Orville, who has a gorgeous wife but sees opportunities to lose her around every corner. The part was originally filmed for Peter Sellers, but Ray Walston fits it better. Even with the Golden Age standard established by ageing leading men like Stewart and Grant, he looks on the elderly side. The wrinkly Orville is so awestruck at having landed Zelda that he is forever fretting on having her stolen away. Sellers would have fluffed the role of the commoner, stole the screen from Martin, and been too good a match for Farr. One running gag sees the soundtrack whipping up a cyclone of strings and a ticking time bomb whenever he gets an inkling of infidelity - Walston matches this with the uncanny ability to suddenly gain tunnel vision, his face frozen in an agitated trance of jealousy. At every turn Wilder underlines the character's psychological impotence by turning his well-intentioned menace into pathetic fumblings; Orville is so much of a joke he can hardly even level a decent insult towards his wife. Initially he formulates a devious plan to shove a grapefruit into Zelda's face. That bit is a homage to Wellman's The Public Enemy, a pre-code gangster flick where James Cagney does the same to his girl. But Orville is not nearly as menacing, or competent. He holds the grapefruit half nervously behind his back, undecided on whether to shove it or eat it. A pious minister catches sight of it, and mistakes it for a tasty snack. Later the now eaten fruit is placed harmlessly onto the table. Wilder's winking at us - just because he can, doesn't mean he will, and all the more opportunity to tease Orville for it.
Dean Martin plays himself, unimpressed by dopey baguette odes, only seeking a lecherous night out. The setting is Climax, Nevada, although Wilder has some fun by concentrating all of the title's bawdiness into one grimy bar just out of town. That's also the home of the best 'waitress' available. To say that she is a cliché is an understatement. She looks like she has just walked out of a smutty B-movie western. She's called Polly and has a matching parrot, and her television constantly replays scenes from that genre, going 'bang bang!' - no prizes for guessing that double meaning. Yet Novak manages to firstly revel in the Polly's trashiness, and then lift herself out of it (with some financial assistance from Zelda). Hitchcock's icy, alluring blonde is disarmed by a cold, and Novak hams it with her nasally dialogue, all while hobbling around in high-heels and a ridiculously tight dress. What Orville gradually realises is what we also see: no women should be treated like this, fake wife or not. Novak earns our sympathy through attempting to fit the role of a lonely, mistreated wife, slowly taking the farce at face value and being seduced by the domestic comforts she never had.
The script is as densely packed as any that Wilder and I.A.L Diamond wrote together, filled to the brim with double entendres, classic misunderstandings and racy innuendos. Barney just happens to deliver the most phallic bottle of wine there possibly could be, and the centrepiece of the living room is a 'love chair' so inexplicable it must have been fashioned for that exact scene and nothing else. The house is fashioned to provide maddening barriers for Orville's maneuvering of wife and guest, and then there is that reveal of he and Polly's decision of a first impression: neither can knit or read convincingly, so they end up in some sort of lustful entanglement, him in her lap, rocking ever so slightly, lips glued together as if their lives depended on it. Kiss Me, Stupid may not be Wilder's best, but it's a good enough comedy. The film's reputation precedes it, perhaps unfairly - it's not nearly as cynical as it sounds, and there's a heart in there somewhere. The most important thing is not to take it too seriously.
The most obvious perpetrator is Orville, who has a gorgeous wife but sees opportunities to lose her around every corner. The part was originally filmed for Peter Sellers, but Ray Walston fits it better. Even with the Golden Age standard established by ageing leading men like Stewart and Grant, he looks on the elderly side. The wrinkly Orville is so awestruck at having landed Zelda that he is forever fretting on having her stolen away. Sellers would have fluffed the role of the commoner, stole the screen from Martin, and been too good a match for Farr. One running gag sees the soundtrack whipping up a cyclone of strings and a ticking time bomb whenever he gets an inkling of infidelity - Walston matches this with the uncanny ability to suddenly gain tunnel vision, his face frozen in an agitated trance of jealousy. At every turn Wilder underlines the character's psychological impotence by turning his well-intentioned menace into pathetic fumblings; Orville is so much of a joke he can hardly even level a decent insult towards his wife. Initially he formulates a devious plan to shove a grapefruit into Zelda's face. That bit is a homage to Wellman's The Public Enemy, a pre-code gangster flick where James Cagney does the same to his girl. But Orville is not nearly as menacing, or competent. He holds the grapefruit half nervously behind his back, undecided on whether to shove it or eat it. A pious minister catches sight of it, and mistakes it for a tasty snack. Later the now eaten fruit is placed harmlessly onto the table. Wilder's winking at us - just because he can, doesn't mean he will, and all the more opportunity to tease Orville for it.
Dean Martin plays himself, unimpressed by dopey baguette odes, only seeking a lecherous night out. The setting is Climax, Nevada, although Wilder has some fun by concentrating all of the title's bawdiness into one grimy bar just out of town. That's also the home of the best 'waitress' available. To say that she is a cliché is an understatement. She looks like she has just walked out of a smutty B-movie western. She's called Polly and has a matching parrot, and her television constantly replays scenes from that genre, going 'bang bang!' - no prizes for guessing that double meaning. Yet Novak manages to firstly revel in the Polly's trashiness, and then lift herself out of it (with some financial assistance from Zelda). Hitchcock's icy, alluring blonde is disarmed by a cold, and Novak hams it with her nasally dialogue, all while hobbling around in high-heels and a ridiculously tight dress. What Orville gradually realises is what we also see: no women should be treated like this, fake wife or not. Novak earns our sympathy through attempting to fit the role of a lonely, mistreated wife, slowly taking the farce at face value and being seduced by the domestic comforts she never had.
The script is as densely packed as any that Wilder and I.A.L Diamond wrote together, filled to the brim with double entendres, classic misunderstandings and racy innuendos. Barney just happens to deliver the most phallic bottle of wine there possibly could be, and the centrepiece of the living room is a 'love chair' so inexplicable it must have been fashioned for that exact scene and nothing else. The house is fashioned to provide maddening barriers for Orville's maneuvering of wife and guest, and then there is that reveal of he and Polly's decision of a first impression: neither can knit or read convincingly, so they end up in some sort of lustful entanglement, him in her lap, rocking ever so slightly, lips glued together as if their lives depended on it. Kiss Me, Stupid may not be Wilder's best, but it's a good enough comedy. The film's reputation precedes it, perhaps unfairly - it's not nearly as cynical as it sounds, and there's a heart in there somewhere. The most important thing is not to take it too seriously.
Dean playing Dean in Billy Wilder's most controversial film
vincentlynch-moonoi6 February 2016
Warning: Spoilers
In an interview, Wilder once said, "I am a sucker for Dean Martin. I thought he was the funniest man in Hollywood." Well, I agree. I'm a tremendous fan of his. But I'm pretty neutral about this movie. Admittedly, over time it's grown on me a bit, but I still find it to be just a little over the edge in terms of sexual innuendos. And this gets down to the problem I have had with a number of Billy Wilder's films. Wilder did some great films, both in terms of those he wrote and those he directed. The time period during which this film was made was the most cynical of Wilder's career...and I'm just not that cynical. So this was a difficult film for me to enjoy -- a rabid Dean Martin fan with Dean in a film that I really don't like. In fact, released just after his tremendous hit of "Everybody Loves Somebody" I really wanted to see this film back in 1964, but it was held in such disdain that my small town theater would not show the film.
However, as I said, this film has grown on me...a bit...over the years. The idea is clever...Dino (pretty much playing himself, although a bit over the top) ends up stranded in a desert town called Climax. He unwittingly stays overnight at a male piano teacher's (Ray Walston) house who just happens to be half of a song-writing team (with Cliff Osmond) that has little talent. Can they sell a song to Dino (even under duress)? Or will the piano teacher's wife (Felicia Farr) be too distracting. Solution -- substitute a local barmaid (Kim Novak) for the wife, let Dino get seduced, and see what happens.
Dean turns in a really good performance because he entertainingly makes fun of his own image. Dean could do more with a look or a throwaway line...
Although I liked other Kim Novak roles much better (for example "Vertigo"), she does bring a certain sensitivity to the role of the local prostitute that many actresses probably couldn't have accomplished.
Ray Walston was not a strong enough actor to take such an important role in a film. As a minor supporting actor, fine. But he has a lot of screen time in this film, and he wasn't up to it. It borders on slapstick exaggeration. And to think that Billy Wilder wanted Jack Lemmon for the role! Felica Farr is quite good as the wife. Ironically, she was Jack Lemmon's wife! Cliff Osmond is good in his role as the co-songwriter.
There are also some interesting small supporting roles here. Mel Blanc as a dentist. Howard McNear (the barber on Andy Griffith's show) as Farr's father. Doro Merande as Farr's mother. And Henry Gibson as a bar patron.
There is one song (supposedly by the untalented songwriters, but actually based on unpublished work by the Gershwins) called "Sophia" that Dean actually recorded in 1964, and while it is decidedly corny, it also has a nice melody. But, as Dino said in the film, "I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat!" Looking back now, one wonders what all the fuss was about back in 1964. It almost seems tame. So it's good for watching...at least once.
However, as I said, this film has grown on me...a bit...over the years. The idea is clever...Dino (pretty much playing himself, although a bit over the top) ends up stranded in a desert town called Climax. He unwittingly stays overnight at a male piano teacher's (Ray Walston) house who just happens to be half of a song-writing team (with Cliff Osmond) that has little talent. Can they sell a song to Dino (even under duress)? Or will the piano teacher's wife (Felicia Farr) be too distracting. Solution -- substitute a local barmaid (Kim Novak) for the wife, let Dino get seduced, and see what happens.
Dean turns in a really good performance because he entertainingly makes fun of his own image. Dean could do more with a look or a throwaway line...
Although I liked other Kim Novak roles much better (for example "Vertigo"), she does bring a certain sensitivity to the role of the local prostitute that many actresses probably couldn't have accomplished.
Ray Walston was not a strong enough actor to take such an important role in a film. As a minor supporting actor, fine. But he has a lot of screen time in this film, and he wasn't up to it. It borders on slapstick exaggeration. And to think that Billy Wilder wanted Jack Lemmon for the role! Felica Farr is quite good as the wife. Ironically, she was Jack Lemmon's wife! Cliff Osmond is good in his role as the co-songwriter.
There are also some interesting small supporting roles here. Mel Blanc as a dentist. Howard McNear (the barber on Andy Griffith's show) as Farr's father. Doro Merande as Farr's mother. And Henry Gibson as a bar patron.
There is one song (supposedly by the untalented songwriters, but actually based on unpublished work by the Gershwins) called "Sophia" that Dean actually recorded in 1964, and while it is decidedly corny, it also has a nice melody. But, as Dino said in the film, "I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat!" Looking back now, one wonders what all the fuss was about back in 1964. It almost seems tame. So it's good for watching...at least once.
Some hysterically funny moments don't add up to a film that isn't anything but trashy.
mark.waltz10 December 2012
Warning: Spoilers
There is no sense to this story of a jealous husband (Ray Walston) who sets up a stranded singer (Dean Martin as "Dino Martini", an obvious parody of himself) with a barmaid (Kim Novak) posing as his wife after the real wife (Felicia Farr) flees in tears after the paranoid Walston sets her up for a fight in order to prevent an actual seduction by the sex-crazed Lothario. The film, photographed in a truly dreary version of fabulous black and white, has a hysterical opening in Las Vegas with Martin performing his stage act to Gershwin's "S' Wonderful", then getting stuck in the town of "Climax" where the big social scene is at a dive bar called the "Belly Button". Such character performers as Henry Gibson, John Fiedler, Alice Pearce and Doro Merande (as Farr's nasty witch like mother whom Walston refers to as "Godzilla") pop in and out of the supposed plot line for non-comic effect. Walston is a songwriter who is trying to get Martin to buy his songs (actually trunk songs by Gershwin which appear to have been trunk songs for a reason) for his upcoming musical special.
This is a one joke movie (where the punchline really has the screenwriter deserving to be punched) that in spite of its truly raunchy story seemed to have some promise at the beginning but soon lead me into shaking my head much like the critics at the time did. There is no evidence as to why Martin would want to seduce a married woman inside her own house with the husband present or why Walston thought his wife was cheating on him in the first place. After the subtle sexualities of "Some Like It Hot", "The Apartment" and "Irma La Douce", director Billy Wilder would really hit rock bottom with this one.
This is a one joke movie (where the punchline really has the screenwriter deserving to be punched) that in spite of its truly raunchy story seemed to have some promise at the beginning but soon lead me into shaking my head much like the critics at the time did. There is no evidence as to why Martin would want to seduce a married woman inside her own house with the husband present or why Walston thought his wife was cheating on him in the first place. After the subtle sexualities of "Some Like It Hot", "The Apartment" and "Irma La Douce", director Billy Wilder would really hit rock bottom with this one.
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