#rate. he's in fully calculating mode here‚ holding the reins tight so that this never quite tips into fullblown melodrama even at its most

[mariocki]

The Naked Kiss (1964)

"You know what's different about the first night? Nothing. Nothing... except it lasts forever, that's all. You'll be sleeping on the skin of a nightmare for the rest of your life."

#the naked kiss #samuel fuller #american cinema #neo noir #1964 #constance towers #anthony eisley #michael dante #virginia grey #patsy kelly #betty bronson #marie devereux #karen conrad #linda francis #barbara perry #walter mathews #betty robinson #jean michel michenaud #patty robinson #paul dunlap #sally mills #edy williams #not sure anyone trod that finest of lines between significant artistry and greasy exploitation quite like Fuller; no other American‚ at any #rate. he's in fully calculating mode here‚ holding the reins tight so that this never quite tips into fullblown melodrama even at its most #histrionic and exaggerated. not his most accomplished nor his most well constructed work‚ but a hell of a film nonetheless: his treatments #of sex work and mental health might flag as a little problematic by today's standards‚ but for 1964 they're groundbreaking‚ as is the power #the agency and the sheer self determination he affords his lead (a powerhouse performance from Towers). jolts the viewer with a hard left #turn in the third act that i genuinely couldn't have anticipated‚ and which in the hands of a lesser director might have felt schlocky or #gratuitous‚ but here works perfectly to solidify his themes of sickness and culpability and to underline Towers' characters' arc and #personality. a highly unusual‚ grim and queasy look at the festering underbelly of the faux US suburban idyll