KISS ME STUPID

US, 1964, 125 minutes, Black and white.
Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston, Felicia Farr, Cliff Osmond.
Directed by Billy Wilder.

Kiss Me Stupid is part of the moral history of the American cinema. It was made by Billy Wilder, written with his partner I.A.L. Diamond (Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Irma la Douce). It came immediately after his version of Irma la Douce and before The Fortune Cookie.

The film took up some of the more sexually explicit themes of the 1960s – though with some restraint, relying on innuendo and suggestion rather than blatant jokes. However, the film was not received well by critics, and was condemned by the American Legion of Decency which led to United Artists dropping it, its limited release in art-house cinemas.

It is interesting to look at now, in the light of subsequent decades and their styles and more explicit treatment of sexual issues, and try to gauge the impact in its time.

Dean Martin plays the type of singer that he always seemed to play on his show. He is a philandering type who stops in the town of Climax, Nevada for gas and encounters a schoolteacher and his songwriting partner. The teacher wants to protect his wife and hires the local prostitute to impersonate her with the singer. The prostitute is played by Kim Novak. Felicia Farr is the wife. Ray Walston portrays the teacher – a role that was originally intended for Peter Sellers who had a heart attack and could not act in the film.

Two years later the Legion of Decency was changed into the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures and a rethinking of their classifications and criteria took place.

1. The meaning and tone of the title? its use at the end of the film?

2. Was this a good comedy? Was it a good satire? The director said it was a moralising story, The American Legion of Decency condemned it as outrageous. Who had the right point of view? How moral or immoral was the film? How dirty and smutty was the film?

3. How important were the characters for the film? Were they characters or caricatures? Mouthing dialogue and satirical point

4. The character of Dino - Dean Martin's own style? The satire on the way of life of a singing star? The satire on his city attitudes compared with those of the climax? Was Dino’s character well explored in the film? The emphasis on sex? The reputation that he had in the town and Spooner’s response to this? Dino’s attitude towards Mrs Spooner (Polly)? The nature of the relationship between himself and Polly and its effect on him? The effect of the real Mrs Spooner on him? The consummation of their affair? The influence of the song? Dino going on his way?

5. The character of Spooner? How did he contract with Dino? The music man of a small town? The satire on small town attitudes? The double morality? Protecting his wife and getting in Polly the Pistol? His eccentricities? His jealousy? How did the film ridicule Spooner? His relationship with Polly? The effect that it had on him? The effect on his marriage? His preoccupation with his friend and the song? His wanting success?

6. How attractive a character was Zelda? Was it credible that she was married to Spooner? Her being protected by him? As a typical wife in climax? Her relationship with her husband and her going away for the night? The effect on her? Her drunkenness? The relationship with Dino? Helping her husband with the song? The finale of the film and its tone?

7. How attractive was Polly the pistol? The prostitute with the heart of gold? Kim Novak’s style and personality? As a contrast with Zelda? The effect of each man with her? The effect she had on them? How did she stand at the end of the film?

8. The comedy in the songs, their lyrics, the way that they were worked into the plot, the humour as provided by Barney?

9. This was a farcical sex comedy in its basic plot. Why are misunderstandings always necessary for the functioning of such stories? How well were the misunderstandings handled here? The meal and Dino’s attitude towards Polly as Mrs Spooner? Spooner's trying to explain his wife etc?

10.How did the film explore motivations in the area of sex? How real was this?

11. Billy Wilder said the film was about the sanctity and reality of marriage. Was it? How?

12. How good a satire on contemporary types and models was this film? As a parody of sex-farce comedies? How clever was it in its plotting, in the wittiness of the dialogue?