Wednesday, April 11, 2018

KILLER'S KISS - "Her Soft Mouth Was the Road to Sin-Smeared Violence!" - Stanley Kubrick (1955)

 Since we never have a clue what we're doing around here, it's always refreshing to stumble upon something great that you didn't know about previously, and such is the case tonight! 
Welcome to the Why Not Wednesday edition of The Dungeon, and a very, very interesting film!

 "Killer's Kiss" is a fairly extraordinary movie that came out in 1955, and was Mr. Stanley Kubrick's second feature film! Just in case that there is some possible chance that you don't know who Stanley Kubrick is, then you're probably also not familiar with films like "Dr. Strangelove," "2001," "A Clockwork Orange," and "The Shining," all which he is also responsible for!

 Jamie Smith is welterweight boxer Davey Gordon at the end of his career! Jamie was in one other movie in 1952 called "Faithful City," but the rest of his work was in TV.

 Davey Gordon has a big  'make it or break it' fight with a young and upcoming potential champion boxer named Kid Rodriguez!

 To show you a bit of his roots, this is one of the photos pinned to his mirror.

 When Davey looks out his window, he sees into his neighbor's room, a young lady named Gloria Price as portrayed by Irene Kane. Irene only has six acting credits, but they spread across 3 decades, the last being "All That Jazz" in 1979.

 Gloria works in this club as a hostess, and her sleazy boss thinks he loves her!

 Seriously, don't you just love it? This story was also written by Stanley Kubrick.

 Ladies and Gentlemen.....Let's get ready to Rumba!
Kid Rodriquez is raring to go, but Davey Gordon is still on his stool!

 That didn't take long!

 Frank Silvera is Vinnie Rapallo, the owner of the club and the guy in love with Gloria!
Frank Silvera is a very interesting story all unto himself. Frank was an African-American born in Jamaica who was an avid civil rights supporter, who because of his light skin was able to get roles from black to white, and everything in between! He was Dr. Koslenko in the "Twilight Zone" episode titled "Person Or Persons Unknown." Frank was also the star of Stanley Kubrick's first feature film titled "Fear And Desire!"

  These scenes in the gym are brilliant!

 It wouldn't be much of a movie if it didn't have some dancing drunken Shriner bandits in it!

 Signs in movies can be quite prophetic!

 "The Embassy Newsreel Theatre!"

 It's a case of mistaken identity, and after the deed is done, one of the hoodlums has to comb his hair walking away, because it got a little mussed up!

 Face down again! Davey's life is a shit storm!

 I find both the rooftop water towers and the staircase fascinating!

 So........if it's 1955, and you're Stanley Kubrick, and you need some place really wild to finish off your second movie, what else would you choose but a room full of mannequins?

 This is obviously not going to end well for somebody!

Hey, I liked this movie, and I feel bad that it took me 63 years before I got to see it. There aren't too many 1955 movies that look this cool, thanx to Mr. Kubrick, it's got boxing, and the background music throughout by Gerald Fried is outstanding! It's got the look, the feel, and the sound, and is a great example of what Stanley had in store for us in the future!

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