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Kiss Me, Stupid

Screening on Film
Directed by Billy Wilder.
With Dean Martin, Kim Novak, Ray Walston.
US, 1964, 35mm, black & white, 126 min.

Dean Martin puts a humorous spin on his public persona in the role of Dino, a Vegas crooner stranded in a small Nevada town while en route to Los Angeles. An amateur songwriter (Walston, in a role originally intended for Peter Sellers) tries to sell one of his ditties to the lecherous singer but fears he will make a play for his wife (Felicia Farr). Enter Kim Novak as Polly, a prostitute who poses as the songwriter’s wife. Wilder’s most scathing critique of American culture since Ace in the Hole, Kiss Me Stupid is a tawdry farce, savaged by critics and condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency for its provocative subject matter. 

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