Kiss Me, Stupid
Directed by Billy Wilder
Written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond from a play by Anna Bonacci
1964/USA
The Mirsch Corporation/Phalanx Productions/Claude Productions
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Dino: [responding to an offer to buy the rights for a song] I need another Italian song like a giraffe needs a strep throat.[/box]
By 1964, Billy Wilder had his peak behind him
Dean Martin plays an alcoholic womanizing version of himself called “Dino”. Dino has finished a gig in Las Vegas and is driving to Hollywood to film a TV special. He hits a detour and is routed through the desert. He stops in tiny Climax, Nevada for gas. The gas station attendant Barney (Cliff Osmond) and piano teacher Orville (Ray Walston) are a song-writing duo and conspire to create a mechanical malfunction that will keep the singer there overnight to listen to their catalogue.
Dino will wake up with a headache if he goes even one night without some action. He expresses some interest in the insanely jealsous Orville’s wife Zelda (Felicia Farr). Instead, they recruit “bar girl” Pistol Polly (Kim Novak) to entertain him. Various hijinx ensue.
This is a bit of a mess. Everything feels forced and overdone, unusual for the sophisticated Wilder. It’s almost like he couldn’t handle the permissiveness of 1964, gave into it, and lost his way. I also thought Novak’s New Jersey hooker was particularly grating. Not a winner,
