|
|
xsBusiness - Kitten with a Whip
|
List Price: $14.98
Our Price: $61.99
Your Save: $ ( % )
Availability:
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Starring: Ann-Margret, John Forsythe, Peter Brown, Patricia Barry, Richard Anderson
Directed By: Douglas Heyes
|
Average Customer Rating:  
|
|
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780783241739
Format: Black & White
ISBN: 0783241739
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: 2000-10-31
Running Time: 82
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: 1964
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spotlight customer reviews:
|
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ann-Margret Purrs While Showing Her Claws As The "Kitten With A Whip!"
Comment: Jody (Ann-Margret), a juvenile delinquent, escapes from reform school by stabbing a matron and attempting to burn down the building and then takes refuge in a house owned by an ambitious politician David Patton (John Forsythe). Despite the hellcat's ample charms, the would-be Senator wants nothing to do with her and tries to drive her away. She responds by shortly returning to his house and invites a couple of delinquent pals (Peter Brown as "Ron," Skip Ward as "Buck", and Patricia Barry as "Vera." ) and taking him hostage. A sudden act of violence causes more trouble, leading Jody and her gang to hijack David and force him to drive a getaway car to Mexico.
Great '60's teen flick which is a cross between a b-movie and a "cult camp classic!" Ann-Margret purrs out goofy lines like, "all I want to do is party-party" and calls herself "Jody Doll." John Forsythe's character, David, tries to help Jody when first encountering her as a mixed-up, run-away kid and gives her some money and drives her to the bus stop. Then later, while having a drink with politcal colleage, Grant, (Richard Anderson) he learns the truth from a TV news channel of her crimes! When returning to his house he discovers he's not rid of Jody Doll and experiences an evening of "party-party," "goofy `60's philosophies" (I feel no pain, man!), and goes for a "life or death" ride to Mexico! It'd be great to have this "campy teenage delinquent" movie on dvd, along with Ann-Margret's "The Pleasure Seekers!" Highly recommended to fans of the classic 50's and 60's "teenage delinquent" movies! Be sure to check this one out and remember to watch it with the gang at your next "party-party!!"
Customer Rating:
Summary: Long before Ann-Margret proved she could act . . .
Comment: . . .she proved that she couldn't -- and this little-known "dangerous youth" gem demonstrates just how completely the studios failed to find quality scripts for the promising young wildcat. Instead, she was handed films that could have hurtled her into Starlet Hell, stuff that gave her no chance to show what she could do. (It all worked out surprisingly well, since flicks like this gave A-M something really bad to come back from.)
We hardly hope to sum up KITTEN WITH A WHIP any better than its original advertising copy ("This is the story of Jody . . . the kicks she digs . . . the swingers she runs with . . . and the special kind of hell she can make for a man!!!") but, nevertheless, we're gonna try. This laugh-out-loud yarn warns you to beware of befriending pouty teen temptresses (who only exist in low-budget Hollywood movies like this one in the first place), lest you wind up being held prisoner in your own suburban home. (Would the tabloids cry out, "I WAS HELD CAPTIVE BY A KITTEN WITH A WHIP"?)
This is exactly the fearful fate that befalls trusting married man John Forsythe when his wife is away for the weekend, and he can't help being nice to sometimes-schizo runaway A-M, who has just broken into his home after escaping a juvenile hall straight out of CAGED. We're told on a TV newscast, "She stabbed the matron after setting fire to the girls' detention quarters." As a bad girl who wants to be good (but just can't seem to help herself), when A-M's not smearing lipstick over a framed photo of Forsythe's wife, she's bumpin' and grindin' and growlin' out such camp classic dialogue as "Why do you think you're such a smoky something when you're just nothing painted blue?"
When her bad-news pretty-boy pals Peter Brown and Skip Ward show up, the party kicks into high gear, and A-M behaves as if what she'd been studying in reform school was Go-Go Dancer Poses and Pouts 101. Working without a script, a director, or a net, A-M has more costume changes than facial expressions (and she doesn't have many costume changes). The results are, happily, more feverish starlet than reform school girl. This go-go-girl-gone-wrong routine, the fake-hipster chit-chat (written and directed by one Douglas Heyes), and the steamy hothouse atmosphere will keep you laughing out loud.
It all ends, as movies like this must, with tragedy in Tijuana. Now here's a movie begging to be remade; Brittany Spears, take note.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Pulp Fiction At Its Best
Comment: I just saw this film on `Mystery Science Theatre 3000' (usually not a complement) and I must say it is worth seeing if you like pulp fiction. Its B&W film noir is quite good and certainly inspired the themes of Frank Miller's `Sin City' comics and film.
While being featured on `MST3K' is typically a condemnation, `Kitten With a Whip' is not a guilty pleasure. I will proudly defend this as great film making. The story is very intriguing and like all good pulp fiction keeps you enthralled as to what will happen next.
The plot: After a noir animated opening credits sequence we see Nordic goddess Ann Margaret running through the darkness in a sexy nighty. (I had no idea she could be this sexy.) The narrative hook is when she seeks refuge in the vacation home of a square middle aged John Forsythe whom is seeking to adventure as a US Senator. Senator Humbert is kind and tempted enough to help out the wayward teen. But when he sees on the news she is a wanted psycho he finds a reversal of good fortune as Margaret now black mails him with a scandal.
Is Forsythe a hero, victim, or a sinner only getting what he created and deserves? Can we feel any sympathy for Margaret? She's a Jezebel but oh so beautiful.
Truly noir pulp fiction, `Kitten With a Whip' takes place over the course of 24 hours mostly at night with only a few characters in only one setting. Yes the story really is enthralling as long as you don't take it too seriously and don't ask very much of the actors.
If you can find a bootleg copy of the `MST3K' version I highly recommend it. It was aptly chosen as Mike, Tom, and Crow provide side splitting comedy. As Forsythe finds Margaret in one of his beds, Mike says, "This is the very definition of "'Getting lucky"'." Crow comments, "Senator Kennedy may have handled this differently."
Customer Rating:
Summary: Careens so fast between bad & good , most viewers will balk
Comment: This movie usually invites a downright split from viewers between "I loved it" and "I hated it". It winds up on so many Razzie lists, you'd think it was a big dud. Far from that, "Kitten With a Whip" is a moody psycho-drama, its only fault is that it takes itself too seriously and invites nervous laughter. Ann-Margret seems deeply into her role as Jody, juvenile delinquent on the run who ends up in politician John Forsythe's house(his daughter's bed to be exact, with a stuffed animal staring scarily at the camera!). A-M's performance is edgy, flashy, cunning, calculated. This is often interpreted as over-the-top, but I don't see any other way this role could be played. She takes the cliched j-d plot to a new high, and at the end, when her fate is revealed, one can only stare in mildly amused shock and hope that the filmmakers are kidding. Nothing's gonna bring Jody down!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hot Ann-Margret Flick
Comment: Talk about sexy. In this film Ann-Margret has got it going on. She is indeed a Kitten With A Whip. Filmed in black and white it has film noir quality. I'm sure she turned on a million teenage boys back in 1964 playing Jody, a troubled JD who prays on the frailties of politician John Forstythe. This kitten made me purr.
|
|
|
Editorial Reviews:
|
|
Ann-Margret never actually touches a whip in this seedy jailbait drama of juvenile delinquents and square-john fall guys, but her slithery moves and schizophrenic mood swings are still enough to give anyone whiplash. The teen temptress makes her entrance skittering through an industrial park in nothing more than a baby-doll nightie as bongos pound away on the soundtrack. Taking refuge in the seemingly deserted house of political hopeful John Forsythe, she begins her torment of the man who would be her savior with her gang of beatnik buddies. "Now cool it and co-exist!" exclaims nominal leader Peter Brown. Fat chance. Ann-Margret yo-yos from little girl lost to feral femme fatale with sharp claws and a taste for blood. She becomes a hellcat who turns on everyone in her nocturnal flight to Tijuana. She even growls with glee while gunning a jeep over a running buddy tangled in barbed wire! Stiff Forsythe is uncomfortably out of place next to the slinky sex kitten, like a sitcom dad who walked onto the wrong set, and the dated portrait of nihilistic, pseudo-philosophical teens makes the film unintentionally campy. But give it credit for energy: Ann-Margret almost single-handedly powers this offbeat drama with pure sass. If the music sounds familiar in the south-of-the-border scenes, that's because it borrows liberally from Henri Mancini's Latin-flavored Touch of Evil score. --Sean Axmaker
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
