Kiss me fool

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Movie
German title Kiss me fool
Original title Kiss me, stupid
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1964
length 119 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Billy Wilder
script IAL Diamond
Billy Wilder
production Billy Wilder
music André Previn
camera Joseph LaShelle
cut Daniel Mandell
occupation
synchronization

Kiss Me Fool is a 1964 American film directed by Billy Wilder .

action

For two amateur songwriters from the sleepy desert town of Climax, Nevada , the chance of a lifetime arises when the famous singer Dino stops in their tiny nest on his way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles . To keep him overnight, they manipulate his car and hire the prostitute Pistol Polly to keep him happy. In order to wrap the Womanizer Dino around her finger, Polly is supposed to play the wife of piano teacher Orville J. Spooner , one of the two hobby composers. The jealous Orville finally accepts the suggestion of his fellow songwriter and friend Barney Millsap . However, he has to get his wife Zelda out of the house, which he manages with a laboriously instigated marriage dispute. In her anger, Zelda flees first to her mother, then to the Belly Button and into a strong intoxication. The landlady puts her drunk in Polly's trailer.

In the meantime, Polly is almost there at Zelda's home, even if she doesn't like Dinos lascivious manners. But there Orville gets a "moral" - because he has also developed feelings for Polly. He throws Dino out of the house and prefers to spend the night with Polly himself. Meanwhile, Dino seeks consolation in the Belly Button night bar , but can't find anything suitable. In Polly's trailer, to which the bartender refers him, he meets Zelda, who is now halfway sober again, who, after a brief hesitation, gets involved in the game in order to make Dino taste a song by her husband.

The next morning, Zelda meets Polly and gives her last night's fee so that she can leave Climax and build a new life for herself. But she lets her husband believe that she is determined to get a divorce. After letting him fidget for a while, Zelda finally surprises the remorseful Orville by selling Dino a song. When Orville no longer looks through it, his wife only remarks: "Kiss me, stupid!" ("Kiss me stupid!")

background

  • The plot of the film is based on the play L'Ora della Fantasia by Anna Bonacci .
  • For the role of Orville J. Spooner, Billy Wilder initially wanted to engage Jack Lemmon , with whom he had already been successful in Some Like It Hot , The Apartment and The Girl Irma la Douce . But he had to cancel because of other obligations.
  • Peter Sellers was hired for the role, but suffered a heart attack after three weeks of shooting. The role was temporarily changed to Ray Walston , who already played one of Jack Lemmon's superiors as C. C. Baxter in The Apartment . In retrospect, Wilder wasn't happy with this cast.
  • At the request of the Catholic censorship authority Legion of Decency, the comedy had to be cut and changed in various places. Among other things, 30 seconds of Dino leaning over Pistol Polly were cut out while the scene was re-shot in which Dino falls asleep before he can be seduced. Nevertheless, the film was sharply condemned by church circles for its lewd action and also panned by criticism. The success of earlier Wilder works was this film failed, even if it won first prize at the Cannes Film Festival .
  • The car Dean Martin drives is a Dual Ghia , an extremely rare car, only 117 of which were made in American-Italian co-production. The sports car, of which 32 are said to have existed in 2006, was mainly driven by celebrities from show business. The car used in the film actually belonged to Dean Martin.
  • The exterior shots of the backwater of Climax were filmed in Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County , California . The opening scene was in front of the legendary Hotel Sands in Las Vegas. Some of the interior shots were filmed at the Aquarius Theater and the Moulin Rouge Night Club in Los Angeles.
  • The film was produced by the Mirisch Corporation , which had a distribution agreement with United Artists . Because of the moral condemnation that was already apparent in advance, however, it was released by the small label Lopert Pictures .

German dubbed version

Kiss me, Dummkopf came into West German cinemas on December 25, 1964, and was first broadcast on television on December 5, 1973 on Bayerischer Rundfunk .

role actor Voice actor (version 1964)
Dino Dean Martin Gert Günther Hoffmann
Gun Polly Kim Novak Beate Hasenau
Orville J. Spooner Ray Walston Hans Putz
Zelda Spooner Felicia Farr Ingeborg Wellmann
Barney Millsap Cliff Osmond Gerd Duwner
Smith Henry Gibson Wolfgang Draeger

Reviews

"Wilder's comedy is a mixture of slapstick, turbulence and star cult parody, perfectly calculated to the point of cynicism. [...] One of the coldest films by Wilder, which in its derisive exposure lacks any warmth and 'compassion'."

- Lexicon of international film

"Had Wilder's film been left alone, it would have remained what it was - a clever and charming condemnation of immorality."

- Newsweek

"Ray Walston is uniquely charmless in the lead role."

- Pauline Kael

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In the German version of the film, the piano teacher is called Orville N. Spooner. The abbreviation N. has a reason: Zelda's mother doesn't like Spooner and insults him with the words: "N is like rivets!"
  2. ↑ F.-B. Habel: Cut up films. Censorship in the cinema , 2003, p. 57
  3. ↑ Kiss me, fool. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 7, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ Kiss me, fool. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 16, 2016 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used