Kiss of Death (1947)

Simply A Masterpiece

Sadly Over-hyped

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

When his wife commits suicide and his children are placed in foster care, an imprisoned robber turns informer in exchange for early parole; things turn sour though when a man he squealed on is acquitted and comes after him. As one might expect from such a plot summary, this noir entry deals well with the dilemma faced by a criminal torn between his personal ethics (not ratting on his partners) and his desire for the best for his kids -- and with two lovely young actresses playing his doting daughters, it is a heartfelt dilemma, all the more potent since he only turned to crime in desperation, unable to find an honest job to support his family. Victor Mature does not, however, make for all that interesting a protagonist. He always seems a little too warm and gentle for hardened criminal and a romance with his children's babysitter blossoms so quickly after his wife's death that it never feels right. The standout feature of the film though is Richard Widmark as the taunting, constantly laughing acquitted criminal who comes after Mature. There is an excellent shot in which his face is only barely visible in the sliver of a curtain gap and yet his menacing nature still resonates. The film has a powerful ending too.

From the opening shot, it's clear that KISS OF DEATH isn't just another guns 'n' gals thriller: we see a "SHOOTING SCRIPT" (identified as such by its title); placed upon said script, a handgun. Not a bad way to begin a noir thriller, eh? Victor Mature as Nick Bianco is a hood with personal ethics that preclude him ratting out his accomplices in a botched jewelry store robbery. Three years into his stretch, however, he learns that his wife has committed suicide and his two children have been sent to an orphanage. When the prison warden asks Mature if he "plays ball," Mature replies, "I'm going to." The D.A. sets a trap for Mature's accomplice, Rizzo, but Howser, Mature's crooked lawyer, sends the psychotic Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark) to silence Rizzo. But Rizzo ain't home when Udo arrives... so Udo ties Rizzo's invalid mother into her wheelchair with a length of electrical cord and shoves her down the steps. It's a particularly brutal scene, and is justifiably (in)famous. Things take a few more twists and turns before it's all over, but Mature isn't as impressed with the D.A. and his minions as he is with Udo: "He's NUTS, and he's smarter than you are," he snaps contemptuously. KISS OF DEATH is nigh flawless and deserves its status as a topnotch film noir. (Ruminating briefly, I've come up with a list of what I think are probably the top ten most memorable fictional but non-supernatural madmen and troubled women: Colonel Kurtz in APOCALYPSE NOW; Norman Bates in PSYCHO (and PSYCHO II); "John Doe" in SEVEN; "Zodiac" in DIRTY HARRY; Dennis Hopper in BLUE VELVET; Betty Davis in WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?; Kathy Bates in MISERY; Robert Mitchum in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER; Ernest Borgnine in EMPEROR OF THE NORTH; and the entire in-bred family in THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE (the ORIGINAL version). Honorable mentions go out to the Killbillies in DELIVERENCE; the faceless trucker in DUEL; Ernest Borgnine in the original WILLARD; Boris Karloff in BEDLAM and THE BLACK CAT; Orson Welles in TOUCH OF EVIL; the kid in THE BAD SEED; the bandit leader in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE; Paul Stewart in THE WINDOW and the Captain in Val Lewton's GHOST SHIP.)

Unable to find a job in New York City due to an extensive criminal past, Victor Mature (as Nick Bianco) goes Christmas Eve shopping for a fortune in jewels. He is caught and convicted. An understanding assistant district attorney, Brian Donlevy (as Louie D'Angelo), offers Mr. Mature a deal - if he squeals on escaped pals, Mature can get out of jail and be a father for his two preteen daughters. He repeatedly refuses, but problems with his children force Mature to reconsider. When his wife Maria sticks her head in the oven, Mature is ready to "play ball." But he must also deal with the underworld reaction...With his wickedly snickering overbite, Richard Widmark (as Thomas "Tommy" Udo) makes an impressive film debut. He received much-deserved nominations as "Best Supporting Actor" of the year from the "Film Daily" and "Academy Awards" groups, and he won the "Golden Globes" newcomer award. Don't miss what Mr. Widmark does to wheelchair-bound Mildred Dunnock. Also enjoyable is overshadowed sleazy lawyer Taylor Holmes (as Earl Howser)...Mature scores as a noble man who loves his children. Many criminals would give up the goods to spend time on the outside with pretty young babysitter Coleen Gray (as Nettie); apparently, the police did not know about this affair. The script, by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, is nicely peppered with realism. Cinematographer Norbert Brodine and director Henry Hathaway make excellent use of the locations. Yet, there is too subjective an objectivity, with a feeling details are missing. Some of this absence has been addressed in re-makes, but the efforts failed to capture all that makes this "Kiss of Death" engaging.******** Kiss of Death (8/13/47) Henry Hathaway ~ Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray

Sometimes you have to reflect a bit on the world of the film. Most of the time you just know and the encounter is all brute force.This is a solid crime drama, one of the most bleak (forget the wistful ending, you just know it was meddled with for the Code). A straight- up crook has to turn stoolie to be re-united with his two daughters, in doing so gets a new family, a new lease of life, but the plot backfires late in the night and a psychotic mobster will be looking for him and his daughters.Richard Widmark in his screen debut is just delicious to watch, a seething mass of barely contained violence and twitching nerves. He was so good he spawned real-life imitators in the mob.But this also goes for a film noir vibe, at least by token of the period it was made. It gets shadows right and has that gritty sense of place - actual New York streets - but is a bit off on certain characteristics I deem as quite defining of a good noir.The engine per the noir model, is that our man wanted to go straight but the world refused him, refused him because he had a record, all this is narrated to us on the way to a job that goes wrong, and he had a record it is mused because of a certain childhood scene with his no-good father. So the tracks were already laid-out for him long ago and he's merely being pushed along by learned instinct - you may note this as fate.Ideally in a film noir, dark impulse - usually personified in the femme fatale - is so overwhelming, so clouds perception, that reality itself begins to feel like it's being rewritten into a kind of nightmare. Incidental to this are the dreamlike perturbations in the world of the film, the frequently-met trope of a story being invented, a fiction in place of the real thing, and the illusion of fate, all of them key noir elements.The woman here is pure as the driven snow, perhaps this small detail exemplifies all the difference. The impulse is to do the right thing, our man serving justice.But we still have the solid crime drama and two memorable performers in the leads.