Kiss Me, Stupid (1964)

When a famous crooner (Dean Martin) drives through a desolate Nevada town, two aspiring songwriters (Ray Walston, Cliff Osmond) concoct a plan that will force him to spend the night and therefore, hopefully, sell him one of their songs. Unfortunately, the singer is an oversexed satyr so Walston sends his pretty wife (Felicia Farr) away for the night and brings in the town's resident tramp (Kim Novak) to pretend to be his wife and "help". Based on the play L'ORA DELLA FANTASIA by Anna Bonacci and directed by Billy Wilder (DOUBLE INDEMNITY). When first released in 1964, Wilder's film caused a bit of a firestorm. Not only was it condemned by the Catholic church but it was greeted with hostile reviews from the critical establishment calling it "long on vulgarity" and "it seems to have scraped its blue humor off the floor of a honky tonk nightclub" among other things. By today's standards, those shocked critics seem rather prissy. In fact, the film is frequently quite funny and its raciness, while still not for the kiddies, refreshingly adult. The fly in the ointment is the uncharismatic Walston (who was a last minute replacement for Peter Sellers) who lacks pizzaz and unfortunately takes up most of the screen time. But Martin is amusing, good naturedly playing a parody of his image and Novak has a sweet Monroe-ish pathos that's very appealing. And if a film score can be called witty, Andre Previn's contribution is that. With Barbara Pepper, Skip Ward, Alice Pearce, Howard McNear and Doro Merande.