The Naked Kiss (1964)

In writer/director Sam Fuller's unorthodox, bold and raw, feminist B-film and sordid, film-noirish melodrama - a treatise about the abuse and exploitation of women by perverse, misogynistic men and women, and the hypocrisy of middle-class morality:

• the violent, fierce and striking pre-titles opening scene (with a jazzy score and great alternating POV shots) of call-girl Kelly (Constance Towers) beating her abusive, drunk pimp Farlunde (Monte Mansfield) with her handbag, when he suddenly pulled at her hair - and revealed her bald and shaved scalp [Note: cheating Farlunde had cut off her hair in retaliation for her urging of six prostitutes to walk out on him and leave his "stable"]; after he fell to the floor, she sprayed him with seltzer water, took only $75 cash that belonged to her (of the $800 dollars in his wallet, emphasizing her morals: "I'm taking only what's coming to me") and called him out: "You parasite!", stuffed it in her bra, adjusted her wig and makeup, ripped up her clientele photo, and then strode away, as he struggled to get up - and there was a view of a calendar marking July 4th, 1961 (Kelly's 'independence day')!
• about two years later, Kelly arrived by Greyhound bus in the seemingly wholesome and idyllic suburban community of Grantville; the marquee of the town's theatre advertised the showing of the director's previous film Shock Corridor (1963) - about madness in a mental hospital; at the station, she spoke to future love interest - low-life town Police Captain Griff (Anthony Eisley) - who remarked about her appearance: "That's enough to make a bulldog bust his chain"; she was posing as a traveling saleslady for "Angel Foam" (champagne); Griff responded with sexual innuendo: "I'm pretty good at popping the cork if the vintage is right"
• after an interlude of sleeping together (he was her first customer - for $20), he already had suspected that she was a call-girl, and firmly suggested that she find a job "across the river" in the wide-open town of Delmar Falls across the state line, at a "salon" run by his personal friend, Madam Candy Allacarte (Virginia Grey), named Candy a La Carte (a front for prostitution selling "bon-bons" that looked like it was populated by Playboy Bunnies); he suggested he could become a frequent 'sex' customer there: "I'll buy a bottle from ya now and then...You'll be my Ichiban" (meaning "number one"), since it advertised "Indescribable Pleasure"
• Kelly's decision to completely reform herself - with a "do-gooder" job as a pediatric nurse at the Grantville Orthopaedic Medical Center specializing in helping handicapped and crippled children; Head Nurse Mac (Patsy Kelly) recalled hiring her to Griff: "She came out of the clouds one night without a single reference. I hired her on the spot... Some people are born to write books, symphonies, paint pictures, build bridges. But Kelly - she was born to handle children with crutches and babies in braces...she's tough! Runs her ward like a pirate ship! She makes Captain Bligh look like a sissy"; she resolutely told Griff about her turnabout and complete transformation from her old way of life: "I saw a broken down piece of machinery. Nothing but the buck, the bed and the bottle for the rest of my life. That's what I saw"; she was angry at his insinuations: "You were the only buyer I had in this town, and my last one!" - and emphasized she had really changed and would no longer use her body for her livelihood
• the fantasy sequence of Kelly's work with the children - when she exhorted them to pretend that they were healthy and could run without physical impediments
• Kelly's romance with Griff's war hero-partner - the most respected, charitable and wealthy citizen of the community - philanthropist bachelor J. L. Grant (Michael Dante) who had single-handedly built and sponsored the Medical Center; the gondola fantasy sequence of Kelly joyfully imagining herself with Grant lying back on cushions on a canal boat in the fabled city (after viewing 16 mm footage of his recent trip to Italy), with a gondolier singing in the background: Grant: "If you pretend hard enough, and if you listen hard enough, you'll hear his fine Italian voice"
• Kelly's puritanical advice to young nurse friend Buff (Marie Devereux) - after she slapped her, she vehemently urged her not to accept a position at Candy's club for $300/week: "All right, go ahead. You know what's different about the first night? Nothing. Nothing, except it lasts forever, that's all. You'll be sleeping on the skin of a nightmare for the rest of your life. Oh, you're a beautiful girl, Buff. Young. Oh, they'll outbid each other for you. You'll get compliments, clothes, cash. And you'll meet men you live on, and men who live on you. And those are the only men you'll meet. And, after a steady grind of making every john feel at home, you'll become a block of ice. And if you do happen to melt a little, you'll get slipped a tip behind Candy's back. You'll be every man's wife-in-law, and no man's wife. Why, your world with Candy will become so warped that you'll hate all men. And you'll hate yourself! Because you'll become a social problem, a medical problem, a mental problem! And a despicable failure as a woman!"
• the retaliatory sequence in Candy's club office when Kelly repeatedly bitch-slapped Candy with her handbag, then stuffed Buff's first night's cash earnings of $25 into her mouth, and warned her to "stay away from Buff"
• the sequence after Kelly had revealed her sordid and secret past to Grant, when he didn't flinch and immediately proposed marriage to her, but she hesitatingly responded: "I've got to think it out"; one night while drinking, she commiserated about her dilemma with a dress-making mannequin in her bedroom named "Charlie" (her landlady seamstress Josephine (Betty Bronson) had created the substitute for her lover who died in WWII); Kelly asked the dummy the question: "What should I do?"
• the sappy musical number when various disabled children sang: "Bluebird Of Happiness" (replayed later during the climactic revelation scene)
• the scene of Kelly's visit to Grant's home to show him her wedding dress and veil, and her discovery of Grant's perversion as a predatory pedophile (with a tape of "Bluebird of Happiness" playing) - she saw Grant's young niece Bunny skipping out the front door from his place (after threatened with molestation (off-screen) during a "special game"); Grant was prompted to again propose marriage, claiming that he had forgiven Kelly for her past, and that his problems should also be overlooked: "Now you know why I could never marry a normal woman. That's why I love you. You understand my sickness. You've been conditioned to people like me. You live in my world, and it will be an exciting world! (He sank to his knees) My darling, our marriage will be a paradise because we're, we're both abnormal"

The Moment that Kelly Discovered Grant Was a Pervert and Pedophile	Grant Proposing Marriage to Kelly Again	Kelly Accidentally Murdering Grant

• the subsequent stunning scene of the accidental killing of Grant when Kelly in anger picked up a phone receiver and bashed him in the head; the following day's headlines were superimposed - in bold white letters: "GRANT IS DEAD; SLAIN BY PROSTITUTE"; Kelly was arrested by Griff and explained her motive for killing the sexual deviant: "Once before, a man's kiss tasted like that. He was put away in a psycho ward. Oh, I got the same taste the first time Grant kissed me. It was, what we call a naked kiss. It's the sign of a pervert"; without proof of the little girl's identity, Kelly would be charged with murder; Griff suspected Kelly killed Grant to silence him about her sordid call-girl past; Kelly argued that the murder was justifiable homicide
• the scenes of character witnesses (including Farlunde, Candy and Buff) who were called to testify against Kelly by Griff, to refute her claims and defame her, and to accuse her of blackmailing and extorting money from Grant; Candy even spitefully shouted: "Nobody shoves dirty money in my mouth!"
• the sequence of Kelly's identification of Grant's young molested niece outside her jail cell, that helped to prove her case to Griff, although she at first forcibly coerced a confession from the young girl while shaking her: "Do you remember me?...Of course you remember me. You were at Uncle Grant's house. You remember Uncle Grant, don't you? Don't you remember Uncle Grant? 'Course you certainly remember Uncle Grant. You know him. You were at his house. Don't you remember that? Look at me! Don't you remember me? You know me!"
• after Kelly urged the girl to admit to her presence in Grant's home, the case against Kelly was dismissed and she was vindicated ("The judge and the DA gave ya a clean bill of health. The whole town's got you on a pedestal for what you did for the children"); triumphant, she thanked Griff with a kiss and departed from the town; she walked through a crowd of silent onlookers from town - presumably forever, as Griff noted: "She still owes me $10 bucks" Cop: "Then you'll be seeing her again" Griff: "She never makes change"; as she walked down the sidewalk, she admired a baby in a carriage

Kelly Vindicated
Jailed Kelly Cleared of Crime	A Thankful Kiss for Griff	Kelly Walking Through Crowd of Silent Town Onlookers