Kiss Her Goodbye (1959) Online

Solid ensemble cast, featuring, Sharon Farrell (Emily) as the younger sister of Steven Hill (Ed). This duo, whose parents are no longer alive, end up at a road side inn, in a seaside town, that is little more than a "wide spot" in the road.

For reasons that would give too much of the plot away, they have been on the move. With their car broken down, Ed has to take a job at the local service station. This is how we get to know the rest of the cast, including Elaine Stritch as Marge.

I found this movie to be tightly written, well filmed, and could be considered "film noir." Give it a chance, the next time it's shown on one of the classic movie stations. Don't think it is available on video at this time. I think it may be mostly overlooked because of the lack of any "big name" stars.

Elaine Stritch (already a decade into a fascinating Broadway career that would span more than 60 years) and a surprisingly handsome and already understated Steven Hill (MUCH later to create the solid district attorney in the first years of LAW AND ORDER) provide the main points of interest in this wanna-be tawdry independent film that evokes nothing so much as LOLITA meets LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA while driving through Tennessee Williams territory trying to find the way to KEY LARGO. It never gets there.

The inconsistent writing (dropped motivations and theatre references coming out of nowhere) is not helped by the cinematography and direction which looks like 50's television not movie work. A bad episode of Perry Mason perhaps - before the murder happens - all freshly scrubbed, possibly TOO cleanly filmed set-up, lots of innuendo (but none a CBS censor wouldn't pass), no real punch even when it tries to steal ideas from classic tension makers like FRANKENSTEIN (the scene with the monster and the little girl) or DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS (the frustrated boy with oppressive parent). It isn't good enough to be really bad, or bad enough to be really good.

While only released after Stritch's Broadway musical GOLDILOCKS had come and gone (Oct. '58 - Feb. '59 despite a wonderful score and hilarious book - Noël Coward saw Stritch in THAT and wrote a show for her as a result), KISS HER GOODBYE was probably filmed just before she went into rehearsals for the musical - shortly after the all too quick Broadway flop of THE SIN OF PAT MULDOON (one week in 1957 - not long enough to take the bloom off Stritch's well received performance in BUS STOP, 1955-56, which probably got her this role).

The film, like ...PAT MULDOON, didn't appear to make enough of an impression to actually hurt anyone's career - but it didn't help anyone's either. The New York Times Directory of Film doesn't even list a N.Y. Times review for it - though it does list five other film notices involving Hill from 1950 to 1965 and three others for Stritch from 1957 to January of '59.

What a pity. The leads in KISS HER GOODBYE deserved better, but fans of their mature work should enjoy seeing them near the start.

Turner Classic Movies channel just showed this (10/10/06). I'd never heard of it before. I suspect it was barely released in 1959. It's a very low-budget film that's supposed to take place in Florida, but I'm not sure it was entirely shot there. Some of it looks like Southern Cal. Steven Hill, Elaine Stritch, Andrew Prine and a nineteen-year-old Sharon Farrell are professional and do the best they can with a weak script and in what looks like an amateur production. I see it's the director's only credit. The film is not bad, somewhat interesting, but never rises above its limits. A minor curio. It certainly kept me watching, but in the end it didn't amount to much.

Late-'50s indie with a putrid aroma, about an average Joe trying to protect his mentally retarded but nubile sister from the attentions of uncomprehending suitors. Not much happens, but from the frenzy of fanfares in the bloated musical score, you'd think we'd dropped the A-bomb on Moscow. I also notice that while the movie shakes its little finger at these guys for slobbering all over its heroine, it has no compunction about endless footage of Sharon Farrell in a bikini, Sharon Farrell in a tiny waitress outfit, Sharon Farrell at a playground innocently showing her panties. Her character makes no sense -- she's an incoherent screaming idiot one minute, a perfectly rational miss the next -- and Elaine Stritch, as a youngish widow stuck on the brother, doesn't fit comfortably into a conventional role. (The character also has an infant son, who is the basis of one dramatic incident and then is promptly forgotten.) Steven Hill, as the guy, maintains his dignity in another inconsistent role, and the black-and-white Florida photography is crisp and evocative, but it's one of those lurid Bs that makes you run for the shower once it's over.

KISS HER GOODBYE - 1959

This low budget film stars Steven Hill, Elaine Stritch, and in her film debut, a 19 year old Sharon Farrell.

Hill and Farrell are driving along the coast heading for Florida when their car conks out. They hitch a ride into the nearby burg with local farmer, Andrew Prine. They snag a room at the local beach motel ran by Dan Reed and his daughter, Elaine Stritch.

We now discover that Miss Farrell is not quite all there in the brain-pan department. She has the body of a nubile young woman, but the mind of a 8 year-old. Hill needs to keep a close watch on Farrell to make sure there is no "interference" from the male population.

The next day, Hill gets himself a job as a mechanic for local service station owner, Gene Lyons. He agrees to work for free for a week if he can fix his car using the station equipment. Lyon's happens to need a man, so he agrees to the deal. While all this is happening, a rather under dressed, Farrell is heating up the non-female types in town. Of course Farrell has no idea of the effect she has on the opposite sex.

Hill starts to take an interest in Stritch and tells her about his sister's problems. Stritch, who recently became a widow with a young child, likewise takes a shine to Hill. She loves how he does everything he can to look after Farrell. Stritch even overlooks an incident where Farrell wanders off with Strich's baby. She decides to help the girl, and puts her to work as a waitress in the motel café.

Needless to say this is not the best of ideas, as the male customers try to put the moves on her. Farrell wigs out and tries to stab several of the swine. Hill is summoned from the station to calm the girl down. Hill admits that Farrell can become somewhat unhinged when pressed by unwanted attention. She has been known to hurt people. He tells Stritch, that Farrell and himself will be moving on as soon as the car is repaired.

Farrell decides to run off and is soon picked up by service station owner, Gene Lyons. He offers the girl a silver locket if she will come for a ride with him. Of course we all know what this "ride" means. Hill finds Farrell back at the motel with ripped and blood covered clothes. He also recognizes the locket as the same one Lyons had been showing around the station. The upset Hill goes a-hunting for Lyons.

Next, we find the local law, Howard Fischer, talking to Hill while looking over a battered and quite dead Lyons. Hill admits to the killing, but the medical examiner is sure Hill had nothing to do with it. It was of course Farrell bashing Lyons with a handy blunt object that did the deed. Hill is just trying to protect his little sister to the last.

They head back to the motel to find that Farrell has again wandered off. They find her body floating in the surf near some rocks. Hill is upset, but also relieved, as he knew he could not have protected her forever.

This low rent potboiler was written by pulp writers, Robert Allison Wade and H. William Miller. The two published under the name, Wade Miller. Some of their more famous film work, includes, A CRY IN THE NIGHT, TOUCH OF EVIL, GUILTY BYSTANDER and WARNING SHOT.

The cast does some nice work here. The only real weak point is the static direction of Albert Lipton, whose work was limited to just this film. It should have looked better with veteran cinematographer, Art Ornitz at the controls. Ornitz was the d of p on, THE PUSHER, REQUIEM FOR A HEAVYWEIGHT, THE ANDERSON TAPES, BADGE 373, SERPICO and DEATH WISH.

Farrell is very good as the unknowing "femme-fatale" who can't help drawing men in.

BrianN says that Sharon Farrell was 13 years old at the time of release for this movie.....hardly! She was 19 years old and married Andrew Prine (who also stars in this film)3 years later. I didn't see or hear anything that indicated that she was supposed to be 13 years old in the movie. This is a pretty good movie though. Steven Hill who was on "Law and Order" for many years seems a little stiff, but otherwise he does a good job. Elaine Stritch is beautiful in this movie...kind hearted and soft. And you gotta love that 50's background music...very dramatic! Sharon Farrell's portrayal as a mentally disabled girl was done without over acting the disabled part...quite an accomplishment for a film of that era. She is innocent and trusting, but knows the difference between love and men's unwanted affection. The ending is horrible...weak and without any real closure or meaning. I'm guessing that Emily's brother killed Corey. Either that or Emily did it and he took the hit for it. I just never got a clear picture of who did the actual killing. And Emily's drowning...suicide or another accidental falling into the ocean?? Not very clear there either. Too bad, too. It could have had an amazing and possibly different ending with all those wonderful actors.

As a movie buff, I will watch almost anything. Today, I tuned into one of those 'gems' that get little airtime. I watched some of Kiss Her Goodbye for the first time today (on AMC). Unfortunately, this movie had already been running for about 30 minutes before I tuned into it. I was pleasantly surprised with the actors, depth of character(s) and the dialog. The dialog in particular, I found to be fairly natural in most scenes. It was also surprising to not see a rating of this 'film noir'. Truly, a very good movie. I hope to be able to see the movie in it's entirety in the future. With luck, this title will be released onto DVD.

. . . to its screeching jarring jazz score, KISS HER GOODBYE ranks right down there as the LEONARD PART SIX for disease-of-the-week flicks. Apparently, the director instructed his cast to pretend that they were Pod People, just having replaced the body-snatched victims, and therefore awkward at the art of being human. Nearly every gesture and line reading rings false, as if aliens are encased in life-like human suits. (I heard that they shot this flick in Cuba, so if this crew of mostly unknowns are actually local extras who had their budding careers of impersonating Americans cut short by the Castro Boys, I can temper my critique a tad.) Regardless of such behind-the-scenes speculation, what's actually left viewable ON the screen by the makers of KISS HER GOODBYE is barely watchable. It should come as no surprise that no one has close-captioned this obscure misfire. Which is a real shame, since the lack of English subtitles takes away the option of ditching the incongruous and obtrusive score, plus the many crazy line renderings, by just hitting the mute button and skimming the captions. Too bad I'm not very good at lip-reading.