KISS KISS BANG BANG

by Pauline Kael ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 30, 1968

Snap snap snarl snarl and a right cross to the wide-screen, ultra-brite, mediocre movie-maker's mouth. That I Lost It at the Movies heroine is back again with another series of devastating critiques designed to make film-makers flinch. The under-thirties will certainly not appreciate her over-thirties conservatism in taking apart the ""out of control"" hi-jinks of Morgan, Georgy Girl, etc., and will her Blow-Up evaluation detonate a cross-fire in the intelligentsia since she refuses to grasp the abstract concept of a movie about an abstract concept. Current Westerns with name actors who should have gone riding over the hill some time hence get both barrels. And so does the torrent of young Goddard imitators who, according to Miss Kael, find the zenith of creativity in ""automatic writing With a camera."" Does anything rate a Kiss Kiss? Yea. . . Bravo Bonnie and Clyde, flawed to be sure but the movie that ""has put the sting back into death."" One of the most inherently hilarious and incisive sections deals with the plums that plummet. In this case it's The Group which Miss Kael personally observed from mis-casting to missed plaudits. It's a stunning analysis of what went wrong and why. Along with other capsule reviews of contemporary films Miss Kael includes a section on ""Careers"": the current self-parody of Brando, the missed masterpieces of Orson Welles, etc., and for the home viewer: run-ups run-downs of old movies. Kiss Kiss or Bang Bang. . . never a dull moment from one of the most provocative critics in the country.

Pub Date: April 30, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little Brown--A.M.P.

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION