They should have made the director watch some Hitchcocks before making this poor attempt at a thriller. He obviously hadn't the shadow of a clue how to make this exciting or create the right tension. The garish color photography and snazzy jazz score don't help either. " A kiss before dying, bababie bababoo". Really gets you in the right mood. The against-type casting of Robert Wagner as the socially ambitious killer was an interesting move, but doesn't pay off because of his total lack of acting skills. The moral ambiguity this role needs to work is completely absent in his performance. Not that the other actors are much better, in fact they're worse. My personal Razzie goes to the ludicrously stilted father figure, although the bookish college don complete with pipe and glasses is hot on his heels. Only Joanne Woodward's character earns some sympathy, but maybe that's because you know she's gonna get bumped off. This movie limps from one ludicrous scene to the next. For fans of cheesy movies i especially recommend the scene in which the killer forces another guy to sit down and have his head blown off, only to have the victim oblige without so much as an attempt at attacking his murderer. Maybe they actually were more polite in the Fifties. The final scene is also unforgettably corny and.... oh well, i've wasted enough time in both watching and complaining about this overcooked turkey. Not bad enough to be campy, but worse: just plain bad.
Review of A Kiss Before Dying
