Kitten with a Whip

The title says it all! A whip is not always a lash... the whip in the title of this cult movie favorite refers to the many ways and means sociopathic sex kitten Jody (Ann-Margaret) dominates and lashes out at everyone in her path. At one point she yanks and tugs the phone cord while the candidate for Senator (John Forsythe) is on the horn to his wife trying to act like nothing's the matter! Cmon, that length of wire is definitely a whip -in Jody's hands! Then later Jody flings a cocktail into the scratchmarks she's inflicted on Forsythe. She's whipping him back and forth, he just wants her to leave without any guilt or scandal- and she uses this over him at any given moment, not sparing herself, as her own guilt and confusion whips her from self-loathing to frenzied party animal in stacatto snaps - I find this movie full of innuendo, black humor, Hitchcockian situations, it's a guilty pleasure! The music is often reminiscent of Pete Rugolo's THRILLER TV soundtrack, and indeed, the director Douglas Heyes directed many of THRILLER's best episodes, including "The Cheaters" I give this two twisted thumbs up. Don't miss it!

After stabbing the matron, the seventeen year-old delinquent Jody Dvorak (Ann-Margret) escapes from a juvenile detention facility. She breaks in an empty house and sleeps in a bed. Late night, the prominent politician and future senator David Stratton (John Forsythe) comes home after a business meeting with his friend Grant (Richard Anderson) and wife. In the morning, he sees Jody and she tells a dramatic story of her life to him. David decides to help the young woman and goes to the town to buy clothes for her. Then he drives her to the bus station and gives some money to her. He meets Grant in a restaurant and when David is going to tell what happened to him, he sees Jody in the television and gives up. When David returns home, he finds Jody there. He picks up the phone to call the police and Jody threatens to accuse him of rape. Then three delinquents – the smart Ron (Peter Brown); the violent Buck (Skip Ward); and Midge (Diane Sayer) - come to David's house and afraid of a scandal, he becomes hostage of the situation. When Buck and Ron have an argument, Buck accidentally hurts Ron with a razor blade and Midge flees in their car. Now the delinquents want David to drive them to Tijuana to escape from the police. What will David do?

"Kitten with a Whip" is an anguishing film about a good and honest man that gets involved in a difficult situation that might destroy his career and personal life. Ann-Margret is a bipolar woman that controls the situation threatening the man with lies. The film is tense but David is too naive and has many chances to resolve the problem calling the police, especially after the arrival of Jody's friends. "Knock Knock" (2015) uses a similar storyline with a family man also "behind the eight ball". My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available on Blu-Ray or DVD.

Having just seen this film for the second time in some years I felt I needed to come to its defense in view of the poor ratings it has received on IMDb. Moreover I can't help but compare it to "Rebel Without a Cause" which I also recently saw again. Released nine years apart they both deal with the same subject, disaffected youth. They also both reflect their times. Whereas "Rebel" dances around young angst, "Kitten" is more honest about it, although nowhere near as raw as it would have been done today. In "Rebel" the kids are troubled but still seek comfort from their parents, in "Kitten" they're nihilistic, rebellious, disdainful of their parents' values. "Kitten" is edgy, mean, gritty. Its poverty-row production probably helped in that respect. The limited sets added to the sense of claustrophobia, the fear of exposing a dangerous secret in the open. And the references to the finality of the atom bomb add to the general sense of despair.

I found the acting competent if not outstanding. All protagonists had their highs and lows and overall they acquitted themselves rather well, even John Forsythe who does tend to be one-dimensional. I even think that may have worked in his favor playing a conflicted middle-aged man whose estranged wife is away, suddenly being confronted with a sexually charged dynamo. It seems such a man would be on the introverted side. And his suspicious attitude hinted at something sinister. After all, if he had nothing to hide, wouldn't he have reached out for help? He had plenty of opportunities but wasted them all, to the very end, when Ann-Margret walks back to the car and takes away his car keys.

One final note: Audrey Dalton had the most thankless part. She had not even one single line, no screen time at all. We only get to see her in a photo soon to be vandalized. And when Forsythe goes to buy size seven clothes for Ann-Margret we are told that Dalton's character would never fit in them. That's rather unkind because I think she's actually smaller than Ann-Margret. So to top it all off she has to suffer the indignity of being called fat, or at least big, and she doesn't get the chance to show us otherwise. Then again maybe that's just it, she doesn't have any screen time because the whole clothes scene wouldn't fit in.

Delinquent sexpot Ann-Margret (as Jody Dvorak) knifes her matron and sets fire to her juvenile hall. Then, she heads for the bed of senatorial hopeful John Forsythe (as David Stratton), to cool her heels and take a cat nap. Learning Mr. Forsythe's wife is out of town, Ann-Margret uses blackmail to get herself some new clothes. Forsythe wants the over-developed seventeen-year-old to leave his San Diego home without publicity, but she wants to party. Soon, charismatic college friend Peter Brown (as Ron) arrives with muscle-man James Ward (as Buck Vogel) and gullible girlfriend Diane Sayer (as Midge). The four thrill-seeking youngsters proceed to drink Forsythe's liquor, and make his life miserable…

The title "Kitten with a Whip" is misleading. Ann-Margret's "whip" is only figurative. She is a very attractive woman, but doesn't look as provocative as the merchandising implies. She relies on sexiness to overplay the film's lurid titular character. Performing his part a bit better, Forsythe's laid-back style helps balance Ann-Margret's excess. This was already a fun film, but it gets even better when Mr. Brown and his delinquent friends arrive on the screen. Spouting "Everything is Love" and philosophizing about life, Brown plays a pseudo-cult leader who serves as a mid-1960s signpost for either Charles Manson or the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi...

If you punch him, will he feel pain?

If you cut him, will he bleed?

****** Kitten with a Whip (11/4/64) Douglas Heyes ~ John Forsythe, Ann-Margret, Peter Brown, Skip Ward

Most juvenile delinquency films of the 1950s and early 60s were about the damage kids could inflict on themselves or their classmates. By 1964 America was perhaps subconsciously anticipating the fallout from being involved in Vietnam, and started to exhibit concern about youth's impact on the older generation. Kitten With A Whip may or not not have been Universal's answer to Paramount's Lady In A Cage, but both films convey the same message: the inmates are capable of taking over the asylum. By the end of the decade films like Wild In the Streets and Gas-s-s-s-s-s were taking this theme to its logical extreme.

Kitten With A Whip takes us on a surprisingly seedy tour of the youth underworld, and even though it's another conservative morality play with a happy ending, it serves as a valuable reminder of the social changes underway in the mid 60s. It's also incredibly entertaining.