Kiss of Death

Starring: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Coleen Gray, Richard Widmark, Taylor Holmes, Howard Smith, Karl Malden
Directed by: Henry Hathaway
Rating: Passed
Genre: Drama, Film Noir
1947

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A small crime crook (Victor Mature) is caught between the prosecutor (Brian Donlevy) who wants him to snitch to reduce his sentence, and a dangerous gangster (Richard Widmark) who has a history of seeking violent revenge.

Review:

Tim: I was excited to watch Kiss of Death- I'd heard great things about it from someone I follow on Twitter and I was interested to see it was nominated for two Academy Awards. I thought the film was good, but I was a bit surprised by some of the love I saw for it. It certainly has some strengths to it and Henry Hathaway generally does an effective job directing it, but there were some weaknesses to the movie, too. Still, in the end, I found it a serviceable movie and one I'd recommend.

The story is simple but fairly straightforward. Our protagonist gets arrested early on and has a decision to make about staying loyal to his criminal buddies, or acting as a witness against them. This feels like a big decision at the time, but the movie isn't really about this- it's much more about the consequences of that decision that take place over multiple years. I found that aspect of the film intriguing. I'm not sure there was quite enough nuance and complexity in this, but it was still entertaining. The movie presents our protagonist with several big decisions and we watch as he struggles, makes them, and then deals with the consequences. It was a little difficult to feel much of a connection with him. He's less bad than the others and we do eventually grow to care about him, but never very powerfully. The movie needed more character development and we needed a stronger emotional connection to the main character.

I do believe some of this is due to Victor Mature' performance, while some of it is definitely script-related. I'm somewhat torn on my thoughts on Mature. There were definitely things he did here that I found especially strong. Certain moments are really captured well by him. However, as a whole, I didn't quite love his performance. He put the effort in, but wasn't able to make that emotional connection with the audience. I rooted for him mostly in opposite to other characters, far less for anything he did to make me want to be in his corner. His performance is good, but it's never great. I liked Brian Donlevy in his supporting performance. His role and contributions were clear- the movie never relies on him for too much, but he's able to pop in, contribute, and then step out. I found his work strong here. I liked Coleen Gray, too. I don't think her character was done justice, but she gives a believable and engaging performance. She worked well with Mature. I wish the movie gave her more to do and explained her character's motivations more, but she was effective. It was nice to see Karl Malden here, too. He again has a limited role, but I was glad he was in the film.

And then, that brings us to Richard Widmark. Widmark is easily the biggest reason to see this movie, the most noteworthy part of the film. This is Widmark's first performance, first movie, and he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. That is so impressive. Now, he was never nominated again in his career, but you certainly don't expect to see this happen. Widmark did something that was somewhat novel at the time. He played Tommy Udo as an unrelenting, irredeemable, almost psychotic character. He wasn't interested in sympathy from the audience. It's a sparkling, energetic, no-holds-barred kind of performance. From his maniacal laugh, to his callousness and propensity for murder, Udo is an unforgettable character. The role itself isn't that large, but Widmark makes an outsized impact on the film. There's no doubt his role is the most memorable of the movie. Now, I'm giving Widmark a lot of deserved praise, but I have to suggest that his performance (though really, really strong) might be just a bit overrated. I'm not suggesting he didn't deserve an Academy Award nomination, but I can't imagine he was close to winning. Still, Widmark makes this movie memorable and he deserves credit for that.

In addition to his Academy Award nomination, the film also received a nod for Best Original Story. I think that's probably deserving. There's some effective complexity to the story and it challenges some of our thinking about these characters. I do think a slightly better movie was possible here, but Hathaway couldn't quite pull it out. In the end, there were certainly aspects of Kiss of Death that I liked a great deal. However, I felt oddly disconnected from the characters and events. The story never fully drew me in. That translates into this being a good movie, but one that feels like it doesn't quite live up to its potential.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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