ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

robert-mulqueen I watched most of this 1957 film on Turner Classic tonight. I had never heard of it. It promised to be a "four Navy buddies on shore leave and assorted pranks" flick, particularly with the thought that it featured Jayne Mansfield. I figured that Cary Grant really needed to pay alimony. However, two things about the film kept me from turning it off. The first was Suzy Parker. The second was very much unexpected and it was a ribbon through the screenplay which began to shine in Grant's lines telling off the ship building tycoon played by Leif Ericson. While I realize that the film was made twelve years after the close of the Second World War, this was no sentimental script which appealed to an audience's passions for a war in progress. Grant's Navy aviator was sick and tired of the war, of combat, of the blood and gore, of picking up after the guy next to him is blown into twelve pieces. Grant's character again displays a cynicism about the war when he tells a whopper to an inquiring reporter in a nightclub.The screenplay was even more remarkable when you realize that this movie was released in 1957....just on the late fringe of McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare. It is a tepid film at best, but a tip of the hat to Cary Grant for portraying a realistic warrior who conveys that he is sick and tired of the gore of war.

edwagreen A comedy with some serious overtones best describes 1957's "Kiss Them for Me."It's basically the story of 4 naval guys on leave in San Francisco. They've about had it with flying and are ready to get out of service. This includes Ray Walston running for a congressional seat in a special election.You would think it would be about their escapades in S.F. during those days, but the film turns into one or two parties at a posh hotel and then the serious stuff comes across.They're reminded of the serious stuff when they encounter one of their guys who is terminally ill and at the film's end, when their ship is blown to bits. It's time for them to reevaluate their situation and face the music.Even Jayne Mansfield, who really provides the comic relief here, has one serious moment in the film.Cary Grant, the movie stalwart, was beginning to show his age here in the same year he costarred with Deborah Kerr in "An Affair to Remember."The picture is wholesome and reminds us of our patriotic duty.

ZBigRedDogZ Stanley Donen usually does very enjoyable, smart comedies. This isn't his best, but it's far from his worst. It's very similar to "Mister Roberts" and "Captain Newman MD" in that it's a military comedy that has a very dark shadow cast over it by the war and the obviously frail psyche of the soldiers involved.Anyhow, in this one, Cary Grant takes a few of his men on a well-deserved break to San Francisco, after several years of war. Of course, it was probably a fluke that they got the leave anyway (I wasn't totally clear on why they got it, but I got the impression it was a mistake), and they spend half the movie trying to avoid getting new orders and the other half trying to avoid people who want them to use their heroic status to help their businesses. Because their businesses are all part of the war effort, you understand. Of course, all they want to do is get drunk and get women.And a lot of women show up, due to their trickery, of course. Jayne Mansfield plays the neighborhood...I hesitate to call her a slut, she sees herself more as a reward for soldiers who have done a good job, and I'm not sure how promiscuous she'd be otherwise, but yes, let's just say an enthusiastic companion of our wayward heroes. Suzy Parker plays another love interest. I found her very charming and attractive.There's a very strange scene in this movie where you finally understand what Donen is going for. A shipbuilder wants the men to go and give speeches so his men won't call in sick instead of partying, and he threatens to call influential friends to force them to, and declares how important he and his efforts are to the war. Grant tells him off in the worst possible way. It's a glorious moment, but the indignation he displays is really almost unsettling. You get the picture: this is a comedy, but it's also a tragedy.But, just to make sure the whole comedy aspect still works, before the movie is over, Grant steals his girl.

jdimeo I wanted to love this movie. How could I not love it? Cary Grant, Jayne Mansfield, Stanley Donen; all icons in their own way. However, the train wreck that was Suzy Parker ruined the entire experience for me. Her acting was so appalling that I sat there with my jaw hanging open, not believing my eyes or ears. I could barely make it through one viewing, THAT'S how hideous she is in this.Cary? Gorgeous and in fine dramatic form. Jayne? Adorable, endearing, and obviously having a ball. The supporting cast does alright, and the city of San Francisco is captured in all its stunning, retro elegance.Then you see Suzy Parker attempting to speak her lines with a woodenness, a deadness, a cluelessness that simply defies belief. Who told this creature she could ACT?? Oy VEY, people.