Amazon.com: Ann-Margret never actually touches a whip in this seedy jailbait drama of juvenile delinquents and square-john fall guys, but her slithery moves and schizophrenic mood swings are still enough to give anyone whiplash. The teen temptress makes her entrance skittering through an industrial park in nothing more than a baby-doll nightie as bongos pound away on the soundtrack. Taking refuge in the seemingly deserted house of political hopeful John Forsythe, she begins her torment of the man who would be her savior with her gang of beatnik buddies. "Now cool it and co-exist!" exclaims nominal leader Peter Brown. Fat chance.
Ann-Margret yo-yos from little girl lost to feral femme fatale with sharp claws and a taste for blood. She becomes a hellcat who turns on everyone in her nocturnal flight to Tijuana. She even growls with glee while gunning a jeep over a running buddy tangled in barbed wire! Stiff Forsythe is uncomfortably out of place next to the slinky sex kitten, like a sitcom dad who walked onto the wrong set, and the dated portrait of nihilistic, pseudo-philosophical teens makes the film unintentionally campy. But give it credit for energy: Ann-Margret almost single-handedly powers this offbeat drama with pure sass. If the music sounds familiar in the south-of-the-border scenes, that's because it borrows liberally from Henri Mancini's Latin-flavored Touch of Evil score. --Sean Axmaker
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Ann-Margret Purrs While Showing Her Claws As The "Kitten With A Whip!"
Jody (Ann-Margret), a juvenile delinquent, escapes from reform school by stabbing a matron and attempting to burn down the building and then takes refuge in a house owned by an ambitious politician David Patton (John Forsythe). Despite the hellcat's ample charms, the would-be Senator wants nothing to do with her and tries to drive her away. She responds by shortly returning to his house and invites a couple of delinquent pals (Peter Brown as "Ron," Skip Ward as "Buck", and Patricia Barry as "Vera." ) and taking him hostage. A sudden act of violence causes more trouble, leading Jody and her gang ... Read More
Rating: - Long before Ann-Margret proved she could act . . .
. . .she proved that she couldn't -- and this little-known "dangerous youth" gem demonstrates just how completely the studios failed to find quality scripts for the promising young wildcat. Instead, she was handed films that could have hurtled her into Starlet Hell, stuff that gave her no chance to show what she could do. (It all worked out surprisingly well, since flicks like this gave A-M something really bad to come back from.)
We hardly hope to sum up KITTEN WITH A WHIP any better than its original advertising copy ("This is the story of Jody . . . the kicks she digs . . . the swingers ... Read More
Rating: - Pulp Fiction At Its Best
I just saw this film on `Mystery Science Theatre 3000' (usually not a complement) and I must say it is worth seeing if you like pulp fiction. Its B&W film noir is quite good and certainly inspired the themes of Frank Miller's `Sin City' comics and film.
While being featured on `MST3K' is typically a condemnation, `Kitten With a Whip' is not a guilty pleasure. I will proudly defend this as great film making. The story is very intriguing and like all good pulp fiction keeps you enthralled as to what will happen next.
The plot: After a noir animated opening credits sequence we see ... Read More
Rating: - Careens so fast between bad & good , most viewers will balk
This movie usually invites a downright split from viewers between "I loved it" and "I hated it". It winds up on so many Razzie lists, you'd think it was a big dud. Far from that, "Kitten With a Whip" is a moody psycho-drama, its only fault is that it takes itself too seriously and invites nervous laughter. Ann-Margret seems deeply into her role as Jody, juvenile delinquent on the run who ends up in politician John Forsythe's house(his daughter's bed to be exact, with a stuffed animal staring scarily at the camera!). A-M's performance is edgy, flashy, cunning, calculated. This is often interpreted as over ... Read More
Rating: - Hot Ann-Margret Flick
Talk about sexy. In this film Ann-Margret has got it going on. She is indeed a Kitten With A Whip. Filmed in black and white it has film noir quality. I'm sure she turned on a million teenage boys back in 1964 playing Jody, a troubled JD who prays on the frailties of politician John Forstythe. This kitten made me purr.
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