Kitten with a Whip (1964)
I thought this would be a fine, if a bit trashy, movie for a Friday night. But after watching Kitten with a Whip, I'm ready to call it an under-appreciated gem.
You can certainly see why this film got the green light in the early 1960s. Lolita was a titillating sensation when it premiered in 1962. And Kitten with a Whip's story of a wild underage girl who manipulates middle-aged men would definitely be a candidate to ride on Lolita's box office coat tails.
Ann-Margret is alternately raging and vulnerable in ways that test her character's credibility. Yet, somehow that unpredictable volatility propels the film. Like Dennis Hopper's character, Frank Booth, in Blue Velvet, Ann-Margret's Jody is capable of providing multiple jump scares in a single close-up. You don't always buy it. But you can't look away.
John Forsythe plays David, a 1960s liberal who feels a sense of smug self-satisfaction from giving the delinquent Jody a second chance. No spoilers here, but that doesn't work out too well in the end. Forsythe is an appropriate foil to Ann-Margret's insanity. And I found it quite satisfying to watch this potential senatorial candidate come undone through the film.
I also thought Diane Sayer was brilliant as the hanger-on Midge, who the cool kids only keep around because she has a car. But in the end it's the interplay between Forsythe's serene, detached David and Ann-Margret's unhinged Jody that keeps you watching.