The Naked Kiss

The Naked Kiss is a 1964 American neo-noir melodrama film written and directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante and Virginia Grey. It was Fuller's second film for Allied Artists after his 1963 film Shock Corridor. Plot Kelly is a prostitute who arrives by bus in the small town of Grantville after being chased out of the big city by her former pimp. She engages in a quick tryst with local police captain Griff, who then commands her to leave town and refers her to a cathouse just across the state line that is operated by a madam named Candy. Kelly instead abandons her illicit lifestyle, renting a room from an old spinster and becoming a nurse at a hospital for disabled children. Griff, who does not trust reformed prostitutes, continues trying to force her from the town. Kelly falls in love with J. L. Grant, the wealthy scion of the town's founding family, an urbane sophisticate and Griff's best friend. She tells Grant the truth about her past but it does not bother him, and they plan to marry. Upon hearing of the engagement, Griff visits Kelly at the hospital and demands that she leave town, threatening to reveal her former occupation. However, after Kelly convinces him that Grant already knows the truth, Griff relents and agrees to be the best man at the wedding.