Watched Billy Wilder's very wacky 1964 movie, "Kiss Me, Stupid," last night. It's one of the great lost movies, about a lost time too. Dean Martin plays an Italian singer named Dino. It's probably one of his finest performances, he's basically playing the Rat Pack lothario he had a reputation for being - not bad casting. Kim Novak is great too, although supposedly her role was originally written for Marilyn Monroe, which would have been perfect. Still Novak is quite good in the role. Also, Peter Sellars was originally cast to play off of Dino, which would have probably propelled this into instant classic status, but he had to take a pass after having a mild heart attack and Ray Walston, the martian from the TV show, "My Favorite Martian," tries to fill his shoes. The movie is a real oddity. Superb. The DVD version we saw was a pristine print, glorious black and white. Of course, they don't make them like this anymore. They didn't really make them like that then either. But Billy Wilder and Izzy Diamond truly were movie making geniuses.
