The Naked Kiss

Samuel Fuller wrote, produced and directed this 1964 crime drama, which followed his 1963 film Shock Corridor and marked his fifth collaboration with Allied Artists Pictures. Constance Towers plays Kelly, a woman who leaves her past as a prostitute behind after fleeing the city and her pimp, settling in the small American town of Grantville. There she takes a job as a nurse at a hospital for disabled children, hoping to build a different life for herself. Her plans bring her into conflict with police captain Griff, played by Anthony Eisley, who doubts that she has genuinely changed and wants her out of his town. Kelly also becomes involved with J.L. Grant, one of the town's wealthiest men, played by Michael Dante, and what she discovers about him puts everything she has worked for at risk. The supporting cast includes Virginia Grey, Marie Devereux and Karen Conrad.

The film runs 93 minutes and received modest ratings from audiences, scoring 7.2 on IMDb from roughly 9,600 votes and 7 on TMDB from just over 200 votes. A much smaller group of critics rated it higher, at 7.9 from 14 reviews, suggesting the film found more favour with reviewers than with the general public.

Fuller directed it between Shock Corridor and The Big Red One, and it sits among the run of films he made during that period of his career.