Lobby Cards from Kitten with a Whip

For many years Ann-Margret's stab at film noir was one of the most famous movies not available on video.  [It was only recently released.]  This page was made from our NiteOwl not-so-great bootleg copy from 35 mm which we'll upgrade with a new one eventually.  It was occasionally shown on late night TV back in pre-VCR days.  Ann-Margret decided to go in a dramatic direction with Kitten after co-starring in Bye Bye Birdie and Viva Las Vegas.  [And, according to her, after her manager without her knowledge, turned down the title role in Cat Ballou which went to Jane Fonda.]  In her autobiography, "Ann-Margret, My Story" she says that her "gritty and intense" performance tarnished her with fans who liked her better as the innocent sweetheart in Birdie.  She notes that despite "atrocious reviews" Kitten with a Whip did well at the box office and more importantly, impressed director Mike Nichols who years later cast her in Carnal Knowledge.

Kitten with a Whip was based on novel by Wade Miller.  A special movie edition of the book was released - a practice much more common now than it was then.  The headliner on the book declared, "She had a child's mind in a lush woman's body and she reached for evil with both hands."

Directed by DOUGLAS HEYES Screenplay by DOUGLAS HEYES based on Wade Miller's novel CAST ANN-MARGRET as Jody Dvorak JOHN FORSYTHE as David Stratton PETER BROWN as Ron PATRICIA BARRY as Vera Talmadge RICHARD ANDERSON as Grant Talmadge JAMES WARD as Buck DIANE SAYER as Midge ANN DORAN as Mavis PATRICK WHITE as Varden

SYNOPSIS Jody Dvorak, on the run from juvenile hall, breaks into the home of David Stratton while he is out with friends and his wife and daughter are out of town.  When David discovers Jody asleep in his daughter's bed, she uses threats and deception to keep him from calling the police.  Jody convinces him she will go to an aunt in Los Angeles if he will get her some street clothes and take her to the bus depot.  He does.
 

Jody in daughter's bed

Jody in wife's negligee

Jody in David's towel

Jody threatening David

When David sees the TV news at his club, he is appalled to learn that Jody knifed a matron and set fire to the juvenile hall when she escaped.  He is more appalled when he returns home to find that Jody has also returned.  She threatens to cry rape and ruin his political ambitions and his marriage if he tries to throw her out.  Things really head downhill when three threatening delinquent friends of Jody's invade his residence in response to a phone call..  [In Movies We Love to Hate, Ron and Buck are described as her "pretty boy pals".]  Peter Brown plays Ron, the leader of the pack who puts on pseudo intellectual airs by spouting psycho- & philoso-babble.  Buck on the other hand is strictly a low-life muscular beach bum.  They're accompanied by Midge whose biggest asset is her car.
 

Jody threatens David

Ron, Midge & Buck

The trio decides to stay

Ron spouting the philosophy of alienation

During the course of some "horseplay" Buck stabs Ron who despite his "it won't hurt unless he thinks it will" philosophy, clearly needs medical attention.  Midge takes fright and then takes flight in her car, leaving David as their only means of transportation.
 

Jody stopping Buck from attacking David

Ron wounded

David & Jody

Buck

They decide to drive to a doctor in over the border Tijuana.  Ron, by now bleeding like the proverbial stuck pig, is unceremoniously dumped in front of a doctor's office.  They manage to ditch Buck but Jody forces David to take her to hide out at a motel from her now-angry cohorts.  She refuses to give him back his car keys unless he gets her a bottle of liquor.  While on that errand he runs into his politically connected friends who are there on an excursion to which he had been invited.  He makes an excuse about his car being broken down and needing the liquor to pay the mechanic.  David is forced to beat a hasty retreat to the motel when an angry Ron spots him.  Before David can get back to San Diego, Ron and Buck show up at the motel where they beat David unconscious.  They get away after Jody smashes the liquor bottle over Buck's head.  However, Jody's race to get David to a doctor turns into disaster as Ron and Buck force them off the road where both cars are demolished in a fiery crash.  David is thrown clear and will recover.  With her dying words, Jody lets the law believe she had been in the car with Ron and Buck, clearing David of all involvement.

Ron dumped at the doctors

Ron & Buck show up at the motel

The cars racing side by side