In "Underworld, USA", as a teenager Tolly Devlin witnesses his father being brutally beaten to death by four men and is able to idenify one of the men, Vic Farrar, but will not share the information with Driscoll(Larry Gates) from the district attorney's office. Tolly(Cliff Robertson) grows up to be a small-time thief
who is in and out of prison. Eventually, he tracks down Farrar who is dying in a prison infirmary and convinces Farrar to give up the names of the other three men. "Underworld USA" is a good, solid movie about revenge and justice that is occasionally weakened by uneven acting. "The Naked Kiss" starts out with a bald woman, Kelly(Constance Towers), delivering a beating to a man to get the $75 she feels is due to her. Two years later, with a full head of hair, Kelly gets off the bus at Grantville, pretending to be a champagne saleswoman as a front for her mobile prostitution business. She strikes up an acquaintance with the town sherriff, Griff(Anthony Eisley), and they spend the night together at his place but Kelly leaves in the morning. She finds other lodgings and starts a new chapter in her life. "The Naked Kiss" gets off to a great start but the film does not come into its own until late with a particularly disturbing scene. The movie is about the possibility of redemption and how people can change, given the chance.
June 8, 2006
