Beijou-me um Bandido

Frank Sinatra as a mild mannered young gent from Boston who arrives in Old California expecting to run an inn, but instead is persuaded to assume the persona of the notorious "kissing bandit" of the title, a leader of highway robbers and a lady killer.

It's a Zorro-esque idea and it might have been an enjoyable romp with better writing and direction. The MGM production values are there, and so is some pretty good music. Walter Plunkett designed the costumes, and Stanley Donen choreographed. Robert Surtees shot it on the lavishly appointed MGM sound stages and on location in the Sierra foothills around Murphy's, California. It's beautiful to look at in Technicolor, and good to listen to, when music is featured. But the story fails to entertain.

The director, Laslo Benedek, whose first credited Hollywood job this was, went on to more prestigious projects like the film version of Death Of A Salesman, as well as the iconic Brando motorcycle picture, The Wild One. Musicals probably weren't his forte.

There's a good supporting cast in the acting department: Mildred Natwick, Mikhail Rasumny, Billy Gilbert, Clinton Sundberg, and J. Carrol Naish (sporting heavy makeup and a heavier accent). In the musical department, there's dancer Sono Osato (from Broadway's On The Town) in a stunning solo, as well as a "Dance Of Fury" from Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller, and Cyd Charisse that is possibly the highlight of the film.

Kathryn Grayson is Sinatra's love interest; she looks lovely and gets to sing several nice numbers, the most famous of which, Love Is Where You Find It, was also sung that year by Jane Powell in a Pasternak musical, A Date With Judy. It's another highlight.

Frank Sinatra was not well cast in this film, he didn't want to make it and he was right. A fun actor in most of his MGM pictures, and later, a fine actor, he just seems unable to believe the situations he finds himself in, here.

I guess The Kissing Bandit is worth seeing once, but it's not a classic.

Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson are paired together again in this 1940s musical that's a cross between The Mark of Zorro and The Court Jester. After getting an education in Boston, Frankie returns home to California to take over his dead father's hotel business. J. Carrol Naish, his father's faithful sidekick, is delighted to have another leader, but when Frankie arrives, they're both disappointed. It turns out, the hotel business was a cover-up—Frankie's dad was really "The Kissing Bandit" who kissed women after robbing their stagecoaches. Frankie's not a crook or a ladies' man, so J. Carrol Naish has his hands full when trying to train the new bandit.

Hidden in this cute and colorful musical are cameos by Mildred Natwick, Cyd Charisse, Ricardo Montalban, and Ann Miller. Yes, it's a little campy and corny, but compared to a lot of 1940s silly musicals, this one is pretty cute. There are some funny jokes and cute songs, including Kathryn Grayson's "Love is Where You Find It". If you're not looking for anything too serious, rent The Kissing Bandit for a fun girls' weekend!

Okay, so it's not West Side Story, but The Kissing Bandit is darned cute. There were so many silly musicals throughout motion-picture history, I'm surprised that this one is getting such a bad rap.

The 1940's, regardless of how thinly the stories were laid-on, was the most beautiful decade in history for films. The remarkable lighting, set, and costume design of the '40's can make just about every movie enjoyable. Sinatra and Grayson are delightful; any scene in which Kathryn appears is worth watching just because she was so adorable and lovely. Mildred Natwick's role isn't very vivid, but she's a wonderful actress no matter how small the part.

If you don't care for the silliness of the "filler", just fast-forward to any scene with singing, dancing, or an actress -- Heck three of the most beautiful and talented women in film are all in the same movie. Just enjoy the pretty colors and all will be well... sleep... sleeeep...

This rarely seen musical gets a bad rap probably because its as silly as it gets. It's not what audiences expected or could accept from MGM in 1948 or now. It starts silly and ends silly, and has equal amounts of good and bad in-between. The writers had a basic idea of Sinatra being weak-willed (similar to parts in Anchors Aweigh and On The Town) so it's not totally different than his other early films. The story meanders all over the place with comedy and musical sequences, a bizarre whip dance with Sono Osato (whose character doesn't show up again) and a total dud of a song called "Siesta". Movie rules: never have a musical number where everyone falls asleep on-screen; the audience will follow. Everyone works hard, especially the excellent character actors, and its tough to create the silly atmosphere. What can't be faulted are the outstanding MGM production values, the excellent "Love is Where You Find It" sung by Grayson and the generally good songs. This movie sat on MGM's shelf from 1947 with an eventual release at the end of 1948 due to poor audience previews and attempts to salvage the film. MGM added the "Fiesta" dance with Cyd Charisse, Ricardo Montalban, and Ann Miller after production ended to spice things up and it's probably the best thing in the movie. It's exciting, the music is propulsive, and the dancing and costumes are beautiful. The movie is cute, deluxe and enjoyable and certainly better many musicals of the period.

The Kissing Bandit (1948)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Chico (J. Carrol Naish) has Ricardo (Frank Sinatra) come to Mexico because it turns out that he's the son of the infamous Kissing Bandit. Chico plans on taking the guy, who has been staying in Boston, and turning him into the next Kissing Bandit to steal more than just the heart from Teresa (Kathryn Grayson) but Ricardo has other ideas.

THE KISSING BANDIT is apparently a film that Sinatra hated making and it's pretty obvious that this film simply wasn't meant for him. While going through some Sinatra pictures on Turner Classic Movies, host Robert Osborne made some good comments about the legends early days at MGM. Instead of playing off his image and music, MGM instead decided to make Sinatra play nerdy roles where the characters didn't know how to speak to women and usually made a fool of themselves. With these types of roles it's easy to see why Sinatra's career would pretty much crumble before being rescued with FROM HERE TO ETERNITY.

As for THE KISSING BANDIT, it's pretty darn bad on several levels but we can start with Sinatra who is downright awful here. Why on Earth anyone would think this would be a good role for him is just mind-blowing and you have to wonder if someone in MGM's office really wanted to kill his career with this film. Playing a Mexican bandit is just downright stupid and especially with there being no attempt for even an accent. It's also clear that Sinatra isn't giving the character much effort but I guess we can't blame him.

Naish and Grayson are both good in their roles and I'd argue that the Technicolor is quite good and at least gives us some pretty stuff to look at. With that being said, the rest of THE KISSING BANDIT is rather bad with some really boring dance numbers and all of the songs are rather forgettable. One has to wonder what Sinatra thought about singing these things.

THE KISSING BANDIT is a film Sinatra hated and it's easy to see why.