Ann-Margret and Kitten
When you see this promotional picture for Kitten With a Whip (1964) – or when you read the title, for that matter! – You’d almost expect a movie that takes itself lightly. A (forgive the pun) fluffy comedy.
Kitten With a Whip is anything but a comedy, though. It’s a dark drama. How dark? Well, here’s the plot:
Ann-Margret plays Jody – a troubled juvenile delinquent who escapes from reform school by stabbing a matron. She then attempts to burn down the building. She tries to hole up in the home of a very ambitious politician named David Patton (played by John Forsythe ). David knows she’s trouble he doesn’t need and tries to drive her away.
Rebel kittens don’t shoo easily, though, so she returns. She brings with her a gang of other deliquents and they take David hostage. More violence ensues and Jody and her band of misfits kidnap David and force him to drive them to Mexico.
If you’re accustomed to Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas, Bye-Bye Birdie, and State Fair, Kitten with a Whip (Amazon DVD Link) will be a bit of a shock for you at first. It is fun, however, seeing her play a different type of character. Like everything else, she plays it to perfection…. make that purrfection.
Sorry. I had to.