Thanks for the memories!

Please don't spend money on this.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I wouldn't call "Kitten with a Whip" as bad as some of the movies that "Mystery Science Theater 3000" has riffed, but it's still basically a turkey. This story of a juvenile delinquent hiding in a senator's house comes as across as an excuse to show off Ann-Margret's body. The movie DOES have that going for it, but the rest of the cast doesn't have much to do.To poke fun at the movie, Mike and the 'bots imply that a doll-filled room is Michael Jackson's room and say that an elderly man is Laurence Olivier. At one point they even meet an actual whip-bearing kitten (played by MST3K cast member Kevin Murphy).Basically, it's the sort of movie that they probably had fun making. It was likely a surprise to everyone when Ann-Margret starred in "Carnal Knowledge", "Tommy" and "Magic". More recently she appeared in "Any Given Sunday" and the suspense thriller "Memory".Seriously, Dr. Forrester. What's the big idea of using TV's Frank as a piñata?

Campy shenanigans starring Ann-Margret as a juvenile delinquent who insinuates herself into the home of political hopeful John Forsythe. She won't leave and won't let Forsythe leave either. Douglas Heyes directed this insanity and it's not awful. Ann-Margret really gives it her all in this early role and Forsythe, though he seems to be taking things waaay too serious, is fine. When Ann-Margret invites three would-be beatniks over, things get really goofy. Peter Brown, Skip Ward and Diane Sayer play the three hoodlums and they all give ridiculous performances. There's an unbelievable amount of faux-hipster dialog spouted. The whole thing ends up with a car chase through Tijuana (though nobody appears to leave the Universal back-lot). With Richard Anderson as Forsythe's befuddled friend and, briefly, Audrey Dalton as Forsythe's wife. Joseph Gershenson "supervised" the music, which appears to have come from a lot of other movies.

"You poke that finger at that dial mister, and that's when I start screaming rape!" I usually find bad acting and poor performances boring to watch and frustrating to subject myself to, but Ann-Margret's performance in "Kitten With A Whip" is so kinetically awful that she virtually invents a whole new kind of awfulness.As Jody Dvorak, the wildly unbalanced kitten of the title, Ann-Margret affects the line readings, attitudes and camp posturings that most drag queens can only dream about. It's a strangely compelling performance because it's like one given by a person who's never seen acting before. If you've ever seen Katherine O'Hara's Lola Heatherton character on "SCTV," you get a pretty good idea of Ann-Margret's brand of naturalism.The film is so overheated that it defies being taken seriously, so much of it comes off like a comedy of errors that befall the woodenly sincere John Forsythe as he attempts to extricate himself from the spiraling mess his life has become since crossing paths with Jody.The film is so undistinguished that everybody involved should be indebted to Ann-Margret. She is terrible, to be sure, but she is the only life the film has and is endlessly watchable. She gives even the most innocuous lines megatons of energy…so much that she's almost too much for the screen. That her career actually survived this delectable mess and she went on to become a rather nuanced actress in later years should give hope to lousy young actresses everywhere."Kitten With A Whip" is not only a treat for the eyes (Ann-Margret looks as good as her acting is bad) but for the ears as well. There is so much 60's bop talk that you might need subtitles. My favorite line (among many) : "You musclehead! How come you think you're such a smoky something when you're so nothing painted blue?" Has to be seen to be believed. Now cool it you creep, and coexist!

Usually a good movie needs to take believable characters into an unbelievable situation. This film is slightly different. In true cult style, it crosses barriers. The situation is real, and lived out every day. It about a man who tries to do the right thing, and live by a code, but is taken advantage of by people who are intent on taking advantage of him just for the thrill of it.Unfortunately, that describes most of what America has become since the making of this movie. The man who is taken advantage of is too much of an American aristocrat to really be in danger. As shown in the film, he has many friends, and many assets, and he will not be soiled in the end.By this, the film shows that had the man not been so well regarded and a part of the "establishment", he would have been in dire straits.And it is true, that America has become a place where vicious thugs (from wealthy families), act out aggressions and seek thrills of hurting others, and creating terrifying situations , not out of a need for survival or paying the rent, but just out of a sick desire.