MovieChat Forums > A Kiss Before Dying (1956) Discussion > murder scene, Hunter, Wagner miscast SP...

murder scene, Hunter, Wagner miscast SPOILERS

posted 17 years ago by tkrolak
11 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film when I was eight years old. Never will I forget my reaction to
Dory falling towards the street, screaming, after Bud pushes her off the top of the building. It remained in my mind for months, at least. Years later, I learned that Joanne Woodward was Dory and disliked the role. It was only her second film, before she achieved stardom in The Three Faces of Eve. Like many actors, she had to put in her time before getting the meatier parts.

Jeffrey Hunter should have been cast as the murderous Bud and Robert Wagner as
as Gordon the Good. Hunter's piercing blue eyes were perfect for the coldly ruthless Bud. Also, who knows that he could not have handled playing a killer?
He may never have played the heavy. But taking on the part of a murderer would have proven that he could be a well rounded performer. It could have led to even better roles than he had and a longer career. Not to take anything away from him, but Wagner would have been better for the hero. The director had wanted it that way.

[–] john-combat1 17 years ago

...this film was made by 20th century fox who disowned it when they saw the finished version as they didnt want their star Robert Wagner to be seen as a pyscho baddie...it was subsequently released by United Artists....

[–] eandtslattery 16 years ago

I saw this film on its U.K. release circa 1957 as a teenager and thought then that Robert Wagner was miscast,I fully agree with the correspondent who said that Jeffery Hunter would played the part with more menace.Furthermore,I cannot imagine that the Tennis player character would have just sat there.As a competetive Sportsman he would have had a certain amount of aggression and would not have been afraid of the nerdy character Robert Wagner portrayed.Incidentally,I have watched this film today on B.B.C.2 and saw for the first time ever the scene where Bud throws Dorie off the roof.Up till now that scene has always edited,even in the cinema.

[–] peytonplace1 16 years ago

I also saw this movie on BBC2 over the weekend. I saw it as a kid but could remember very little about it. In fact I'd forgotten it was in colour. I found the 'noir' description in reviews somewhat fanciful as the film struck me more as a straightforward thriller than noirish, with elements of melodrama. And did anybody pick up on the great clothes? There were some jarring, implausible moments, like Dorothy falling down the steps then getting up and walking away; the fact that Jeffrey Hunter clearly never smokes his pipe and is stereotypically nerdy. I also thought the music was extremely overpowering and more melodramatic than nerdy. I find it intriguing to imagine Jeffrey Hunter as the murderer and Robert Wagner as the good guy. But it was refreshing to see Wagner in something darker than the unbearably sugary Hart to Hart, which was the bane of my schooldays. I loved watching this movie again, even though it's far from perfect and definitely not noir.

[–] jdown-1 14 years ago

I very much disagree. Robert Wagner was perfect as the "psycho baddie." Here we have a suave, handsome guy, with that perfect '50s Brylcreem hairdo and clothes. As well, he's a smooth talker with the girls. But in reality, he is a scheming, cold-blooded killer. Casting Wagner in the role was the best part of the film for me.

[–] zurichpoet 13 years ago

Too perfect. Natalie Wood must not have seen this movie.

[–] eek-a-mouse 13 years ago

I also liked Wagner. I think he gave an excellent portrayal of a cold-blooded manipulative, methodical killer.

[–] LoupGarouTFTs 15 years ago

It could have led to even better roles than he had and a longer career.

Hunter's career never really suffered that much. He was still getting decent offers even a decade after this film was made. He was, in fact, supposed to be the captain of the Starship Enterprise, and probably would have been a better choice than Shatner, but the studio rejected the pilot. (Interestingly, he died simultaneously with the original Star Trek series.) If any one production put a pall on his career it was King of Kings, in which he made an almost ludicrously young-looking Jesus.

In any case, Hunter was working right up until a skull fracture from a fall took his life. He was an alcoholic, as well, although the liver damage from the drinking did not contribute directly to his death.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] fuzzout987 13 years ago

I thought Wagner was great as the psychopath cool calm, vicious and only letting subtle hints of true nature coming through. I thought Hunter was stiff as Grant. If you want to play a drinking game with this movie, take a drink every time Hunter takes off his glasses.

[–] Clemencedane 12 years ago

I highly recommend the book. It is much more subtle, greater in scope and much more suspenseful and full of dread. The film eliminated at least one major character, a great deal of complexity and large chunks of the plot. Unlike the film's clumsy visual and musical telegraphing of plot developments, the book keeps the reader unable to guess anything that will happen next even till the last page of the book.

In the book Bud is a tall, gorgeous, blond-haired, blue-eyed God who is able to charm everyone. I definitely would not have though of Wagner that way, though I admit he is handsome.

I can see Joanne Woodward's point. In the film Dorothy is a bit of a throwaway part.

[–] liscarkat (18388) 2 years ago

Nope. Hunter was fine in his role, and Wagner was perfect in the psychopath part.