Kissing Bandit (1948)

Frank Sinatra plays Ricardo, who’s finished his schooling in Boston and heads west to California, planning to take over for his late father.

He arrives with cookbooks and flower box plans. He figures to become the best innkeeper around.

Ah, but his father’s old friends figure he’s returned to take his father’s place as the new Kissing Bandit.

Unbeknownst to Ricardo, that was his father’s main source of revenue. And he earned the nickname because he kissed the girls after every robbery.

Kissed them so well in fact, they had a habit of passing out. And robbed so well that he became the most wanted man in California, with a $10,000 peso price on his head.

At the urging of his father’s old sidekick Chico (J. Carroll Naish), Ricardo agrees to give banditry a try.

The first stagecoach holdup is a success, even if it doesn’t go precisely as planned. And even if Ricardo is so timid when confronted with the governor’s lovely daughter Teresa (Kathryn Grayson), that he can’t bring himself to kiss her.

But neither can forget the meeting. After all, it was love, if not kiss, at first sight.

Frank Sinatra as Ricardo, the new Kissing Bandit, getting his first look at Teresa in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Kathryn Grayson as Teresa, the governor’s daughter, anticipating a kiss that doesn’t come in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Review:

A mix of Western, musical and comedy, this film was a major flop for MGM and was panned by its stars for the rest of their respective careers.

But while far short of classic, it’s better than its reputation, and features memorable dance numbers from whip-wielding Sono Osato and the trio of Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller and Cyd Charisse.

Grayson’s also a singing and acting delight as the lovely girl who doubts herself when she isn’t kissed, then fights her romantic urges when she considers how many girls Ricardo must have kissed during his days as a bandit.

Oh, and that opening stagecoach robbery is a hoot. Figuring it best to keep the inexperienced Ricardo out of the way as much as possible, Chico assigns him the task of posing on his horse on a cliff and looking majestic.

After the robbery is over, he’s supposed to ride down a path and kiss the girls on the stage. But he takes the wrong path, winds up falling off the horse and tumbling down the hill, landing atop the stage and spooking the horses. At which point it becomes a runaway stage, with a frightened Ricardo and a ruffled Teresa as its only passengers.

J. Carroll Naish as Chico, the Kissing Bandit’s sidekick in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Mikhail Rasumny as Gov. Don Jose, trying to talk birds and bees with his daughter in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Directed by:
Laslo Benedek

Cast:
Frank Sinatra … Ricardo
Kathryn Grayson … Teresa
J. Carroll Naish … Chico
Mildred Natwick … Isabella
Mikhail Rasumny … Don Jose
Billy Gilbert … Gen. Felipe Toro
Sono Osato … Bianca
Clinton Sunberg … Col. Gomez
Carleton G. Young … Count Belmonte
Edna Skinner … Juanita

Also with: Ricardo Montalban, Ann Miller, Cyd Charisse, Vicente Gomez

Runtime: 101 min.

Carleton G. Young as Count Belmonte, captivated by Teresa in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Billy Gilbert as Gen. Felipe Toro, spotting an imposter in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Memorable lines:

A friend, as Chico prepares to display a wanted poster of Ricardo’s late father, the original Kissing Bandit: “Where are you going to hang him?”
Chico: “Please, let us not use that word.”

Ricardo, about his father: “I heard he had a sideline.”
Chico nods knowingly.
Ricardo, fearful of what he’s discovered: “You mean the little sideline was being a bandit?”
Chico: “The little sideline was being an innkeeper. The main thing was being a bandit.”
Ricardo: “Oh, my. Oh, me. Son of a bandit. That’s terrible.”

Ricardo, about his father’s trademark: “You mean he kissed women he didn’t even know? Women he wasn’t introduced to?”
Chico: “Oh, but you’re gonna like it.”
Ricardo: “Oh, no, I won’t. Why in Boston, you don’t even kiss women you do know. Not until you’re engaged to them.”

Don Jose: “Do you know what General Toro is going to do with you if he gets here before you catch the Kissing Bandit?”
Col. Gomez: “No.”
Don Jose: “He’s going to take you back to Spain. And put you in a little dark dungeon. With rats. Then one day a man with a black hood over his head is going to come in to guard you. Do you know what that means?”
Col. Gomez: “No.”
Don Jose: “To choke you until you are dead.”

Clinton Sunberg as Col. Gomez, delighted with his demotion to private because those are the only soldiers the governor can afford to pay in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Ricardo Montalban with Cyd Charisse and Ann Miller after their Dance of Fury in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Sono Osato as Bianca, confused as to why her saucy, whip-wielding dance scared Ricardo in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Mildred Natwick as Aunt Isabella filling in Don Jose (Mikhail Rasumny) on his daughter’s encounter in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Edna Skinner as Juanita, filling Teresa in on what it’s like to be kissed by a bandit in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Frank SInatra as Ricardo and J. Carroll Naish as Chico, impersonating a count and a general in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Kathryn Grayson as Teresa watching the Kissing Bandit ride off without kissing her in The Kissing Bandit (1948)

Frank Sinatra as Ricardo, making an awkward arrival at the inn his father used to run in The Kissing Bandit (1948)