HotToastyRag 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!

Michael_Elliott 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.

MartinHafer The IMDb score for this film is under 5--indicating it's a bad film. While I agree it is very slight and has many problems, the film isn't bad and is a decent time-passer.Frank Sinatra is completely wrong for the part, though his singing was great--better than his co-star Kathryn Grayson. He plays a Bostonian who has moved to Mexican California (before it became a part of the US). His thick New Jersey accent sounds completely unlike a Bostonian and midway through the film he is impersonating a man from Spain!! As I said, he's completely wrong for the film.Sinatra moves to California to assume control of his father's inn. However, he doesn't realize that inn-keeping was NOT his father's real job--he was the infamous 'Kissing Bandit'. When the father's old henchman (J. Carrol Naish) informs him he MUST assume control of the old gang and take up the tradition of kissing fair ladies who he robs, Sinatra is afraid--he doesn't think he is up to the task! When he's on his first robbery, he meets a gorgeous lady (Grayson) and ISN'T up to the task--and cannot make himself kiss her. It isn't that he's not attracted--it just seems wrong to kiss a stranger! As for her, she's intrigued...and a bit disappointed he didn't kiss her! The story gets a lot weirder--especially when later Sinatra and Naish pose as emissaries from Spain--and Grayson's father (the Governor) wines and dines them! What's next? Tune in and see.As for the plot, it's really silly--completely silly, actually. And, in this era of political correctness, it's also likely to offend some of the more feminist bent. But it is fun! What isn't fun, however, is the singing. As I said above, Sinatra is great--with a gorgeous voice as you'd expect. As for Grayson, she has a quality voice but it's also VERY operatic--and hard on the ears. Also, most of the songs are completely forgettable. An odd exception is "Love is Where You Find it". I say odd, because only about a week ago, I heard this EXACT song in the movie "A Date for Judy" in which Jane Powell sang the same tune. While IMDb doesn't indicate it, they sounded EXACTLY the same to me--like one was perhaps not really singing the tune but using a recording of the other woman (though which is which, I have no idea). Overall, not a bad little film but a bit silly and the singing was a definite low-point.

ryancm This must be one of MGM's and FRANK SINATRAS worst films. An oddball musical comedy that fails in almost every aspect. Silly plot has SINATRA trying to carry on his fathers reputation as a KISSING BANDIT. He's no bandit and doesn't kiss!! He does play the "nerdy" character as well as could be expected given the dialog he has to speak. The scene stealer's are J. CARROLL NASH and MILDRED NATWICK. Too bad they didn't have more scenes together. I've given the film two stars because the sets and costumes are superior and one of the songs sung by KATHTREN GRAYSON "Love is Where You Find It", is sensational. Could have had a repirse of that one. Also, a comic type dance number by RIDCARDO MANTALBAN, CYD CHARISSE and ANN MILLER if fun. So for those reasons and those reasons only, it is watchable. KISSING BANDIT is part of the Frank Sinatra early years collection.