Directed by Gordon Douglas and screenplay by Harry Brown (A Place in the Sun 1951, Ocean’s 11 1960)– Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye is a violent, unrelenting bit of noir that stars James Cagney as Ralph Cotter, Barbara Payton as Holiday Carleton and co-stars Luther Adler, Ward Bond, Steve Brodie, and Helena Carter. The film draws you in by way of a flashback to Ralph Cotter who lacks a sense of right and wrong, a loathsome sociopath who with the help of Holiday Carleton makes a bold jailbreak. The ruthless Cotter manages to pull a series of robberies but when he manipulates a naive overindulged socialite Margaret Dobson (Helena Carter) a crooked lawyer and two corrupt cops on his in the picture, they become his downfall.
Holiday Carleton (Barbara Payton) to Ralph Cotter (James Cagney) “You only said one true thing in your life, and that’s when you said you were going away tonight. And you are. Many miles out of town and six feet under. All alone, with nobody to lie to. And you can kiss tomorrow goodbye.”
