"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" The Kiss-Off (TV Episode 1961) Poster

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7/10
Back Pay
sol-kay15 June 2013
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS**** Just released from prison after serving a six year sentence for knocking off a gas station ex-convict Earnie Walters, Rip Torn, goes straight to the nearest state tax office and, using a gun, robs the place of $12,000.00! That's armed robbery which can land Walters behind bars if caught for 10 to 15 years! At first you think that this guy Walters planned the robbery well in advance but incredibly he leaves his hotel key at the office that in turn leads the cops straight to his door!

You start to wonder if the six years behind bars somehow damaged Walter's brain and sense of reason but soon you realize that what he's doing isn't stupid at all. It's a well planned strategy to right the wrongs done to him by the local D.A, Kenneth Patterson, and detective Cooper, Burt Freed, who put him behind bars six years ago! Walters in fact did everything that he could to get himself arrested but that's not all. He did everything he could possible do to make sure that the evidence, if there is any, of his robbing the state tax office won't be able to stand up in a court of law!

***SPOILER*** Brooding over the injustice done to him six years ago a vengeful and filled with righteous indignation Earnie Walters had planned this robbery for years and pulled it off with absolute perfection. He not only got compensated, the $12,000.00 he stole, in the pain and suffering that he was put through by a faulty justice system but made complete fools of those, D.A Patterson & detective Cooper, who put him through it!
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8/10
Ignore the Epilogue
Hitchcoc29 May 2021
Rip Torn plays a man who was sent to prison for six years for a crime he didn't commit. Once out, in disguise, he robs a tax office, taking 12,000 dollars. The cop who arrested him the first time is after him again. The result is fulfilling. Hitchcock's final comments often ruined the episodes. Ignore what he says.
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7/10
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: THE KISS-OFF (TV) (Alan Crosland Jr., 1961) ***
Bunuel197615 March 2010
An interesting, character-driven and quite well done episode in which, to get back at the Police for a six-year prison sentence over a false accusation, Rip Torn commits a bank robbery under heavy disguise but taking care to leave behind the incriminating key to his own hotel-room! Of course, he is immediately picked up for questioning (which pleases his old nemesis Bert Freed no end) but, though the three eye-witnesses of the theft acknowledge a comparable stature between Torn and the aggressor, they cannot bring themselves to point the finger of suspicion at him! When the cop threatens to indict him regardless, Torn dares him to do so, since he knows full well the evidence will not stick (especially in the face of the earlier miscarriage of justice he had sustained)
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7/10
"I don't think that's the guy at all."
classicsoncall26 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Well, it may not have been the perfect crime, but it was good enough to get Ernie Walters (Rip Torn) off the hook for stealing twelve thousand dollars. To Ernie's mind, it was a double payback for the money he would have earned while spending six years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, and revenge against the cop (Bert Freed) and district attorney (Kenneth Patterson) who put him away based on circumstantial evidence. Considering the excellent disguise Walters wore while robbing the tax office, I was surprised how quickly Mrs. Simmons (Florence MacMichael) identified him in the police lineup. I think that was merely a concession to the story to keep the viewer off balance as to how it would proceed, as the woman came around to the same conclusion as the other two witnesses the DA lined up, i.e., she just couldn't be sure. In any event, Ernie got away with it, and already had his trip to Florida to meet his girlfriend (Mary Munday) planned well in advance.
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9/10
Amazing changes
Bronco4624 October 2017
The changes in Rip Torn over the years make him almost unrecognizable in this appearance from fifty-six years ago. And it's not how slim he is here. Or his face. His voice is so much different. That's what really threw me. We've seen a lot of stars who thanks to re-runs age from youth to retirement right before our eyes. This was a well-written caper story with a big twist. A conviction crazy cop got Ernie with a bum rap years before. Ernie wants to get some payback. Will he be able too? Without going back to prison.
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8/10
A great episode...followed by an unnecessary and BAD epilogue.
planktonrules15 April 2021
Ernie (Rip Torn) is a bitter man. He just spent six years in prison for a crime he didn't commit and when the truth is revealed, he doesn't even get an apology from the cop and district attorney who put him away. So, he decides to get even. It all begins with him in disguise robbing a local tax office....and where it goes from here, you'll have to see for yourself.

I might have scored this one a 9, but like too many episodes of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", you see a perfect crime and love the show...only to have Hitchcock himself in the epilogue say something like "he was later caught and punished for his crimes"...which is unnecessary and apparently tossed onto the end of the show to please some sponsors or the network. All I know is that Rip Torn did a great job and John Foran and Talmadge Powell wrote a dandy episode...only to have this worthless epilogue tacked on and damaging the show.
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It's the Hays Code
LJMJCollins7 May 2023
Many people understandably dislike the tiresome "crime does not pay" epilogues on this show. I ignore these epilogues since they often spoil the fun of the episode, or dilute the twist. These objectionable epilogues are not Hitchcock's idea, it was the Hays Code in force at the time for making movies and television shows: all criminal action had to be punished, and neither the crime nor the criminal could elicit sympathy from the audience, or the audience must at least be made aware that such behavior is wrong, usually through "compensating moral value."

I'm sure Hitch didn't like it any more than we do.
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