Pote tin Kyriaki (1960)

Director:

Jules Dassin

Writer:

Jules Dassin (writer)

Release Date:

1 October 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

An American scholar in Greece sets about improving a prostitute he's infatuated with.

Plot Keywords:

Prostitute | Greece | Piraeus Greece | Jail | Organ Grinder

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

Melina Mercouri	...	Ilya
Jules Dassin	...	Homer Thrace
Giorgos Foundas	...	Tonio
Titos Vandis	...	Jorgo
Mitsos Ligizos	...	The Captain (as Mitsos Lygizos)
Despo Diamantidou	...	Despo
Dimos Starenios	...	Poubelle
Dimitris Papamichael	...	A Sailor (as Dimitri Papamichael)
Alexis Solomos	...	Noface
Thanasis Vengos		(as Thanassis Veggos)
Faidon Georgitsis	...	Sailor
Nikos Fermas	...	Waiter
Artemis Matsas
Koula Agagiotou
Panos Karavousanos

Also Known As:

Never on Sunday (USA)
Ποτέ την Κυριακή (Greece)

Runtime:

91 min | Argentina:93 min | USA:97 min

Country:

Greece | USA

Language:

English | Greek | Russian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:6 (re-rating) (2005) | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-16 | UK:PG (video rating) (2000) | UK:X (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Piraeus, Greece

Company:

Lopert Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Features first song ("Never On Sunday") from a foreign-made movie to win an Oscar.

Quotes:

Homer: It's extraordinary! Where do you learn all those languages?
Illya: In bed.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in It's My Party (1996)

Soundtrack:

Ein Schiff wird kommen

Mercouri is Dazzling

Melina Mercouri takes an often-played role - the 'Whore with a Heart of Gold who Loves Life Despite It All' - and makes it her career-defining movie role, and she is the entire reason to watch the movie. Fiercely independent, sexually progressive, not spending her life trying to find the perfect man and gorgeous, she's a force of life.

Jules Dassin has directed a great movie but he should have hired an actor to play Homer, and not played it himself. He almost ruins all the charm the movie has going for it with his ineffective acting, bad line readings and stupid motivations. A better actor might have found a way around the rough spots but Dassin magnifies them.

Mercouri probably should have won Best Actress that year, but who can beat a Liz Taylor death scare? Plus Simeone Signoret had won Best Actress the year before, and Sophia Loren would win the following year..you don't want to upset icons like Louella Parsons, Frank Sinatra and John Wayne by giving ALL the Oscars to foreigners, do you?? Maybe the fact that she does not die at the end was too much..we all know the odds of longevity for a hooker in a Hollywood movie. Taylor met that criteria, as if she needed to help her own odds after almost dying of pneumonia.

Worth watching for sure. 8/10.