Come September (1961)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writers:

Stanley Shapiro (screenplay) &
Maurice Richlin (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

9 August 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

A Quiet hideaway... A Secret rendezvous... then the teen-agers barged in!

Plot:

Younger generation vs. "older" folks on vacation at an Italian villa.

Plot Keywords:

Italian Villa | Hotel | Generation Gap | Footsie Under The Table | Scooter

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Robert L. Talbot
Gina Lollobrigida	...	Lisa Helena Fellini
Sandra Dee	...	Sandy Stevens
Bobby Darin	...	Tony
Walter Slezak	...	Maurice Clavell
Brenda De Banzie	...	Margaret Allison
Rosanna Rory	...	Anna
Ronald Howard	...	Spencer
Joel Grey	...	Beagle
Ronnie Haran	...	Sparrow
Chris Seitz	...	Larry
Cindy Conroy	...	Julia
Joan Freeman	...	Linda
Nancy Anderson	...	Patricia
Michael Eden	...	Ron

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cinque Terre, La Spezia, Liguria, Italy

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

The first movie to be shown on transcontinental and intercontinental flights. (See also By Love Possessed (1961).) Walter Slezak hand-delivered the film to the plane for the inaugural in-flight-movie flight.

Quotes:

Lisa Helena Fellini: Robert! You have a moral streak.
Robert L. Talbot: You know me better than that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Beyond the Sea (2004)

Soundtrack:

'Come September' Theme

Come on-a my house

Stanley Roberts came up a winner with this story about a rich American executive who breaks his routine of spending September in his Italian villa by coming in July and discovers his major-duomo has been running it as a five-star, world-class pensione. The idea runs toward the conventional with Robert Russell's treatment of it; a band of schoolgirls headed by every American father's idea of the perfect daughter, Sandra Dee, puts a damper on the amorous pursuits of the villa owner who has his sights set implacably on the generous endowments of Gina Lollabrigida. By the time the American played by Rock Hudson in what is arguably his sexiest performance is left to propose driving a truck full of squawking, crated ducks, the comedy loses any chance it had of evoking sophisticated laughter.

The dumb guffaws abound, nonetheless, mostly over the competition sparked between Hudson and a group of college students who want to do to the schoolgirls what the American wants with his amply-hipped Italian. It's Lollabrigida who lifts this picture out of the commonplace. Her Lisa Fellini is ashamed of the arrangement. The funniest line in the movie comes with her needing to discuss it in a room full of workmen within earshot of her conversation with a friend: "Speak English. I don't want them to hear." When Lisa finally sizes up the situation and realizes what the American really thinks of her, the fireworks go off, and Lollabrigida propels this movie forward single-handedly. She has never been this fascinating a mix of sensual and moral confusion ever again. When she rolls her R on the name Robert, she might as well be whispering in every one's ear "Remember September."

There's more than enough sneakiness to go around with Walter Slezak and Bobby Darin heading the den of deceivers, and Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin keep the dialogue--if not always witty--lively. If only they could have thought of a send-off that didn't involve a house full of nuns. How droll!