Come September (1961)

Film: Come September (1961)
Stars: Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, Sanda Dee, Bobby Darin, Walter Slezak
Director: Robert Mulligan
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2020 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress known as an iconic "film sex symbol."  This month, our focus is on Gina Lollobrigida-click here to learn more about Ms. Lollobrigida (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

I'm an expert on the Oscars, but while I know a lot about other awards shows (more than the average person), I sometimes struggle with older categories in those awards shows, even Oscar's rebellious younger brother the Golden Globes.  Gina Lollobrigida definitely won a Golden Globe in 1961, and that's why we're going to end her career here, with a film from 1961.  I initially thought she actually won it for this film, but reports online are conflicting on if she won for a film at all, as it was the "World Film Favorite" trophy or the Henrietta Award, which didn't come for a specific movie, but instead was voted on by the public.  So technically Lollobrigida might have won just because she was popular, but it's worth noting that of the two films she made that year, one of them was critically-lambasted & a huge bomb (Go Naked in the World), while the other (Come September) made the Top 10 highest-grossers of the year & was well-received.  So, while she didn't win for Come September technically, practically it's easy to call this a victory for the film.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is a romantic comedy between two different generations.  The older half is led by Rock Hudson's Robert Talbot, a handsome American businessman who in September of every year comes to Italy and stays at his gargantuan villa, run by Maurice (Slezak).  While there, he meets with Lisa (Lollobrigida), a beautiful Italian woman who otherwise makes sound decisions, but can't help always falling back with Robert, even though he never marries her (and she has a reputable British husband lined up in the film's opening scenes).  We find out later, though, that Maurice has rented out the villa as a hotel while Robert is gone (he comes before September this year), thus Robert's house is filled with a group of young American women, including Sandy (Dee), who quickly falls in love with a musician, Tony (Darin), whom Robert has a generational rivalry with, as Robert quickly adapts a paternal attitude toward Sandy.  As happens in romantic comedies, the four couples have their fair share of misdirections & game-playing before ultimately ending up together, albeit with Maurice, at least, not learning his lesson (he rents out the villa once again in the film's final scene to a group of nuns).

The movie is cute, if really dated.  Romantic comedies of this era you kind of have to suspend belief.  We're no longer in the 1930's, where the wordplay was sparkling and the couple were oftentimes on equal footing.  Here, Robert is a lug, and despite looking like Rock Hudson, doesn't really deserve Lisa, as he only is interested in her once a year for her body.  However, their romance is more intriguing than the younger generation's, as Bobby Darrin is still learning his ropes as an actor, and while Dee's Sandy is better, she's a bit too strawberries-and-cream, especially compared to Lollobrigida's Lisa, who is a more intriguing onscreen protagonist (Lollobrigida is best-in-film as a woman who is just crazy horny for Robert, and that's why she falls for him rather than just "wanting love") than the younger actress.

Like I said, we're going to leave Gina in 1961 for this series, but the actress definitely didn't end her career here.  She worked steadily throughout the 1960's, but Loren's stardom did eclipse her rival's (and certainly Loren's ability to be nominated for Oscars didn't hurt her modern cinematic reputation), and her stardom never really stayed at the same level as it had internationally as it did from Beat the Devil to Come September, with the one exception being 1968's Buono Sera, Mrs. Campbell, for which Lollobrigida was nominated for a Golden Globe (truly nominated for it).  After that, she all but disappeared from acting (though she did have a high-profile guest run on Falcon Crest), but not from public consciousness.  She had a serious career in photojournalism in the 1970's, even landing an interview with Fidel Castro of all people during that time frame, and became famous for her philanthropy, selling most of her legendary jewelry in 2013 to benefit stem cell research.  She also has made headlines for the bizarre relationship she had with Spanish businessman Javier Rigau y Rafols, who at one point claimed they were married (and Lollobrigida said that they weren't).  These sorts of stories still dominate Italian tabloids, making Lollobrigida someone that attract headlines at the age of 93, 70 years after she first started making them.  On Thursday, we'll start a new month, and move completely into the 1960's with a pioneering sex symbol who briefly became a major name in Hollywood.