Come September (1961)

Fresh and Exciting

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Rock Hudson plays Robert Talbot, a rich American who owns a villa in Italy. Sadly, he only spends a month there every year...and his sexy girlfriend (Gina Lollobrigida) is waiting there for him each September. This year, however, he decides to change things up and shows up in July...and finds that his trusted servant (Walter Slezak) is running the place like an upscale hotel!! And, the girlfriend is helping him in this endeavor!While you'd expect Robert to toss everyone out on their butts, he inexplicably decides, at least for now, to allow the party of young ladies to stay. However, this severely impacts his sex life, as he and his girlfriend definitely have an understanding and she is really more a mistress. Oddly, however, Robert is really worried about the young ladies, as he knows the young American men pursuing them are up to no good...probably because HE is up to no good!This is a nice little comedy. Sure, it doesn't make a lot of sense but it is enjoyable and well worth seeing. Plus, it's nice seeing Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee in support.

Robert Talbot (Rock Hudson) is a rich American who only visits his Italian villa - and his mistress (Gina Lollobrigida) - one month a year, in September. When he arrives early one year, he's shocked to find his servant (Walter Slezak) has been using the place as a hotel while Robert is away. The current guests, a bunch of teenage girls, include Sandy (Sandra Dee) who soon falls for the charms of a brash young tourist (Bobby Darin). Robert starts to sort out the problem but becomes protective of the girls and his relationship with his girlfriend changes.This is a terrible movie. Okay, the scenery and wardrobe are gorgeous and Gina and Rock are, too, but the script is cringe-worthy and makes no sense. Robert could have evicted the girls in one minute and gone on to enjoy life with his lover, but instead he becomes fatherly toward them and suddenly the adults and kids all see the error of their ways and reform their romantic lives. Gina and Rock are so nice to look at that one can almost forgive them for being completely vapid, but they have no rapport and are forced to say ridiculous lines. Slezak is totally miscast as the comic-relief Italian butler. Darin is annoyingly off-putting and Dee just phones it in.With a better script, this could have been bright and funny, but as it is, it's tedious and disappointing.

Come September is the first of two films that Rock Hudson co-starred with Gina Lollabrigida and it's the story of a man who comes only in September to Italy to spend time at his villa where his factotum, Walter Slezak has things in hand. That he has, since Hudson only shows up in the fall for a few weeks, why let this beautiful grand villa go to waste. So Slezak for years has been turning it into a hotel and turning a few bucks doing it. This summer though Hudson shows up early and boy is he surprised to find a group of teenage girls, Sandra Dee and friends chaperoned by Brenda DaBanzie staying there.Things are compounded worse when DaBanzie does a Woman Who Came to Dinner number and slips on a champagne cork after being given an eviction by the irate Hudson. Now she can't move. She and the girls are stuck there.But Slezak is not the only one creating problems for Rock. For years he's been taking fiancé Gina Lollabrigida for granted and now she's set to marry the v-e-d-d-y proper British Ronald Howard. Add to that some boys led by Bobby Darin also arrive with reservations at the Hudson hotel. In fact in one of his earliest screen roles, young law student Joel Grey rightly informs Hudson the group might sue if their reservations aren't honored.It's quite a mess as you can see, but in these comedies things do have a way of working out. Personally I think the guy who should have been sued is Slezak.Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee met and were fated to be mated as it were. Darin also gets to sing one of his classic hits, Multiplication on the sound track. He was quite a talent, what a very sad and early loss Bobby Darin was.Though the story is too silly at times, Rock and Gina have a nice working chemistry together. I rather liked them better in Strange Bedfellows. This one's all right though.

This picture is a picture postcard on film--everything is beautiful, the scenery and the actors. The acting is adequate--Sleazak and Lollabridgida are excellent. Hudson does an OK job, he's more eye candy than anything, but then again this is not Shakespeare you are watching. What I found interesting was the generational conflict between the Hudson/Lollabridgida generation and Darren/Dee generation. Up to this time everyone seemed to looked to adults as models of deportment and style, in this movie we see that undergoing some change. It is particularly interesting considering modern times when young people are impressed by the likes of Brittany Spears, etc and not people of an older generation who know something of life. Anyway, when you get around to seeing this movie, don't think to hard about it, just sit back in a comfortable chair, with your favorite snack food and enjoy the scenery.