Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Thursday, February 18, 2016

Those Morals, They Were A Changin'


Gotham Locations Boost Sunday In New York (1964)

Boy, did things change quick after this was made! Definition of "nice girls" and premarital limit was soon to be rewritten, and radically, with Jane Fonda to large extent at the foreground. How could Metro have reissued this with straight faces even two years later, let alone ten. Was there even a network run for such an instantly dated "sex comedy"? Fonda and Rod Taylor are caught in pajamas (could anything be more compromising?) and you'd think A-Bombs had fallen. What gives it charm is Manhattan capture of streets and people like they'll never be again. MGM does not stint on outdoor touring; you can feel exhaust from cabs that take in/let out farce-engaged cast members. The old double standard gets what amounted to a final airing. Men do (it's their nature), but nice girls mustn't, not if they expect to marry. Sunday In New York could run to hoots and jeering on campuses nationwide if anyone bothered, but who among youth knows J. Fonda, Rod Taylor, or Cliff Robertson? I was pleased by its very quaintness, and the fact Warner Instant streams Sunday in HD, lending postcard gleam to ice skating, airports (flying is a topic), and bachelor pad accoutrement (Peter Nero albums and copies of Playboy), all more vivid thanks to High-Def clarity. Why wasn't Rod Taylor a bigger star? I like watching him more than guys who ranked higher in the 60's.

7 Comments:

Blogger MikeD said...

"Why wasn't Rod Taylor a bigger star? I like watching him more than guys who ranked higher in the 60's."

Not an answer to your question, but here's something about Rod Taylor you might like. At a Lone Pine Film Festival awhile back, I asked William Smith who he thought was the toughest actor he ever worked with. Without hesitation, he answered "Rod Taylor. He just liked to fight". When the day's filming was finished, they go out to some bar, have a few drinks and Taylor would start a brawl. They worked together on the 'Deadly Trackers" and I told him that I found it hard to believe that Richard Harris would have gotten the best of him. He laughed and told me that the director kept him on the shoot the entire 6 weeks just to keep Taylor and Harris from killing each other. Smith and Taylor's donnybrook in 'Darker Than Amber' was on YouTube and is something to see. I think William Smith told me that he busted Rod Taylor's nose to get the scene stopped because Taylor had busted Smith's ribs but I may have the injuries mixed up. There was also a story about Taylor missing a kneepad with a 2x4 (ouch!).
William Smith was a great festival guest. He had a lot of entertaining stories and told them well.

8:31 AM  
Blogger Kevin K. said...

My wife wanted to watch this when it was on TCM a while back. As a New Yorker, I loved the location shots, but boy, was it ridiculous -- like you said, even for 1964. Talk about a last gasp of those Doris Day-like comedies. You can find any number of pre-code movies that are more honest. It would be interesting to know what Jane Fonda herself was up to when the cameras stopped rolling.

10:55 AM  
Blogger radiotelefonia said...

This movie played a lot in Argentina in the 80s since MGM always included in TV packages. That version had a traditional Spanish dubbing from Mexico and it also played a lot on TNT Latin America until they disposed classic films for good in order to become a horrible channel that I would love to see it once and for all removed. Despite the location work that you mention, this an example of bad filmed theater in sets that really look like move sets.

11:21 AM  
Blogger stinky fitzwizzle said...

Just watched the 'Darker Than Amber' fight on the youtubes. That's one awesome scene!

1:33 PM  
Blogger Beowulf said...

I'm completely heterosexual but I always thought Rod Taylor was massively handsome in his prime. Like our host, I always wondered why he never became a bigger star. He seemed to do fine in the big roles he got, but never reached the upper realms of Hollywood royalty.

He is also another example of the ravages of time. By the end of his life, he was OLD. Drink, too much sun? Anyone know?

3:35 PM  
Blogger DBenson said...

The taboos weren't falling everywhere at once. Television and neighborhood theaters remained big markets for escapism that denied a changing world. Sure, mock hippies were beginning to replace mock beatniks and nice girls could wear short skirts, but on backlots -- especially at Disney and Universal, it seemed -- the fifties hung on.

In 1969 "The Love God" made a stab at bringing raciness to a Don Knotts vehicle. Knotts as a Hugh Hefner figure was a great idea. But aside from lightly spoofing Playboy's upscale empire built on pinups, the movie was wildly out of touch on all fronts.

And of course, a woman running from a bedroom in republican lingerie is The Big Scandalous Complication (even though Knotts is unconscious through it all).

"The Apartment" tackled adultery head on back in 1960, and was a big commercial hit. It's a bit boggling that squeaky-clean farces could still be peddled as daring adult fare after that.

4:13 PM  
Blogger Robolly said...

I've not seen this movie, but it sounds like a movie length Love American Style episode.

It is interesting that Rod Taylor doesn't seem to get the recognition he deserves; He seemed capable of playing any type of roll, and doing it well!

3:30 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024