I find it extremely hard to believe that no one who's seen Go Naked in the World has made the connection that it's a non-operatic version of La Traviata. It's based on Tom T. Charmales's 1959 novel, but it's a shameless copy of the famed story about a young man who falls in love with a prostitute.
Anthony Franciosa plays the young man, his strong, stern disapproving father is Ernest Borgnine. They come from a strict Greek background, and Ernie is just as tough, demanding, controlling, and larger-than-life than you'd expect any self-made man who wants the best for his kids. Yes, he's loud and challenging and impossible, but he also had to battle more in his life than his ingrate children have had to. He's earned the right to be gruff, and beneath it all, you can tell he's coming from a place of love.
Tony is too angry and youthful to appreciate his father's love, so rather than take a job at his extremely successful construction company, he slums it in an apartment and takes up with a beautiful prostitute, Gina Lollobrigida. He has no idea she's "the biggest call girl in town," but the audience knows it from the first scene. If you know La Traviata or Camille, you know how upset he'll get when he finds out. If you don't, you'll be extremely entertained by this heavy drama. There's an added twist to this movie that isn't present in the other stories, one that I happen to love and won't tell you about. You'll just have to rent it to find out why this particular version is so heavy.
If you rent this naughty, post-Code "romance", you'll see three very meaty performances. All three leads are given a lot to do, and they're all very convincing. Ernie certainly made good use of his Oscar, Tony broke free of his Italian-Burt-Lancaster-persona, and Gina was challenged most of all. She's given an enormous range in her scenes, so if you're a fan of the beautiful Italian actress, you're not going to want to miss this one.
