Una domenica a New York

If you're looking for a perfectly dated view of premarital sex, you'll be hard-pressed to find another gem like Sunday in New York. Jane Fonda, in a totally adorable role, plays a conflicted "beginner". She's refused to sleep with her boyfriend, Robert Culp, and in her confusion, seeks refuge with her airline pilot brother, Cliff Robertson. Cliff assures her that being a virgin isn't a bad thing and that he himself doesn't sleep around. Of course, he's desperately trying to sleep with his girlfriend, Jo Morrow, and hides that from Jane. To top it all off, Jane meets Rod Taylor and decides to pretend she's more experienced than she actually is.

Adapted from Norman Krasna's hit Broadway play, this 1960s romantic comedy is just that: romantic and hilarious. Jane's comic timing is always great. "In movies, this is where the screen usually goes dark," she says when Rod's kisses make it clear he wants to take things further. When he finally learns she's a virgin, he slams on the brakes. He doesn't want to be responsible for ruining her reputation, and Jane finds his reasoning absurd. He wouldn't have any hesitation in sleeping with her if, say, in a week's time she'd already had a lover. "Call me next week!" she shouts, frustrated that her innocence is off-putting.

It's really a very cute movie, but women's libbers out there will probably hate it. You're better off watching The Electric Horseman or The China Syndrome; Jane is in a strong, feminist role in those movies. In Sunday in New York, she's cute as a button, but not the most liberated tool in the shed. I loved her in this one, and found her just as visually and comically adorable as she was in Barefoot in the Park.

... AKA the unraveling of the motion picture production code and the sexual revolution that began in earnest in the 60s. Most films about sex in this era are pretty unwatchable today because they are trying to shock you with controversies that are long dead, and plus they take such a mechanical view of sex.

This film is different. It stars Cliff Robertson as an airline pilot, Adam, who has a swinging bachelor pad. But he also has a 22 year old sister (Jane Fonda), Eileen, who thinks she is the last virgin in New York. After breaking up with her boyfriend she goes out in search of a stranger with which to lose her virginity. She finds a likely candidate, but then she finds out that in 1963 lots of men don't mind being the second guy, but their Victorian values reveal themselves when they discover they are about to be the first.

And Adam's swinging 60s libertine view of sex? That becomes "not with my sister you don't!" when he discovers Eileen's plan. If you ever want to know what things were like on the dating scene when women still had no real career paths and were expected to quit those jobs anyways and be housewives when they married , just as all of that was about to change, watch this film. Plus it has some of the finest actors of the era who are mainly known for drama in a very funny comedy.

Yes, it's dated. In the early 60's New York apparently was inhabited entirely by good-looking middle-class white people, smoking was sexy (yuck), and the double standard between men and women was still in full unchallenged swing. But there's something strangely engaging and sweet about this movie, partly because New York is shown in such an innocent light, partly because the chemistry between the actors, particularly the young Jane Fonda and not-so-young Rod Taylor, is playful and endearing. At times it bumps along as it switches from the Fonda/Taylor plot line to Cliff Robertson's lovelife difficulties, but the music and the setting alone are almost enough to keep you interested. (Loved that multi-level apartment!) And the farce that ensues as Eileen's (Fonda's) brother, potential fiance and potential paramour tangle with each other is sometimes genuinely funny. I was surprised - though it has its flaws, I found the film to be a pleasant sigh from a more innocent time.

When it came to sex comedies involving mistaken identities, Norman Krasna was the master. This breezy comedy is based on one of his more modestly successful plays but it's been transferred to the screen with a generous glimpse of New York City backgrounds and de luxe apartment interiors, all in gorgeous Technicolor.

Furthermore, it has 22 year-old JANE FONDA in one of her early charming roles (before she took up politics), and two attractive male co-stars in CLIFF ROBERTSON (as her brother, an airline pilot) and ROD TAYLOR, as the man she happens to meet on a Fifth Avenue bus.

Jane's problem is that she lost her chance for marriage because she turned down sex beforehand and comes to New York from Albany to ask her brother for his advice on the subject. She isn't in the big city long before she meets ROD TAYLOR and that's when the plot goes into full swing. When her real boyfriend shows up unexpectedly at her apartment, she passes off Taylor as her brother. Naturally, this is Krasna's set-up for the rest of the story.

It's all completely innocuous but offers passable entertainment for a rainy day. Fonda is cheerfully ditzy most of the time and Taylor plays his role with his usual masculine charm. Robertson makes the most of his role as her playboy brother.

Enjoyable fluff, a bit dated, but fun.

One of the best romantic comedies I've ever seen. Jane Fonda has just been dumped because she wouldn't have sex before marriage and decides to spend a week in New York to forget her problems. She meets a guy on a bus and before long they're having coffee together. One thing leads to another and they're in her brother's apartment in bathrobes and her ex walks in! He assumes the guy is Jane Fonda's brother, and that's when the movie starts getting incredibly funny. It's like a screwball comedy with Cary Grant, and played very well by all the actors. Her real brother ends up playing someone else. Rod Taylor is really charming and cute and the brother is hilarious with a whole other subplot concerning his girlfriend and how all of their dates fall through. I'd never heard of this movie until it was on TCM and I'm surprised it's not more well-known. A real hidden gem, highly recommended!