Go Naked in the World

The only thing I have against this film is that the character played by tony Franciosa is rather helpless for someone who has just spent several years in the army. I would have thought that he would have come out a better man, instead of this mousy character, but there you are.

I thought the scene at the top of the skyscraper being built, where Tony Franciosa walks along a girder as though it were a tightrope, to get some money from his father was an incredible piece of acting by Franciosa, Borgnine, and the actors playing the spidermen. To me that was the outstanding scene in the whole film.

The rest of the film is a watchable melodrama, although I don't think it will ever be regarded as one of the best films ever made.

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.

Sick at home, I chose to watch this despite having no idea what this movie was about. Never heard of it before either.

First off, Bourgnine really got into the role of a domineering Greek immigrant architect. He spends quite a bit of time yelling at everyone. His scenes with Franciosa are very good and provided me with a reason to watch the whole thing. Lollobrigida is good but the scenes between her and Franciosa are gooey.

The plot is interesting as Lollobrigida's character is revealed to be a high-class hooker leading to Franciosa's character's very confused response and his confkict with his father who happens to be one of her clients. It could have been interesting but the movie opts for cheap moralizing at the end. I have seen the same ending in "bad girl tries to make good" movies from the 1930s.

The title is also a cheap attempt to get the male audience to think they might glimpse Lolabrigida nude at some point. Never comes close although there's a wild dissolve / montage that has an erupting champagne bottle superimposed over Lollobrigida face as she's clearly on her back. Hmmm.

You can skip it if it ever shows up again.

"Go Naked in the World" is a very bad film....a glossy, good looking bad film. The more you watch it, the more you realize it's a bad film....with too many characters who seem like caricatures and absolutely no subtlety. It's a shame, as there are many interesting story elements but the sum total is just bad...really bad. Better writers EASILY could have made this into a very good film...but apparently these were not better writers!

When the story begins, Nick Stratten (Tony Franciosa) has returned to his hometown after serving a hitch in the army. While you might think he'd go straight home to see his parents, Nick doesn't as his relationship with his father is extremely problematic! Pete Stratten (Ernest Borgnine) is a loud, blustering and controlling father....and Nick claims that he wants to be free of his father's control. However, although this seems admirable that Nick wants to make his own way in life, he's a jerk-face...who goes to his father for money but then, at the same time, resents his old man and makes it obvious. As for the father, he's no prince....as he's never been faithful to his wife and has spent time schtupping a high-class prostitute, Guilietta (Gina Lollobrigida). Later, Nick finds out that his new girlfriend, the one he's head-over-heels over, is the girl Pete's been seeing for years. And, apparently, so have many, many of Pete's friends! This is obviously NOT a super-healthy family!!

So why did I dislike the film so much? I blame much of it on the writers (as I mentioned above) and the director. After all, Pete is supposed to be a large personality....but there is zero subtlety about the guy and he spends most of the movie screaming his lines. I know Ernest Borgnine was a fabulous actor, so I don't completely blame him, but his character is so unreal. As for Nick and the rest of them, it's so sad that the LEAST over-the-top and most real character was the prostitute!!

The film COULD have been a great film about a father and son who are estranged. There ARE interesting things in the movie. But instead, it's just badly written, unconvincing and dumb....and filled with a bazillion and one plot holes. Ut also suffers from one huge problem....you simply don't like most of the characters! It's a pretty looking bad film, but a bad film nonetheless.

I liked this film, which struck me as "Camille" in a modern setting with beautiful scenery and wardrobe in color and expressive music in the soundtrack.

The main similarity with "Camille" is the theme of "Redemption and Forgiveness" or the lack thereof with tragic results. Like Armand Duval in "Camille," the young man (portrayed by Anthony Franciosa) idealizes the exquisite young woman with whom he has fallen in love. To him, she is beautiful and innocent, and he wants a future with her. Then his father (Ernest Borgnine) reveals the ugly truth, that Giulietta is a high-priced call girl and that he and his middle-aged friends have been her clients.

The young man is confused, but he wants to forgive Giulietta for her past and help her make a new start by marrying her. They go away on holiday, but former clients (who are self righteous and who have an unforgiving attitude) come out of the woodwork and refuse to let Giulietta forget her past. As in Camille, the end is tragic, leaving the male characters to consider the parts (good or bad) they played in Giulietta's life.