The Fiestas - "So Fine" (1958)

Movie Clip -
So Fine (1981)
September 25, 1981
RYAN O'NEAL STARS IN 'SO FINE,' A COMEDY
By JANET MASLIN
Published: September 25, 1981
ANDREW BERGMAN, who wrote the witty and inventive screenplay for ''The In Laws,'' makes his directorial debut with ''So Fine,'' another movie about a naive hero who runs afoul of gangster types and finds himself in a farfetched but highly amusing predicament. In this case, the story is that of Bobby Fine (Ryan O'Neal), a fussy, sheltered English professor at a college where the motto is ''Learn So Ye May Know.'' He is kidnapped and taken to New York to help out his father's garment business, where the employees surreptitiously use the dresses for napkins and the dresses come in colors like ''ecru, lemon and gingersnap.'' Business is awful.

His father, as played hilariously by Jack Warden, has been reduced to skulking around Bergdorf Goodman trying to sell dresses out of a plastic bag and to romancing what is left of his clientele. Enter Bobby, who is soon romancing Lira, the wife (Mariangela Melato) of his father's terrifying creditor, a gigantic gangster named Mr. Eddie (Richard Kiel), whose every monosyllable is law.

A tryst with Lira sends Bobby escaping the jealous husband by dashing home in nothing but Lira's angora sweater, fluffy slippers and tight jeans. The jeans split, and Bobby lines the places where his back pockets used to be with clear plastic, thus starting a hot new fashion trend. Business improves dramatically.

The backless jeans may sound like the most satirical ingredient in ''So Fine,'' which opens today at the Beekman, Criterion and other theaters. But they aren't, because designer jeans aren't an easy subject for satire - the movie's television commercial for its jeans doesn't seem any more idiotic than real commercials of this sort -and because Mr. Bergman's wild touches are on a smaller scale.

His is a movie that contains armed gangsters who leap out of their cars without remembering to unfasten their seat belts. It also includes a college production of Verdi's ''Otello'' that is disrupted by the appearance of scenery from ''Damn Yankees'' and ''Guys and Dolls'' (''A kind of sudden burst of surreali sm!'' cries one professor in the audience), and a waitress wh o, when one of her customers behaves lewdly, declares with great indignation, ''This is a House of Pancakes, ma'am!''

Mr. Bergman's direction is for the most part skillful and confident. ''So Fine'' is a little shapeless overall, especially after it sends Bobby back to his college once the jeans have made jean history. But its comic episodes are nicely controlled, and the movie has a consistent zany style. An early college sequence, with Fred Gwynne offering a wittily grotesque caricature of a department chairman and David Rounds as an ambitious underling, is perfectly in keeping with the gangster and garment episodes that come later.

The casting is quite good, even if Mr. O'Neal and Miss Melato at first sound like odd choices for their roles. She makes a droll siren, and Mr. O'Neal isn't out of place in his professorial capacity. He shows himself once again to be a genial, versatile comic actor who can adapt to a surprising variety of situations and who works comfortably and easily in an ensemble. He and Mr. Warden, in the delightful scenes they share, are perfectly teamed.

''So Fine'' is somewhat marred by an unpleasant attitude toward its female characters, every single one of whom is made out to be sexually predatory. While the men congratulate themselves on their prowess, sex-starved women eye them acquisitively, and it doesn't take long for this to become nasty. Unlike the backless jeans, which seem to have an air of parody rather than one of sexism, these characterizations show no signs of deliberate satire.

SO FINE, directed and written by Andrew Berg- man; director of photography, James A. Cont- ner; edited by Alan Heim; music by Ennio Morricone; produced by Mike Lobell; released by Warner Bros. At the Criterion Center, Broadway and West 45th Street; Beekman, Second Avenue and 65th Street; RKO 86th Street, at Lexington Avenue; Murray Hill, 34th Street east of Lexington Avenue, and other theaters. Running time: 89 minutes. This film is rated R.

Bobby . . . . . Ryan O'Neal
Jack . . . . . Jack Warden
Lira . . . . . Mariangela Melato
Eddie . . . . . Richard Kiel
Chairman Lincoln . . . . . Fred Gwynne
Sam Schlotzman . . . . . Mike Kellin
Professor Yarnell . . . . . Joel Stedman
Sylvia . . . . . Angela Pietro Pinto
Jay Augustine . . . . . Michael Lombard
Vicki . . . . . Jessica James
Sir Alec . . . . . Bruce Millholland
Dave . . . . . Merwin Goldsmith
Accountant . . . . . Irving Metzman

Category:

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[chillyfountane]

THATS MY DAD SINGING THIS SONG...

[jlm1973]

lira was a sexy woman...

[OLdies1960s]

Great song !!! Great Film Clip !!! :-))

[pmfzero]

Great vid - now I have to find a copy of the movie :) And the song? An indisputable classic!

[allaboard70]

Ha ha :-) Very good. Funny clip and super cool song!

[10khertz]

Funny movie! Thanks for the post!

[northcoast69]

Like the video!

[angel3634828]

Thanks!  Funny vid )

[vespa202]

wonderful :))

[somersetgal1]

Very funny Joe,,, thanks for this.. good one...Sara x