In the Cool of the Day (1963)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty Good

best movie i've ever seen.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

If fashion and Mediterranean scenery tend to dazzle you about a movie then you'll likely be all up in the clouds dancing over this one. For the rest of us who desire somewhat more from our hours invested in a movie, In-the-Cool-of-the-Day falls far short of the mark I'm afraid.It's your basic "Two people married to other people fall in love on a romantic European trip, having been put together alone due to circumstances and also the situation in each of their marriages." In Fonda's character's case she's simply not in love with her doting and rather 'doormattish' husband. In Finch's character's case his wife (Landsbury) is a miserable joy-killing shrew of a woman who is playing ever the martyr and guilt-tripping him over a past tragedy in their lives. While Fonda's husband can't make the trip, Finch and Landsbury end up fighting and she walking out, leaving he and Fonda to continue on alone.The back story on Fonda's character is that she has been sickly since early childhood, having had multiple surgeries on her lungs and nearly dying. In any normal family of the time that would mean the only sensible course of action, that being no one smokes near her. But in THIS film the production (writers, director, producer, etc) all thought it was no big deal to just have all involved puffing away like steam engines including Jane's character herself.While the view on smoking was a little different back in '63 than it is today it is still fairly unthinkable that a physician would raise major concern over a trip by car through the mountains due to a little rain yet have no quarrel whatsoever about a girl with serious respiratory ailments smoking like a chimney.As for the ending all I'll say is I found it abrupt, unsurprising, and disappointing, Fonda herself is absolutely gorgeous. The vistas and views of the countryside are spectacular. The acting is decent. The story and plot is where this film falls flat.4/10

The story is not what I expected, which is good, but it left me feeling there was a lot missing that could have made it more satisfying. The actors dealt with the soapish material very well and that is what made me like the film. The characters they played were either appealing (Finch and Fonda) or entertaining like Lansbury. Now to the plot, so look out for spoilers ahead! Fonda falls for Finch and eventually so does he for her. It just takes ages for them to even kiss once! In between there is a lot of beautiful travelogue showing spectacular views of Greece. The three leads wander about gazing at the sights and Finch and Fonda never kiss while Lansbury is aware of the attraction. Why did they bring her along if they wanted to be alone together? She finally leaves on her own accord and they still don't kiss until much later. Then Fonda leaves for no reason, goes back to her dull husband and dominating mother that she wanted to flee. Then she dies. Finch never has any confrontations with either his wife or Fonda. The film ends. The film consists entirely of lovely views of Greece, Lansbury bitter remarks and Finch's and Fonda's longing. That's it for the plot. It's all very entertainingly presented until the abrupt ending just ruins the picture.It's interesting to see how the producers wanted to invoke the scandalous Liz Taylor/Richard Burton romance from that era in the film. Fonda wears a Cleopatra wig for the entire film, Finch resembles Burton and speaks with a British accent and they walk among Greek ruins by the Mediterranean sea. Fonda can bring life to any film and I have never seen her so glamorous as she is here.

I found Jane Fonda's hair rather interesting in this film. It provided a nice distraction from the narrative which plodded along at a rather languid pace. The actors smoked a lot in the film too. I mean in older Hollywood films actors smoked a lot, but they really lit up in this one. In almost every scene Peter Finch was lighting up and puffing away. It's almost like he knew there wasn't much going on dramatically so he might as well smoke a cigarette until the scene was over. I thought for sure Peter Finch was going to die of lung cancer, but then Jane ends up getting really sick, which was okay because that meant the movie was almost over. On the positive side I did enjoy the shots of Greece.

I never heard of the movie, and saw it because of Jane Fonda's name. This is not only boring and uninteresting, there isn't even a nice sentence in it. The two walk around, his wife is a pain, her husband is numb as we are. They walk through Greece. They almost have an accident. His son died in an accident. Wow.Terrible movie. 89 minutes? Seemed like much more. I don't know how I saw the whole thing.