That Kind of Woman

Reworking of 1938's "The Shopworn Angel", based on a short story by Robert Lowry, has Sophia Loren playing former Italian immigrant, now beautiful American citizen in 1944 traveling from Miami to New York City by train to be with her millionaire lover; a soldier with the U.S. Airborne Division meets and falls in love with her, even though he understands she's a "kept woman". Essentially, Loren must choose between love and money, though with green, self-conscious Tab Hunter as her new beau, her predicament seems based more on infatuation. Hunter, a veteran of several pictures by this point, has no temperament on screen (and director Sidney Lumet allows him no personality, either). Even when he angrily slaps something out of Sophia's hand, Hunter is still benign as a Boy Scout, with an overly-alert stare and no mannerisms, no depth. Loren comes off a bit better, and actually saves a few scenes in the beginning when Lumet awkwardly introduces us to the characters, yet the movie has no drive and no soul. It comes and goes painlessly, but leaves not a trace of passion. ** from ****

I just watched That Kind of Woman on TCM. I'm generally not into old movies, but this one seemed very interesting and it proved to be more than that. It is definitely not your typical love story, of which I am also not usually fond. The dialogue in the script blew me away. Walter Bernstein must have taken great pains to write this screenplay. I definitely want to read the story on which it was based.

The host on TCM said that this movie never became very popular despite the fame of Sophia Loren and Tab Hunter, and I can see why. It's comment on the society of that time was probably not highly regarded by the movie critics and people of influence during that era. I, however, thoroughly enjoyed the social criticism found in the plot, and the acting was phenomenal. Jack Warden and Barbara Nichols stole the show in my opinion. I am definitely going to check out more movies by Sidney Lumet, as well as, writings by Robert Lowry. If you're the kind of person who enjoys discovering a diamond in the rough, you will love this movie.

I first saw this film around 1968 when I was age sixteen, long before Tab Hunter came out of the closet. I remember the strong impression I had that he looked unnatural and phony in this part. To me he seemed robot-like, lacking passion and natural mannerisms. But most of all it was that empty doe-eyed radar stare that he locked on Sophia Loren's face in every scene with her. That would've driven me crazy on set. Hunter had zero chemistry with Loren. After the movie I said to my friends, "Nobody will ever convince me that Tab Hunter was a hot leading man or a teen heart throb in the 1950s, this guy wouldn't know what to do with Sophia Loren if he had her in bed". I contrasted his performance with that of Paul Newman in 'Hud' and 'The Hustler'; now there's great acting and natural cool, there's your leading man.

Sophia Loren disowned this film when it was released in 1959. Tab Hunter said it was his favorite film. I knew Hunter was gay long before he came out, but even Montgomery Clift and James Dean were good leading men, so it wasn't the fact that he was gay. Young Tab Hunter simply didn't have the acting skill or the natural screen talent to play the part of Red. Some people claim that he was supposed to have bad chemistry with Loren in this film, but that's just a feeble excuse. Maybe he was supposed to be inexperienced and a bit naïve, but not have bad chemistry, and he most certainly wasn't supposed to do a bad job of acting with Loren. My critique remains the same now as it did in 1968. I agree with Sophia Loren and the critics of 1959, who felt that casting Tab Hunter as Red was the primary cause of this film's failure. I think Loren's performance was outstanding, the other actors performances and the other production aspects of this film were quite good.

Although I thought Tab Hunter was poor in this film and other films of his youth, I became something of a fan of his in his later life. He did some stage acting and made some nutty films later. But I thought he grew into a fair actor and a very good author as he got older, and he became a more 'real' person. When he came out as gay, of course, he became more comfortable and much happier in life. He co-wrote a #1 best seller autobiography published in 2005. In the book he revealed that he was miserable and felt like a misfit throughout his entire youth, and felt he didn't belong in the Hollywood film star business. To me that fact was very transparent. Gay was very unacceptable then, was treated as a mental disease, and was even against the law in some states. I can't imagine the suffering that must have caused members of the gay community.

Was able to view this film as it was first shown on TCM after many years not being viewed by the American audiences. The famous director, Sidney Lumet directed this great picture of Sophia Loren when she was very young and extremely beautiful. Sophia Loren, (Katherine,Kay) and her girlfriend, Jane, (Barbara Nichols) are traveling on a train during WW II and the train is filled with Marines, Navy and Army personnel who are more than glad to see these very sexy and attractive women. However, Kay has a body guard named Harry Corwin, (Kennan Wynn) who is hired by a very rich man who has bought Kay body and soul for his woman, the man is George Sanders. Two marines named George Kelly, (Jack Warden) and Red, (Tab Hunter) try to hit on these two gals in the train's club car and it is not long before Kelly falls for Jane and Kay falls head over heels for Red. Red has no idea what kind of gal Kay is and of course, she is a woman who has been around the block many times with plenty of men and he finds out she is a bought woman with The Man. This is a great story and you will never be able to figure out just what is going to happen to these couples. Don't miss this film it is great and worth watching.

Did anyone notice the Tab Hunter character's casual attitude toward mild violence directed at the Sophia Loren character? Probably not, since this sort of thing was so standard in 1950s films (more so than in the 1930s or 1940s) that most people simply don't notice it. This is just one of the elements that make this film a travesty IMO.