He also wanted to play a romantic part; he said so unequivocally in his autobiography and why not, since in opera he was the leading romantic tenor of his time. If a large man could love and be loved on the opera stage, surely the movies could find room for such a romantic hero. Luciano felt that his strong suit in opera - and he hoped in movies - was portraying love and romance, and the plot and character of Yes, Giorgio seemed to fit his dreams. And so Peter Fetterman journeyed to Italy to present his concept to Luciano. Fetterman previously had hoped to produce a new biographical film about Enrico Caruso (Mario Lanza made The Great Caruso for MGM back in 1951), but Pavarotti demurred, feeling the comparisons would be too awkward and the material no doubt would have required perhaps more acting finesse than the opera star was able to muster. So Yes, Giorgio was on the table, quite literally, when Pavarotti and Fetterman went to the famous Giorgio Fini's restaurant to discuss the project. After hammering out many details over a delicious meal and being enchanted by the parade of elegant desserts that came from the kitchen, the producer suggested that they name the tenor in the movie after the restaurateur. And so it was determined that Luciano Pavarotti would play opera star Giorgio Fini in his new movie.
The behind-the-scenes talent on Yes, Giorgio was equally impressive. Director Franklin J. Schaffner, who had won an Oscar® for his direction of Patton (1970) a decade before, and was famous for his hard-hitting work in films like 1968's Planet of the Apes, The Boys from Brazil (1978) and Papillon (1973), was tapped to direct this frothy musical romance. Screenwriter Norman Steinberg penned the screenplay; his credits included Blazing Saddles (1974), Mel Brook's TV series When Things Were Rotten, and My Favorite Year (1982), released the same year as Yes, Giorgio. Composer John Williams, along with songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman, penned a love song for the movie entitled "If We Were in Love." The movie was lushly photographed by Fred J. Koenekamp, who had lensed features such as When Time Ran Out (1980), First Monday in October (1981), The Towering Inferno (1974), Papillon and many others.
Cast as Pavarotti's love interest was the up-and-coming actress Kathryn Harrold, who got her start in television and had made a good impression in several feature films including The Hunter (1980) with Steve McQueen and Modern Romance (1981) with Albert Brooks. Veteran actor Eddie Albert plays Giorgio's manager; he had started in movies back in 1938 and had enjoyed tremendous success on TV in many shows including a five year run on the phenomenally popular Green Acres.
Yes, Giorgio was filmed on a variety of locations including Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco, including a memorable hot air balloon ride over California's Napa Valley that is one of the most-remembered scenes in the film. The romance between Giorgio and his beautiful throat doctor Pamela is played out against lush backgrounds and the knowledge that the opera star has a wife back home in Italy, a detail that didn't sit too well with the Catholic Church in the U.S. who put the film on its prohibited list. The romance as seen onscreen is chaste in keeping with the film's PG rating, and a passionate food fight between the two lovers was as close to sexual intimacy as the film ventured.
The real appeal of Yes, Giorgio was Pavarotti playing himself, the most famous tenor in the world. To that end, producers hired famed opera director Lofti Mansouri to stage several elaborate opera sequences for the movie, and opera conductors Kurt Adler and Emerson Buckley appeared as themselves. If there is nothing else distinguished about Yes, Giorgio, the opera scenes make up for it. Selections from Puccini's Manon Lescaut, Ponchielli's Gioconda, Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore, Verdi's Rigoletto (La Donna E Mobile), and most memorably the incomparable "Nessun Dorma" from Puccini's Turandot (which would become Pavarotti's signature) banish all doubts as to why Luciano Pavarotti was tapped to make a movie. His voice was magic, and it's at its peak in Yes, Giorgio. He also sings several other classical works including "Santa Lucia", "O Sole Mio", "Ave Maria", plus his version of "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" along with the movie's love ballad "If We Were in Love" which went on to receive an Oscar® nomination for Best Song (but lost).
MGM spared no expense in making Yes, Giorgio the perfect musical romance - the budget was 21 million dollars - and it would probably have been a smash hit...in 1950. By 1982, however, critics and audiences were less forgiving of a movie consisting of a thin story wrapped around an immensely talented opera singer, even one as revered as Luciano Pavarotti. Critics gave credit to Pavarotti for being so game as to attempt a starring movie role, and for his onscreen persona which was breezy, good-natured and just right for what was required of him. They also liked Kathryn Harrold's performance and gave her credit for making the improbable romance between the two almost believable. The key criticisms were reserved for the creaky formulaic plot, and there's no arguing with that.
Now that Luciano Pavarotti has passed on, Yes, Giorgio becomes more important as a film record of a great artist. For despite the formulaic romantic plot, we get to see Luciano Pavarotti at the top of his form, singing his heart out and allowing us--and future generations--to understand that there really was genuine magic in his voice. Bravo, Luciano! is the lasting message up on the screen for us all.
Producer: Peter Fetterman
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Screenplay: Norman Steinberg, Anne Piper (novel)
Cinematography: Fred J. Koenekamp
Music: Michael J. Lewis
Film Editing: Michael F. Anderson
Cast: Giorgio Fini (Luciano Pavarotti), Pamela Taylor (Kathryn Harrold), Henry Pollack (Eddie Albert), Sister Theresa (Paolo Baroni), Kwan (James Hong), Mei Ling (Beulah Quo).
C-111m. Letterboxed. Closed captioning.
by Lisa Mateas
