Yes, Giorgio

Plot

Luciano Pavarotti plays a world-famous Italian tenor opera singer by the name of Giorgio Fini. While in Boston for a concert Fini gets a phone call asking him to perform at The Met. The call brings up bad memories from his disastrous appearance there seven years earlier. It scares him to the point where he cannot sing at rehearsal. Everyone panics thinking he is losing his voice.

His business manager (Eddie Albert) has a female throat specialist Pamela Taylor, played by Kathryn Harrold, look Fini over. Fini at first refuses believing her not to be a doctor but "a nurse" because she is a woman. After being scared into seeing her by his manager, she immediately detects that the problem is psychological not physical. Taylor makes up a serious-sounding name for the condition and gives Fini a shot to cure it (which she reveals to Fini's business manager is harmless vitamin B12). After reacting to the prick of the needle, Fini instantly gets his voice back and proceeds to sing the following day at the Hatch Shell in Boston.

Fini is immediately physically attracted to Taylor, and even though he is married with two children, she agrees to go out on a dinner date. The date does not go well, but Fini is persistent, visiting the hospital where Dr. Taylor works. His quick thinking helps calm a scared child getting ready for surgery to remove his tonsils, promising ice cream which he delivers after the surgery. Impressed by his handling of the children, she agrees to another date. She eventually becomes his traveling companion. After spending a romantic week in San Francisco and the wine country visiting friends of Fini, the two eventually fall in love. He gains the confidence through his love for her to agree to perform at the Met in the Giacomo Puccini opera Turandot. However, because Fini refuses to leave his wife, Taylor throws him a kiss and leaves the Met while Fini is singing "Nessun Dorma" to her.

Cast

Awards and nominations

The song "If We Were in Love" was written by John Williams for the movie, and was nominated by the Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Song and nominated for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture by the Golden Globes. Pavarotti was nominated by the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor and Worst New Star as well as a nominee for Worst Screenplay for Norman Steinberg.

Reception

Yes, Giorgio grossed $2,279,543 in the United States.

Critical response

Yes, Giorgio opened to negative reviews and is considered Schaffner's weakest film. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert selected the film as one of the worst of the year in a 1982 episode of At The Movies.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote in her review: "LUCIANO PAVAROTTI has a food fight, rides in a balloon and sings I Left My Heart in San Francisco in Yes, Giorgio, a movie that means to be as broad and hearty as its star. These and other antics are the film's attempt to paint Mr. Pavarotti as a good sport, a regular guy. Not too regular, of course - at dependable intervals, Mr. Pavarotti's Giorgio Fini bursts forth with La Donna e Mobile from Rigoletto, or Nessun Dorma from Turandot, or something else designed to demonstrate his musical mastery. He sings Ave Maria and O Sole Mio and a painfully lighthearted new ballad by Marilyn and Alan Bergman. Yes, Giorgio wants it both ways, emphasizing Fini's affability and his genius in equal measure. As if that weren't enough, he is also supposed to be a world-class ladies' man. An opening title proclaims that this film is dedicated to lovers everywhere. [...] Mr. Pavarotti marches happily through Yes, Giorgio with an air of utter confidence. The story seems to strike him as a perfectly plausible one, and to some slight extent his optimism rubs off on the other players. Without him, there wouldn't be a movie here at all; with him, at least there is a good-natured spectacle. Not even his most ardent fans are liable to love it, but they probably won't find it intolerable, either. There's too much singing here for that. Opera puts me to sleep, one character is made to tell Giorgio, so that he can reply, That is because you have never heard me sing. He means it, he means it. Yes, Giorgio is rated PG (Parental Guidance Suggested). Its sexual innuendoes will not disturb children, although adults may find them alarming.

Release

Yes, Giorgio was released in theatres on September 24, 1982. The film was released on VHS on November 18, 1992, by Fox Home Entertainment. Yes, Giorgio was released on DVD on June 22, 2009, by Warner Home Video.