In the laugh du jour department, this arcane bit of movie scholarship: men-about-town who settle down once they meet that special virgin. (Hat tip, John Timpane.) This list is good as far as it goes, but it is far from comprehensive.
This underexplored subgenre of the romantic comedy flourished in the 1950s, that decade of double whiskeys and double-standards. My personal favorite is The Tender Trap, with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds. (The Tender Trap is a good name for this type of film.) Les Girls (Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall and Taina Elg) is pretty terrific, as is the Audrey Hepburn Virginathon Love in the Afternoon (with Gary Cooper), Funny Face (Fred Astaire) and Sabrina (William Holden and Humphrey Bogart). Oh, yes, and Flower Drum Song (James Shigeta and Miyoshi Umeki) and the original Where the Boys Are (George Hamilton and Dolores Hart), a surprisingly sharp group portrait of what were then called good girls and nice girls. In the modern era, I suppose Clueless could be included. Am I missing any playboy-taming virgins? Your favorite(s)?
Ask Any Girl...Shirley McClaine, Gig Young, 1959.— dottiepark- Well, the reason Doris Day became a joke with critics is that in so many of her later romantic comedies, she was always defending her honor (in PILLOW TALK, LOVER COME BACK, THAT TOUCH OF MINK, which is so hysterical about it, the suggestion that she might even kiss Cary Grant is so horrendous she breaks out in a rash), and Sandra Dee was also worried about her purity (especially when she took over the role of Tammy from Debbie Reynolds). And in terms of Debbie Reynolds, in THE RAT RACE, she's the most virginal dance-hall girl imaginable. But the 1950s brought some of the most vehement virginity-defenders this side of the far right. And it wasn't just in comedies: in EAST OF EDEN, Julie Harris's Abra gets flustered because James Dean's Cal gets her hot and bothered in a way that Richard Davalos's good Aron doesn't. And Natalie Wood goes crazy in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS because (as she screams while running down the hall naked) she's still pure!— darylchin53
- As of late, it's hard to find a virgin in the movies!— MojoMama
- Does the 40-year-old virgin count?— carrierickey
- Carrie—I think the word “virgin” is being applied too broadly here. Doris Day, for example, never came across as a virgin in her films (Oscar Levant’s quip notwithstanding) but as a no-nonsense woman with standards who refused to sleep around. There’s a difference, right? I adore Doris but I agree with Daryl about “That Touch of Mink.” She was 42, I believe, when she made it – way too old for the role – and it’s slightly ridiculous that a middle-aged woman would get flustered at the prospect of being kissed by a man, let alone sleeping with him. Day was a victim of miscasting in that film, but then what actress wouldn’t want to play opposite Grant in a romcom? Given this line of logic, I can’t think of any leading female characters in past films who were supposed to be virgins (save possibly for Geraldine Page in “Summer and Smoke” – does that count?). Maybe Martha Hyer in “Some Came Running”? I think mojomama is right – it’s hard to find a real, genuine virgin in movies – past or present.— Pash
- Didn't the Cheech and Chong movies have a lot of virgins in them? They passed on sex to chase dope? That's really something to emulate.— Delaware Jim
- Shirley MacLaine was in a bunch of these RomComs - how about All in a Night's Work with Dean Martin?— Ms. J
- Maybe not in the "man about town" category, but I love the running joke in "Dragnet" with Tom Hanks and Dan Ackroyd. Throughout the movie, Dan refers to the girl he loves as the "Virgin Connie Swail." Until the very last scene. He tells Tom he spent an evening with "Connie Swail". Tom says, "Don't you mean the Virgin Connie Swail?" Dan gives him a upraised eyebrow. Tom does a double take. Up with ending Dragnet theme: Da, da DA da...— cft
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