This is one of those things that has always been around in my life, and yet I had never actually seen the movie. Throughout my youth, the song “Never On Sunday” was ubiquitous – with those lyrics that tried hard to seem naughty in a time when there was absolutely nothing explicit to be found in pop music. First introduced in the movie, the song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1960, was a big hit here in the US by the Chordettes and then was covered by just about everyone, including The Ventures. I found its cheeky little allusions cloying and annoying, and as a result I never even considered seeing the movie. (As often happens, not only did the song lose something in the translation, the phrase “Never On Sunday” wasn’t even in the song originally, but was aded in the English version. This is why we can’t have nice things.)
Then we went on a little Jules Dassin/Melina Mercouri film spree a couple of years ago and gave this one a chance – and it turned out to be an utter delight, nothing at all like the cutesy song. It’s utterly charming, the story of a classics professor who tries to tame a sex worker in a Greek port town and, yes, learned a little about life himself. Listen, Hallmark movies didn’t come from out of nowhere. So yes, it’s a type, but it’s good.
I must have been fresh off seeing the movie when I made a rare trip to Siren Records in Doylestown a couple of years back and saw this at a bargain price. It’s still not clear what I was thinking, because I certainly wasn’t suddenly a fan of bouzouki music, but in fact it is pretty pleasant to listen to, if you’re in the mood for it, so no regrets.
The music is by Manos Hadjidakis. I would never remember that or look for it under his name, so like some other soundtrack albums, I’ve filed it under the movie’s name.
