The song first appeared in the soundtrack of the Martin and Lewis comedy film The Caddy, released by Paramount Pictures on August 10, 1953.

[2] Lewis commissioned Warren and Brooks to write songs for Martin to sing in the movie.

[3] In the film the song is performed mainly by Martin, with Lewis joining in and then the other characters in the scene follow.

It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song of that year, but it lost to "Secret Love" from Calamity Jane starring Doris Day.

[citation needed] Music critic Joe Queenan has described the song as "A charming, if goofy, parody of popular Neapolitan organ-grinder music," and observed "That's Amore was one of many songs from the early Fifties that helped rehabilitate Italy's image as a land of magic and romance that had somehow been lured from its festive moorings by the glum fascist Benito Mussolini.