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Thanks for the memories!

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Humor doesn't travel well. When it comes down to the genuinely culture-bound folk farces of France, Italy or Germany, us poor foreigners are frequently left scratching our heads in disbelief. Produced primarily for local consumption, a surprisingly large number of these were exported throughout Europe, a handful even reaching American shores. This was usually down to one added ingredient that would never fail to make audiences put up with as much frantically running about, falling down and door-slamming as their perpetrators managed to cram into an hour and a half, i.e. nudity ! In the land of pasta and pizza, this was to become an entire sub-genre unto itself, the so-called "sexy comedy", full of randy bug-eyed males drooling over curvaceous sex goddesses in form-fitting peekaboo frocks forever exceeding their grasp. Fellini and Passolini may have represented the "respectable" face of Italian cinema to the rest of the world, but it were these lusty little laugh getters and their dark counterparts, the sick and twisted "giallo" murder mysteries, that duly raked in the cash at the local box office.The Martino brothers, Sergio and Luciano, both still alive and active, were key figures in Boot Country's popular cinema of the '70s. Usually, the first would direct while the other produced, but they were pretty flexible. Together, they would mine every possible genre likely to generate a profit, from stylized slashers like ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK and THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH to fundamentally old-fashioned adventure yarns spruced up with sex and violence such as THE GREAT ALLIGATOR, MOUNTAIN OF THE CANNIBAL GOD and the delirious ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN a/k/a SCREAMERS.Taking along Algerian born leading lady Edwige Fenech, who had bared all in their aforementioned "gialli", they embarked on a series of naughty numbers featuring popular local comedians such as Aldo Maccione and Renzo Montagnani setting up ludicrously elaborate schemes (which inevitably back-fired) to lure the lady into their lovers' lair. In retrospect, it's fairly amazing that this type of movie could still do the business it did in a decade as progressively permissive as the 1970s. Ostensibly about sex, they're surprisingly coy on the subject, offering little more than topless nudity and lots of leg shots, but they provided a guilt-free opportunity to enjoy the exposed female form as opposed to the burgeoning porn industry which left nothing to the imagination and has forever suffered society's two-faced repercussions and repression because of its insolence. Their minds may have been in the gutter, but the visuals remained comparatively chaste.GIOVANNONA LONG-THIGH (HONORABLY DISHONORED) offers a good example of what the genre was all about. About to be sued for polluting a nearby stream with chemicals, the Straccolone cheese company tries to sway the deciding vote of a morally upstanding Member of Parliament (broadly portrayed by the late Vittorio Caprioli, who went from Fellini's VARIETY LIGHTS to playing Claudius to Penthouse Pet Anneka Di Lorenzo's depraved empress in Bruno Corbucci's insanely enjoyable MESSALINA, MESSALINA!) by playing to his sole weakness, defendants' sexy spouses. As the wife of factory owner La Noce (Gigi Ballista, who had a bit part in Alan Parker's MIDNIGHT EXPRESS) is a pious prude, it's up to his bumbling underling Albertini (Pippo Franco, previously partnered with Fenech on UBALDA, ALL NAKED AND WARM) to provide a suitable replacement. Initial attempts predictably fail, producing "humor" of the most groan-inducing kind (primarily aimed at homosexuals and homely girls), until he finds fledgling streetwalker Coco whose shapely stems once earned her the nickname the title suggests.What follows is a seemingly endless pile-up of mistaken identities borrowed from French bedroom farce – minus most of the sexual release that was considered a Continental prerogative – as characters exchange rooms in the middle of the night, invariably winding up with partners other than those desired. Though she looks absolutely stunning, Fenech often seems inexplicably side-tracked in her own star vehicle, kept out of proceedings for long stretches in time and then silenced when she does appear, first as a means to guard the amorous Parliamentarian from her prostitute's potty mouth and later inadvertently drugged out of consciousness. Fortunately, she would take a more pro-active role in subsequent fare including the popular SCHOOL TEACHER and POLICE WOMAN series. Meanwhile, Franco provides the pratfalls as the hopeless klutz who, naturally enough, gets the girl in the end. One of the downright funniest bits has him picked up at night by the driver of a Maserati who, as a radio news report informs, proves an escaped mental patient, played with scene-stealing relish by Sandro Dori with an infectious mad giggle. Also look for minor skin starlet Patrizia Adiutori as sexy secretary Luisella, who can't be rightfully considered for the job because of a jealous boyfriend. She had supported Fenech before on MADAME BOVARY and turned up in several DECAMERONE type carnal fables, including Joe D'Amato's CANTERBURY N° 2.

Not, for me, as funny as 'Umbalda, All Naked And Warm', from the year before and also starring the lovely Edwige Fenech but still pleasant enough. All the usual Italian preoccupations on view, Catholic church, bribing of government officials, streetwalkers, although now I think of it barely any eating! Unless you count the seductive sucking on a bread stick from Edwige, not much eating at all. As usual although it is the men who come up with all the scheming it is the women who make the running in all the action. And action there is in this sunny farce, non-stop, actually which prevents it from getting too dull . Added to which some of the jokes really are funny, if only the bumbling Pippo Franco weren't quite so bumbling, I quite liked him in Umbalda but less so in this. Bit of a Benny hill finale this is not meant to be serious and it does have Edwige in various stages of loveliness.

Italy didn't exactly hold back when it came to ripping off films back in the seventies - everything from Dirty Harry to Jaws got the Italian treatment, but I must say I never expected to see an Italian sex comedy version of the classic romantic comedies of thirties USA! Even more surprising than the premise of this film is the fact that it's good! Sergio Martino, a director who tried his hand at a number of different genres, but will always be best remembered for his superb Giallo efforts such as The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh and The Case of the Scorpion's Tail, has put together a delightful comedy that works thanks to the fact that the action never lets up, and it's really quite funny! The plot focuses on Commendatore La Noce, a man who has polluted a river. He realises that he has to bribe an honourable to get away with it - but the problem is that the honourable in question IS completely honourable. However, he does have one vice - he likes to sleep with other people's wives. Not wanting use his own frigid other half, the Commendatore lets his assistant find him a prostitute to act as his wife.It was actually quite odd watching this film as after watching a number of Italian sex movies, I've come to expect a lot of sleaze. This one features brief nudity and some swearing, but it's extremely tame overall. Martino has made the film more 'cheeky' than anything else, as the lead characters are sexually promiscuous, but sex itself isn't actually seen. This is no bad thing, however, as loads of sex would have distracted from the comedy. Of course, my main reason for seeing this film was because it stars the beautiful Edwige Fenech - and although I say this almost every time I see one of her films, she really has never looked better than she does here! Martino and Fenech worked together on a number of occasions throughout their careers, and it shows as the director really knows how to make best use of his stunning lead actress! The plot is quite incidental to the set pieces, but it's not important as the film is never boring. The scenes aboard the train midway through are the best, but the film introduces new things to chew every time it seems to be drying up, and this ensures that Giovannona Long-Thigh is absolutely great fun to watch!

Although usually I wouldn't touch such lowbrow comedies with a ten-foot pole in spite of their vintage, ever since I attended the 61st Venice Film Festival in 2004 and met with several second-league (but, as it turned out, still highly enthusiastic) Italian directors, I've been trying to catch up with any of their films which crop up (invariably late at night) on Italian TV practically every week! This fondly-remembered (but, in retrospect, only very mildly amusing) sex comedy is chiefly notable today for two reasons: it marked a turning point in the careers of both its female star (the half-Maltese Edwige Fenech) and director Martino, both of whom were chiefly known until then for a series of grisly and erotic giallos; and also because its suggestive title – which translates roughly to "Joanie Longthighs, Honorably Dishonored" and which was changed at the last minute to emulate the unexpected success of Lina Wertmuller's current film, THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI (1973) whose original title was also similarly long-winded (as would come to be her fashion) – got it into hot waters with the censors at the time.Fenech is, of course, lovely and throws herself enthusiastically into the role of a streetwalker with a heart of gold who is engaged by a shady businessman to pose as his wife in order to seduce a Government minister with a roving eye for other men's wives in return for some official favors; unfortunately, contrary to expectations, her nude scenes are few and far between and never quite as explicit as previous films I've watched her in like TOP SENSATION (1969) and THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH (1971). Incidentally, unlike her sometime co-star Barbara Bouchet, even though she was present at the Venice Film Festival I attended in her capacity as co-producer of the Al Pacino/Jeremy Irons version of THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2004), she did not appear at any of the screenings of her films or the press conferences which preceded them! Anyway, in this film, which plays like a low-brow, broader version of a Feydeau pochade with a dash of "Pygmalion" thrown in for good measure, Fenech was reteamed with Italian comic (and future TV show host) Pippo Franco after another "celebrated" and controversial sex comedy, QUEL GRAN PEZZO DELLA UBALDA TUTTA NUDA E TUTTA CALDA (1972), which I've also caught up with quite recently and enjoyed slightly more. Ultimately, Vittorio Caprioli (a prolific character actor I "discovered" at the Venice Film Festival) as the womanizing MP and Riccardo Garrone (as Fenech's pimp who's got ideas above his station) come off best. Having said that, the film does manage to amuse in spots and the reckless driver (which turns out to be an escaped blind lunatic) and the final 'pimp duel' sequences are the film's highlights. My local DVD rental store has gotten hold of a couple more of these Italian comedies on DVD and, against my better judgment perhaps, I'll give them a try too one of these days