Diesmal sprechen wir über Männer

Great acting lesson with the chameleon Nino Manfredi in this "Let's Talk About Men" Original title: Questa volta parliamo di uomini (1965). I've seen Manfredi in many films, I knew he was capable of making himself unrecognizable but not quite like that, here he surpassed himself, both in the way he looks, makeup, wigs, and the way he speaks, with different accents. The film is excellent and we see three actresses, also seen in many other films, here, doing some exceptional roles: Luciana Paluzzi in the best role I've seen her, also speaking with a super-comic accent, Margaret Lee, in a small but very convincing role as a stupid blonde, and the sweet Milena Vukotic, doing a character somehow in the spirit of Giulietta Masina from "La Strada". I suppose the knife-throwing episode was inspired by "La Strada", Manfredi's character reminds me of Anthony Quinn's Zampano. Lina Wertmuller proves that she is a great director. Back to Milena Vukotic, who is absolutely delicious in this film, she has worked with great directors such as Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, Franco Zeffirelli, Mario Monicelli, Andrei Tarkovsky, in extraordinary films like "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" Original title: Le charme discret de la bourgeoisie (1972), "That Obscure Object of Desire" Original title: Cet obscur objet du désir (1977), "Amici miei" (1975), "Nostalghia" (1983) plus the "Fantozzi" series with the one and only Paolo Villaggio.

Not a bad sophomore effort written by signora Wertmüller, it works better with the acting duels of Manfredi and his leading ladies: Luciana Paluzzi, as a thief wife, showing a comedy flair that was never exploited in American films, in the first story, "A Man of Honor"; Milena Vukotic in "The Knife Thrower", in a role "a lo Gelsomina" in «La strada», and Margaret Lee, as a dumb blonde wife, in "A Superior Man". "A Good Man", the fourth segment, is a bit too hard to laugh at. It seems an anticipation of «Pasqualino Settebellezze», with Manfredi playing a lazy, horny, unemployed worker, and Patrizia de Clara, as a suffering wife, but with little screen time. The main story linking the fourth segments is left open, without resolution.

"Let's Talk About Men" is a four-part episode film, all of which feature the very versatile Nino Manfredi, an actor well-known in Italy but remembered in the United States primarily for "Bread and Chocolate." The film is a sort of follow-up to the 1965 "Let's Talk About Women," directed by Ettore Scola and starring Vittorio Gassman in similar comic vignettes. In the first episode, 'A Honorable Man,' Manfredi learns that his bored but beautiful wife spends her time in jewel robbery and blackmail. When his own business venture fails, he finds his wife's work a lucrative alternative. In 'The Knife Thrower," a real rib-tickler, Manfredi plays an aging knife-thrower with poor eyesight. His aiming difficulties have damaged his wife, Luciana Paluzzi, a human dartboard with a penchant for masochism. In 'A Superior Man' Manfredi humiliates and torments his dopey wife and tries to get her to kill him, just for kicks. The best one is the last, 'A Good Man,' which may be intended as a satire of what is viewed as the male Italian's working habits or loafing habits. Manfredi is a professional idler who strikes for better pay from an olive grower and is indifferent to his overworked wife, Patrizia DeClara. Uniting all these episodes is the framing device of Nino Manfredi accidentally locked out of his friend's appartment after taking a shower, naked and roaming the stairs and halls, trying to get back in without causing a commotion. This is not a great film but wonderful fun and with a clever incisive edge in the tradition of "commedia all'italiana."

I liked this film some ten or twenty years ago when a lot of dubbed and subtitled versions were shown in movies and on TV. What happened to them? Did Lorimar just throw them all in the garbage, someplace? Just a quick capsule here that my favorite is where a bored, wealthy husband dares his unfaithful and unhappy wife (Margaret Lee) to murder him. Second, the near-sighted knife thrower and his crippled assistant who doesn't want him to retire. Luciana Palucci does quite well as a thieving wife whose husband decides to support her ambitions. Last comes a lazy husband with a wife who works hard to support their five kids, mainly because I don't understand Italian and could not guess anywhere in atom what it was about.