Giovannona Coscialunga disonorata con onore

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.

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

Comic movie that has some funny moments but also some very low ones. The plot, while not exceptional, develops smoothly and Fenech is perfect in the part of the woman of the street.

The absolutely gorgeous Edwige Fenech is reunited once again with comic Pippo Franco for this Sergio Martino-directed Italian sex comedy. Their last pairing was Ubalda, All Naked and Warm.

Fenech enthusiastically throws herself into the role of a streetwalker with a heart of gold who is asked to pose as the wife of a shady businessman (Gigi Ballista) in order to seduce a government official (Vittorio Caprioli) into reopening a cheese factory that was closed for pollution.

The usual sexual hijacks ensue! Very little sex, just occasional nudity, and a lot of screwball comedy.

Fenech looks magnificent. This was Martino and Fenech's first sexy comedy after a string of successful giallos and set the tone for future entries in the genre.

It was starting to look like a Benny Hill movie at the end, but everything worked out.

The owner of a cheese factory is trying to get an Italian government official to look the other way at the industrial pollution his factory is creating. He finds out the "honorable" official has a thing for other men's sexy wives. Unfortunately, his own wife is a devout Catholic and pretty unattractive to boot, so he entrusts his dimwitted assistant to procure him a fake wife. After the first potential "wife" turns out to be a transvestite, the desperate assistant picks up a very sexy streetwalker (Edwige Fenech), who unfortunately also turns out to be hilariously profane and uncouth. The movie than turns into a kind "The Pygmalion"/"My Fair Lady" on the fly as they try to pass her off as a more respectable lady, and the zaniness increases when the industrialist starts to fall for the official's own very large wife, while the official's puritanical battle-axe of a secretary tries to sabotage the whole thing, and the bumbling assistant continues to mess things up further.

This sex comedy has the usual nude scenes from Edwige Fenech, but it's a lot more enjoyable than the vast majority of Italian sex comedies because it's a lot more satirical and clever, not to mention genuinely funny in places. Obviously, Edwige Fenech is gorgeous, but there was certainly no shortage of gorgeous women in 1970's Italian sex comedies. Fenech, however, shows some genuine comic talent that puts her above the likes of Gloria Guida or Nadia Cassini, who were equally ubiquitous in these kind of films, but were more just eye candy. And it helps that this film was directed by the talented Sergio Martino, a regular collaborator with Fenech (his producer brother, Luciano Martino, was a one-time paramour of Fenech, but it was their professional collaboration that proved the most fruitful).

I actually rented this thinking it was a "decamerotici" or other period sex comedy like "Ubalda--All Naked Warm" which Fenech was known for. It is actually more a political satire, like Fulci's "The Eroticist" (albeit with more "Benny Hill"-style high-speed antics and other "physical humor"). Like that one it may be "too Italian" for some people, but also its pretty clever for an Italian sex comedy, hell, for ANY sex comedy.