Les motorisées

I enjoyed this Italian comedy about car driving by women.

Five different stories: the two Catholic sisters carrying an old man, the prostitute Lola and her caravan, the lady in the convertible car and the sportsman, the female driver and her first accident and the fake traffic policeman and the women.

A comedy with a great touch of humour: the sister Maria and her strong language, the sister Teresa and her great energy, the malice of Lola, the relationship between the lady driver in her convertible and the sportsman-the great pressure on Walter by his trainer, his fiancee and the manager-, the astuteness of Camillo who has been hit by chance by the young female driver or the tribulations of the unemployed Urbano Cacare as fake vigile.

I enjoyed very much the performances of Ave Ninchi, France Anglade, Ennio Girolami, Carlo Pisacane, Bice Valori, Pierre Doris, Walter Chiari, Sophie Desmarets, Toto, Liana Orfei, Anna Campori and Raimondo Vianelli.

At once feminist and non-feminist , "le motorizzate " is a film made up of sketches about "women and cars" . In the prologue,one is told that the car was to man a way to escape from women;but little by little , they have taken their driving licence and now they meet their male counterparts on their own ground .

1."Carmelitane sprint" : two nuns have to take a grumpy old man ,a commie, to the hospital ;sister Maria is modern, she does not let anyone tread on her shoes ,and she uses words and sentences which scandalize sister Teresa who is out of time and who ceasessly quotes the Holy Writ.The young sister,who carelessly drives ,may have inspired the nun who appears in all the "gendarmes " movies starring Louis De Funès .

2.la roulotte squillo A prostitute uses a trailer to "work ";it begins well enough with her triumph over a Civil Service which demands a mountain of bumf .But the rest is disappointing.

3.La signora ci marcia : a female driver helps a runner for his training ; the ending is funny but it's a bit overlong.

4. "Un investimento secure" : a pedestrian gets knocked down by a female driver ;he is not really injured ,but he pretends his foot hurts and he wants to see a doctor to get an indemnity ; a true doctor could not do the trick ,so he phones his friend Righetto.This is the funniest segment , with many sudden new developments, Billy Wilder's "fortune cookie" (1966) in miniature.

5.Il vigilo ignoti: to make some money ,a guy (Toto) passes himself off as a policeman (vigile ) ,but his uniform leaves a bit to be desired and he winds up in the court :but a female lawyer defends him and tells he's the only cop who treats women galantly.Besides ,he's got a very fair idea : the fines should be in proportion to the bad driver's income ; they are hard on the poor and next to nothing for the rich: an idea to remember.