The year 1970 must have been a very special one for Lando BUZZANCA (1935 - 2022) and the Italian sex comedy. IL PRETE SPOSATO by Marco VICARIO opened in October 1970 and grossed an outstanding 2.4 billion ITL at the Italian box office.
Lando BUZZANCA plays a Sicilian priest who is called to Rome and confronted with the all too permissive society of the Italian capital. Beautiful women swarm around the handsome but extremely God-fearing priest, who eventually falls in love with a likeable prostitute (Rossana PODESTA, married to director VICARIO). But before that, there are ravishing performances by the most beautiful CINECITTA divas: The Italian actress Silvia DIONISIO plays a student at confession, and the German actress Karin SCHUBERT from Hamburg, who will be celebrating her 80th birthday in a few days, takes the dashing priest to Rome as an attractive Vespa driver. The most memorable performance, however, is that of the fantastic Barbara BOUCHET, who gets to splash around naked in the swimming pool. Incredibly good!
This Commedia Sexy was not really that funny. In the following years, Lando BUZZANCA would be seen in even better sex comedies. The film about a priest who falls in love and wants to marry at least temporarily was too harmless (apart from the magnificent performance by La BOUCHET) and all too predictable.
Fun fact: In Rome, BUZZANCA, as Don Salvatore, looks after a group of German-speaking seminarians who are of course - how could it be otherwise - particularly harmless and prudish.
