Obsédé malgré lui

Lando Buzzanca sex comedy by Lucio Fulci is worth seeing

From 1970 onwards, the Italian actor Lando Buzzanca (born 1935) played the recurring type of strong-armed daredevil in numerous "Commedias sexy all'italiana" from 1970 onwards, but with his mannered Latin lover behavior he sometimes took on neurotic traits. This made him the male figurehead of the sex comedies from Italy, which were quite successful in the 1970s. On the female side, Laura Antonelli and Gloria Guida, who achieved similar popularity, should definitely be mentioned here.

This little masterpiece, also known in English as "The Eroticist", is directed by the master Lucio Fulci (1927-1996), who was at home in every genre. Whether Giallo (The Seven Black Notes, 1977), Western (Silbersattel, 1978) or Poliziottesco (Das Syndikat des Grauens / (The Syndicate of Horror): something special always came out. Of course, he is known to most fans for his groundbreaking horror films (Woodoo Island of Zombies (1979) and Ein Zombie hing am Glockenseil / A Zombie Hanging on a Rope (1980)). Incidentally, he was also one of German GOLDEN GLOBE winner Elke Sommer's co-discoverers when he cast the young actress in his musical comedy "Ragazzi del Juke-Box" (1959). Here he takes on the Italian sex comedy and turns it into an interesting satire about politics, the Catholic Church and the mafia.

Edmondo Amati (1920-1992) was active as a producer, who also released the worth seeing EuroSpy films with Ken Clark and the spanking films "All for One - Spanking for All" and "Ettore lo fusto / The Horse Came Without Socks" with the great Giancarlo Prete.

Gianni Puppis (Lando Buzzanca) is a successful politician who strives for higher things, but has a significant problem: he can't keep his hands to himself. As soon as he sees a well-shaped bottom, he can no longer hold on and has to grab it. It's not just the women in his immediate surroundings who are popular victims. Even when his chauffeur Carmelino (Aldo Puglisi) is at his worst, the troubled Gianni cannot contain himself. When everything gets worse and worse and at the same time he has the prospect of becoming the next president, Gianni decides to take a radical cure. Through the mediation of Cardinal Maravidi (Lionel Stander), he is admitted to Father Lucian's (Renzo Palmer) institute, where the beautiful nuns Hildegard (Laura Antonelli) and Brunhilde (Agostina Belli) self-sacrificingly take care of his numerous needs. In the meantime, however, his political opponent Senator Torsello (Feodor Chaliapin Jr. - the Jorge von Burgos from "The Name of the Rose" (1986)) and the mafia boss Don Gesualdo (Corrado Gaipa) have also caught wind of the aspiring politician's little weakness , which they obviously intend to use for their own purposes.

Unfortunately, the monastic seclusion and the promising treatments failed to have a soothing effect on Gianni. At an important state reception, the hormone-stricken philanderer gets the better of it and he and the French ambassador's extremely attractive wife (Anita Strindberg) spontaneously disappear into the surrounding bushes. Now the fate takes its course and it comes to a more than surprising end...

In this frivolous fun, all the institutions of Italian society at the time get their fat. Fulci then had to struggle with the Italian censors to get his film into cinemas, which he managed to do after a certain delay. Of course, this film is not politically correct by today's standards. But you can certainly be amazed at what filmmakers dared to do 50 years ago. And you can dream a little too.

Italian director Lucio Fulci is best known for horror flicks. He ventured into political satire with "All'onorevole piacciono le donne" (alternately called "The Senator Likes Women" and "The Eroticist" in English). The main character is a libidinous politician who spends a few days at a spiritual retreat full of hot women. Italian politicians have a reputation as corrupt lechers - Silvio Berlusconi's shenanigans could fill a book - so this movie comes across as a little too obvious, but I liked it. I got the feeling that they had a lot of fun making the movie. Not surprisingly, it faced censorship when it got released; some people just can't take a little criticism.

As for the some of the cast members. Lionel Stander was an American actor who appeared in movies from the '30s through the '90s; he played the Ferris Wheel owner in Steven Spielberg's "1941". Corrado Gaipa played Don Tommassino in "The Godfather Part 2".

The main thing that I derived from the movie is the same thing that I derived from "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", "Dr. Strangelove", "Wag the Dog" and "Fun with Dick and Jane": comedy is the best way to draw attention to political issues. Really fun movie, if really weird. Those were some hot nuns.

If you are a Fulci fan, then you do need to see this, for if nothing else to get a sense of the different types of movies he's done. Its definitely not as good as Fulci's best movies he's known for. However, if you're not a Fulci fan, this probably isn't your cup of tea. Unless you like sex comedies from the 1970s, then you also need to see this film.

As far as the sex goes its actually rather tame. The controversy when this was released really comes from the depiction of the Catholic Church. Its actually a pretty good commentary on religious suppression of normal human sexual feelings.

Beware, the dubbing is typically awful.

The Eroticist

After reading the two line summary that describes this movie, I knew I HAD to see it.

What I got was a few genuine chuckles, some great female nudity and some pretty funny acting.

The movie is about a senator named Puppsi, pronounced Poop-C. Who succumbs to a "disease" where he can not control his sexual appetite. He's held off so long that he is actually grabbing bum bums and not even knowing it. The actor who plays Puppsi does a good job with the facial expressions and delivery. Great job casting this movie.

Obviously the movie is about him dealing with this "problem." There's a subplot involving the church and blackmailing that I really didn't care much for. You might, I didn't. The scenes weren't very funny and I found myself to be a little bored by them. But when Puppsi is on screen, it's pretty much always fun. Either by laughs or by some good nudity. By the way, the lead woman in this movie is gorgeous with a capital G.

The movie is pretty funny...if you enjoy sex comedies like Flesh Gordon 1 or 2, movies of that nature you'll most likely have a fun time with this.

Bringing this idea into film was awesome. I cant count how many times that I've wanted to squeeze a bum. Good comedic stuff from a legendary horror director.

Lucio Fulci is and will always be best remembered for the films that won him his 'Godfather of Gore' title, but like most of the best Italian directors; he was actually quite versatile and made films in many different subgenres. This is the second sex comedy I've seen from Fulci; the first being Dracula in the Provinces, and I would say that this one is second best; but that's not to say it doesn't offer what you want from a sex comedy (a good fun time) and I'm sure that most people wont be too disappointed. The title makes you think it's going to be an Exorcist parody...until you realise this film actually came out before William Friedkin's masterpiece. The base of the plot is really simple and we focus on Senator Gianni Puppis; a man with an embarrassing problem. The problem is that whenever he gets close to a woman's backside, he gets the uncontrollable urge to grab at it; and as you can probably imagine, that leads to a few problems! It's not long before he realises that something needs to be done about the problem, and he goes off to live with a priest (and some nuns) to help him solve it.

The first thing I noticed about this film was the near two hour running time and I worried that it might be heinously overlong. When the film is cracking jokes and sticking to the main subject material, it's fun and entertaining; but there's a bit too much focus on the political element of the story for my liking. I'm not sure if the film was trying to make some sort of political comment (seeing as I wasn't in Italy in the seventies), but even if it trying to do this; I wouldn't give it credit as that isn't what I tuned in for. The film does feature plenty of good moments, however, that more than make up for the problems. There's a host of beautiful women – the well endowed Laura Antonelli is a big standout towards the end of the film, and there's no shortage of nice female behinds for our hapless lead to grope. Lando Buzzanca is great in the lead role and fits into his character really well. The dream/fantasy sequences are all big standouts and Fulci obviously delighted in making things as lewd and surreal as possible. Overall, I'm happy that Fulci stuck to horror films in the long run - but he makes a decent sex comedy too and I'm sure most people who catch this one won't be disappointed!