La grande débandade

Italian director Enzo Castellari is not the most well known name, but he got a little bit of publicity thanks to Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds", whose title is based on Castellari's movie "The Inglorious Bastards". Another one of Castellari's movies is the comedy "Le avventure e gli amori di Scaramouche" ("The Loves and Times of Scaramouche" in English). It casts the late Michael Sarrazin as the romantic rogue, trying to woo women in revolutionary France.

I would have liked the movie better had Ursula Andress (as Josephine Bonaparte) gotten more screen time. Even so, there is one shot of her that makes the whole movie worth watching, and another scene has her act out her most iconic appearance in cinema. That's enough reason to see the movie. The rest of the movie is funny, but seems disjointed.

Michael Sarrazin had such a promising career when he was young (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, The Sweet Ride, The Film-Man Man). What happened? I guess losing the part (because of his agent) of Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy did him in. Anyway, this piece of 18th Century JUNK is beyond description. The most horrifying musical score in memory.

A 2 out of 10. Best performance = Ursula Andress (the only saving grace in the film - beautiful & fiery). Ms. Andress is used to this style of goofiness. Most "comedies" portray Napoleon as an idiot or mentally unbalanced, but this one takes the cake (let them eat it). Unbelievable waste of money spent on this European turkey that makes you cringe with the bad gags, overabundance of stunt men, thousands of extras and just plain creepy. AACKK.

It took me about four hours to finish this dud. It's so boring that if you try to watch it all at once, you might just lose your sanity! Castellari, a usually fine action director, stumbles with this crude spoof, which is set in the Napoleonic period. He knows what he's best at, of course, so he throws in lots of fight scenes, swordfights and big battles, but since when are these things a substitute for humor? Not even the voluptuous Ursulla Andress can save this. (*1/2)

The performances in this are amusing and well worth the time in front of the t.v. Napolean seems like a dim-wit, but you can't help but like his character. Scaramouche has a way with the ladies that is campy but fun. And, if you're an Ursula Andress fan, watch it, you won't be disappointed, but you will wish she had more screen time.