The School Teacher

This was the first of several "Sexy Schoolteacher" movies Edwige Fenech appeared in, and also the first of a whole slew of "teenage" sex comedies featuring annoying Italian buffoon Alvaro Vitali as the world's oldest looking but, at the same time, most immature high school student.

The movie starts out with material not quite advanced enough to be sophomoric. Three "teenagers" (the main protagonist looks to be about twenty and his friends, Vitali and another guy, easily look thirty) are doing what male teenagers always do in these kind of movies--trying to get laid. They get nowhere with the girls their own age (other than spying on them in the locker room as they rub lotion on each other's boobs). They then decide to go after "older" women, which leads to a lame running gag where they spot a particularly attractive female body part only to find out it's attached to a grotesque woman or cross-dresser.

Not a moment to soon "sexy schoolteacher" Edwige Fenech shows up (although she is not really a schoolteacher but more of a tutor the protagonist's parents hire for their easily distracted son). These movies were really a step down for Fenech from the gialli she was making with her paramour/producer Luciano Martino and his director brother Sergio in the early '70's, but her presence in these kind of movies was a real step up for the movies themselves. Fenech was as beautiful and frequently naked as Gloria Guida, the other regular female star of these kind of films, but she was also a genuinely talented comic actress. It is very hard to believe a woman that looks like her would be so unsophisticated and respond in any way to the clumsy advances of the homely and idiotic male protagonist of this movie, but I guess that's half the appeal of these kinds of flicks, isn't it? This is a terminally stupid movie, but it is redeemed somewhat by the presence of Fenech.

To be honest, this barely holds together, but it does have Edwige Fenech and the tragedy is that not only is she obviously a massive visual attraction but she acts everyone else off the stage. Her subtle comic style and graceful movements are stand-out in an otherwise crudity. Vaguely related to our 'Confessions' films, Edwige made this after her glorious giallo and a couple of 'Canterbury Tale' spin-offs for husband, Sergio Martino. Ignoring the appalling over acting of most of the 'too old' school kids etc, there are interesting elements. Even in this silly little story, we know that the school finances are fiddled, that state housing is available on a 'what will you do for me' basis and gays are good for a laugh. Further, the mafia is more than hinted at and the male lead is encouraged to play gay 'women love the sensitive bit', in order to get near enough to grab, drug and almost rape. And all so that the man may turn out to be 'normal'. sounds like any other Italian movie when I think of it!

Let's all be honest here.

Because it didnt get a 5 for the story or acting.

With this movie the gorgeous brunette Edwige Fenech - here at the

top of her physical charme - passes from the Giallo movies that

started her career between the late Sixties and early Seventies -

several of whom are indeed very good and worth seeing - to the

cheap erotic pharce that delineate the better part of her career

before her retiring from the scenes and the start of a very fortunate

producing career - she has always been a bright and corageous

woman in her choices. This movie starts a franchise, made of a few movies with the

same title character, but not necessarily real follows up to the

ones before. Edwige is the wife of a gymnastic professor

(D'Angelo) that becomes involved in a torrid love passion with a

young student. Better forgive her for such performances: she has been better

School Teacher, The (1975)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Italian sex comedy has a nerdy virgin named Franco (Alfredo Pea) has so much sex on his mind that he begins to fail at school so his parents hire him a teacher (Edwige Fenech) to help but the sexy woman just makes it worse. His parents inform the teacher that he's gay, which the son decides to play along with in hopes that the teacher will try to "change" him. This was my first stab at this genre and if you were offended or found the American teen/sex movies to be dumb then you'd best stay far away from this thing. This movie is so incredibly over the top that I couldn't help but feel things were just too stupid for their own good. We have farts being set on fire, which is just the start of what happens. The film is far from a bad one but at the same time I really don't see too many people enjoying it. I think the biggest draw is going to be fans of the beauty Fenech who once again shows that she's too good for the material. She acts circles around everyone else in the cast and manages to turn in a very funny performance even though she's just shown as the piece of meat. Her beauty certainly can't be questioned and she has several nude scenes to show off even more. Pea is decent in his role but the character is just too annoying for us to really like. The comedy is very low brow and that includes many jokes about gay people, which certain groups will be offended by. The jokes are rather mean spirited as well and there's also jokes towards suicide and rape. The majority of the film has the student forcing himself on the teacher, which might not go over too well in America but if you don't take the film too serious and you're a fan of the star then just sit back and enjoy the movie for what it is.