O Deputado Erótico

Whenever you talk of Lucio Fulci, you immediately think of the his role as the Godfather of Gore. Films like Zombie and The House by the Cemetery are more well known by this director, but he made many films before that were comedies and westerns. This is one of his satirical comedies that is both surreal and a major did at the Catholic Church and Italian politics.

I would not presume to get all of the jokes in this film, as most are not known outside of Italy, but it was funny enough when they lampooned the Catholic Church and their involvement in Italian politics. There are also laughs aplenty at the military and the police as they attempt to stage a coup. I would not like to give away military secrets, but the clandestine operations in this film remind me so much of what our country does to it's "friends," and vice versa.

There is even a nunspoitation aspect to this film as the Presidential candidate goes to a convent to get treatment for his particular paraphilia, and manages to deflower 21 nuns in a single night. His dreams had nuns in lace habits that exposed their breasts and buttocks so that he could grab them. A nun who got left out managed to find him and they enjoyed a night of passion.

This was hilarious and sexy and surreal and irreverent. Fulci at his best.

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.

This film is still hilarious and sexy as hell 48 years after it was made. For an Italian political satire/titillation vehicle, that's a hell of an achievement!

A happy punter.

Italian cop & mafia thrillers of the Seventies regularly brought up political corruption and drawbacks, but a dark comedy on said topic was a rare thing. And that's exactly what horror cult director Lucio Fulci had in mind with „...All' onorevole piacciono le donne".

Senator Giacinto Pupis is a successful politician, bachelor, totally asexual and married to his job you could say. Now, while running for state presidency, he has developed a nasty habit: He can't control his urge to grab womens' butts. When such an incident is even caught on film and he's blackmailed, he flees into a convent headed by a friar who's dabbling in psychology and tries to help Pupis. Meanwhile in Rome, rumours around Pupis' mysterious disappearance spread: Police, army, mafia, and the unscrupulous cardinal Maravigli suspect a coup and a chain reaction gets started...

This movie did have problems with the Italian censorship board, but as so often, the extra publicity made it even more successful. It's easy to see why some people felt offended, as the politicians and state representatives are shown at their worst – stupid, greedy, malicious. The Catholic Church is getting hit the hardest, however, with Cardinal Maravigli depicted as puppet master that will work with the Mafia and will kill anybody who might cause problems to his interests. This is a very biting, dark satire that can at some points astonish and offend. Everybody gets the just desserts.

While the English title might suggest an easy erotic comedy, the movie is clearly talkative, plot-driven, has depth. A lot of parties and characters are introduced, and especially while Pupis is in the convent, a very complex subplot unfolds. For such a vehicle you need a convincing lead actor, and Lando Buzzanca is great as usual.

There is a marginal amount of nudity during the hilarious dreams (and one daydream) of Pupis. But this gets pushed extremely after 85 minutes, when Laura Antonelli is seen for about fifteen minutes – mostly in the nude. Her part is not written too well (added very late on request of the production). Why on earth would Pupis overlook the probably hottest nun ever during his crazy night at the convent? Said cathartic experience would have served far better as the turning point for him, and not this single encounter. Well, I certainly won't complain about seeing the nude Laura, what a feast for the eye, even with her extremely short „nun" haircut. There is at least one good aspect about all this: The "German" Italian of the convent members is as ridiculous as it is funny (all added in post-production dubbing of course).

So overall, „All' onorevole piacciono le donne" is a dark, fun and biting satire, focussing on the political aspects, and benefitting from the great Lando Buzzanca. Definitely offending and not stopping for anything. If you expect a typical sexy comedy, you might be disappointed and should better go for „Il Merlo Maschio" - Lando, Laura and lots of fun.