The Eroticist (1972)

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

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.

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.

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!

Like Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci is most famous as a horror director. But also like Mario Bava (with "Four Times That Night"), Fulci has made here one of the better continental sex comedies I've seen. While most sex comedies contain broad and idiotic humor (think of the American "Porkies" or the long-running British "Benny Hill Show")this film contains well-aimed satire that cleverly skewers corrupt Italian politicians, power-mad clergy, the panting news media, and even the apathetic Italian public that suffers all these fools gladly. And while most sex comedies shy away from anything remotely controversial (as sex and nudity are often controversial enough)this movie courts it by viciously attacking its targets with hilarious but frightening caricatures like Lionel Stander's corrupt and evil archbishop who likes to "canonize" his enemies by murdering them and using their likeness on cheesy plaster saints.The main story is about, Giovanni Puppi (Gianfranco Buzzanca), a senator and potential presidential candidate who up until the present has been a discreetly-closeted homosexual (and thus a perfect candidate for the Vatican), but suddenly develops an irresistible urge to pinch women's butts. After he is caught on film groping a female dignitary, one of his cronies (a Catholic priest)sends him to a German nunnery/clinic for a cure. Unfortunately, as the monetary is staffed with the likes of Laura Antonelli and Agostina Belli, the "cure" ends up turning him from a repressed heterosexual into, well, a typical philandering Italian politician, much to the chagrin of his Vatican sponsors.This movie is surprisingly long on plot, if a little short on sex and nudity. Agostina Belli keeps her clothes on for once, and Anita Strindberg (as a diplomat's wife Puppi drags into the bushes at a garden party)is two large coins and some American dollars short of a nude scene. Laura Antonelli doesn't disappoint though as a guilty but lust-crazed nun who demands Puppis whip the sin out of her but only gets more aroused when he does. The best scenes though are several surreal fantasy sequences (similar to those in Fulci's previous film, the giallo "A Lizard in Women's Skin")where Puppi makes his away along a long line of bare-assed nuns or finds himself in a Boschian world where voluptuous women's butts protrude from giant flowers. There is some good comedy too--Giovanni Buzzanca is great, especially when he falls into one of his bottom-pinching spells, and there is a hilarious scene involving a Scotsman in a kilt bent over a broken-down car. This is may be sacrilege, but this movie is probably better than MOST of Fulci's horror films. Highly recommended.