Los hombres las prefieren viudas (1970)

User Rating:

(awaiting 5 votes)

Director:

León Klimovsky

Writers:

Elizabeth Szel (story)
Ramón Torrado (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 August 1970 (Spain)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Marisa is an employee in a travel agency. She is in mourning and her workmates call her in fun 'the little widow'...

Cast

María Mahor
Juanjo Menéndez
María Isbert
Tomás Blanco
Luisa Sala
Valeriano Andrés
Guadalupe Muñoz Sampedro
Julio Carabias
Mariano Ozores padre
José María Tasso
Mery Leyva		(as Mary Leyva)
Carmen Porcel
Adriano Domínguez
Eva Guerr
Julián Navarro

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

Spain

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Company:

Leda Films Productions S.L.

aka "A Soldier Named Joe"

Pretty interesting if ultra low-budget, obscure & low key Leon Klimovsky film about a US Army deserter who flees a court-martial in Vietnam for his dream life as a concert pianist, gets caught up in an espionage ring, and falls in love once or twice. James Bond babe Luciana Paluzzi plays the Italian waitress and concert cigarette girl who inspires him & loves him ... and adds a certain amount of gravitas to the proceedings just by standing there. The supporting cast is made up of familiar names & faces from the Euro Horror, Spaghetti Western and Euro War films made by Klimovsky at around the same time (1970).

According to a "trivia" entry made by a fellow IMDb user, frequent Euro genre distributor/impresario Sam Sherman (FRANKENSTEIN'S BLOODY TERROR, CRYPT OF THE LIVING DEAD) found the movie to be "unwatchable" and hacked it apart for use in a film he called MEAN MOTHER about two Vietnam deserters -- one black, one white -- who pursue a life of crime apart from one another, but who's paths cross from time to time. What I found is a very different movie with no soul brother deserter, but DOES have a sub-plot involving a Russian opera star who the hero helps to defect to the west.

SO ... a bit of a different turn here for Mr. Klimovsky, best known to English speaking audiences for his cult horror movies with Spanish horror star Paul Naschy (WEREWOLF SHADOW, DR. JEKYLL VS THE WEREWOLF, and my favorite, VENGEANCE OF THE ZOMBIES) or perhaps a couple of his Spaghetti Westerns (DOLLARS FOR DJANGO with Anthony Steffen). Mr. Sherman probably blanched at the idea of having Spain substitute for Indochina more than objections to the story's plot line about a US Army deserter from the then-raging Vietnam War. The results may not have been up to his personal standards, but we are talking about the guy who invented the term 'Zompire', meaning a zombie crossed with a vampire. Everyone has their bad days, and maybe he was just in a rotten mood when encountering this for the first time.

I actually must admit not being sure if it's even a very good movie, though the women are all gorgeous, there is an excellent jazz/classical piano musical score, and I like how the film "virtually" globe-hops across three continents using stock footage, maps, and title cards. And that may be the film's greatest contribution: Here's further proof that with a bunch of friends, some props, a camera, and two or three interiors you can re-dress to simulate different places, and you can shoot a movie on any old back lot & have it be set anywhere in the Cosmos.

6/10 ... Well, what are you waiting for? Go make your movie!!