Taxi Girl (1977)

Director:

Michele Massimo Tarantini

Writers:

Luciano Martino (writer)
Francesco Milizia (writer)

Release Date:

15 April 1977 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Marcella (Fenech) inherits a taxi business from her father and now sets out on the job of her life. With each new fare she becomes involved with sex and crime all done up 70's Italian comedy style |

Plot Keywords:

Italian Sex Comedy | Female Nudity | Stripper | Sex | Taxi

Cast

Edwige Fenech	...	Marcella
Aldo Maccione	...	Adone Adonis
Michele Gammino	...	Walter
Gianfranco D'Angelo
Alvaro Vitali
Giacomo Rizzo
Gastone Pescucci
Rossana Di Lorenzo	...	Ornella
George Hilton	...	Ramon
Enzo Cannavale	...	Commissario Angelini
Enzo Liberti
Adriana Facchetti
Franco Diogene	...	Sheik Abdul Lala
Thomas Rudy		(as Thomas Rudi)
Dante Cleri

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Filming Locations:

Rome, Lazio, Italy

Company:

Dania Film

Movie Connections:

References 8½ (1963)

Fab Cab comedy

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

In my time I have seen quite a few Italian comedies starring cab drivers, but none lovelier than Marcella (Edwige Fenech). Trouble seems to follow her all over Rome. If it's not ex boyfriend Roman (George Hilton) stalking her, it's a powerful sheik (Franco Diogene) offering her a permanent job (with matching 'I dream of Jeannie' outfit) or an encounter with drug dealer Adone Adonis (Aldo Maccione). Luckily Marcella knows the local commissioner (Enzo Cannavale) well: they share a lottery ticket. Michele Gammino and Gianfranco D'Angelo play a pair of bumbling motorcycle cops, with the former having the hots for Edwige while the latter thinks he's Charles Bronson. Oh yes Alvaro Vitali is also here, as a fellow cabby who always seems to be on his lunch break.

Former Giallo stars Edwige Fenech and George Hilton are reunited in this comedy, and their on-screen on again off again romance makes Sicilian cop Walter (Gammino)'s blood boil. Eventually superstitious Commisionor Angelini (Cannavale) recruits Marcella to go undercover as stripper Sheila Bloom to get close to Don Adonis. Don't bother to find any logic in this movie. Right from the start the lyrics to the main theme don't make sense, describing the titular 'Taxi Girl' as having black hair and blue eyes instead of Brunnete and brown. You would think the folks at I Pulsar Music should have been able to find out what Edwige Fenech looks like before hand.

It all culminates in the customary wild chase sequence with Mel Brooks overtones that destroys any sense of reality the story had left, yet still manages to include every single character in the cast (and the Seventh Calvary to boot). Apart from this messy finale, I was actually quite enjoying the fragmented story line for a change (it helps to be in the right mood). Probably because Edwige Fenech is a sexy straight girl to have all the action revolve around. She carries the film while the others come and go into her character's life. Aldo Maccione and Giancarlo D'Angelo have some hilarious bits, and though Alvaro Vitali is mostly wasted, he eventually teams up with George Hilton, who turns out to be the biggest ham of all. He really should have stuck to playing it straight (and the same should be said about his hairstyle).

8 out of 10