The portmanteau Eurpean/Italian comedies of the 1960's like "Boccacio '70" and " Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" made a brief comeback in the 1970's with films like "Sex with a Smile" and "Tigers in Lipstick". This film is probably the most like the earlier films, however, because it actually uses different directors for the different episodes. Unfortunately, as is often the case, this leads to the different stories varying greatly in quality. Sergio Martino directs the first episode, "Saturday" featuring Lino Banfi (who else?)as a put-upon employee who has to put off his weekend getaway with his annoying fiancée to meet a visiting Japanese architect. He doesn't mind so much though when the "Japanese architect" turns out to be Edwige Fenech! (Fenech MIGHT have been remotely believable as a Japanese woman if they'd kept her voluptuous boobs and butt under wraps, but where's the fun in that?). This episode has subplots involving a cremation and accidental cannibalism, and it ends with everybody kung-fu fighting. But perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that Banfi (one of the most unattractive men in the world) actually gets the gorgeous Fenech at the end (although mercifully their romantic consummation occurs offscreen).
In the next story "Sunday" directed by Pasquale Campanile Festa, Michele Placido has his Sunday rest ruined by his upstairs neighbor's (Barbara Bouchet) suicide attempt. He ends up posing as her husband when her strict parents visit because her actual boyfriend is already married. He doesn't end up getting much sleep, but he is duly rewarded in her end, I mean, in the end. Neither of these first two tales feature the talented comedy directors Martino and Festa at their best, but they are fairly respectable efforts (at least, if you can get by the typically horrid English dubbing).
Fenech and Bouchet both have only brief nude scenes (at least for them), but the last story "Friday" which features the entire cast of showgirls from infamous Paris "Crazy Horse Showclub" makes up for any lack of skin. Unfortunately, this story, directed by hacks Castellano and Pipolo, is otherwise completely worthless. It is about the pimp/manager of a nudie dance troupe going to great lengths to stop one of his prima donna dancers from marrying a gangster. It winds up being a very sorry end to the whole thing and lamely attempts to tie the three random stories together.
This has its moments (all in the first two stories), but it is a pretty uneven effort over all.
2 out of 4 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
