Storie di ordinaria follia (1981)

Poet/lecturer Charles Serking awakens from his alcoholic haze long enough to take a bus back to L.A. and plunge into an orgy of drink and sexual depravity.

Director:

Marco Ferreri

Writers:

Marco Ferreri (scenario), Sergio Amidei (scenario),

Stars:

Ben Gazzara, Ornella Muti, Susan Tyrrell

7 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ben Gazzara	...	Charles Serking
Ornella Muti	...	Cass
Susan Tyrrell	...	Vera
Tanya Lopert	...	Vicky
Roy Brocksmith	...	Barman
Katya Berger	...	Girl on beach
Hope Cameron	...	Hotel proprietor
Judith Drake	...	Widow
Patrick Hughes	...	Pimp
Wendy Welles	...	Runaway
Stratton Leopold	...	Publisher
Anthony Pitillo
Jay Julien
Peter Jarvis
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jean-Paul Boucher

Storyline

After a lecture where a poem is read out to a group of bored students, the alcoholic and sex addicted poet, Charles Serking, meets a young girl backstage. Then he travels to Los Angeles, and has sex with bizarre women. When Charles meets the gorgeous self-destructive prostitute Cass in a bar, he finds his soul mate and falls in love for her.

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Plot Keywords:

alcoholic | poet | bar | belt | reference to ronald reagan | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Italy France

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1981 (Italy)

Also Known As:

A hétköznapi őrület meséi

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

23 Giugno, Ginis Films, Alpes International Paris

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Charles Serking: What's your name?
Vera: Vera.
Charles Serking: Did you enjot it, Vera?
Vera: Yeah, like being raped! When I got off the bus, I thought you'd lose your nerve. Most men are cowards in the broad daylight.
Charles Serking: Cock-teaser!
Vera: [Smoking a cigarillo] I want you to be mean to me. Next time I want you to... use your belt.
Charles Serking: I don't wear a belt. You're gonna have to lend me one.
Vera: [She gives him a wide black belt and exhales deeply on the cigarillo] Come on, Tiger, whip me. I want you to beat me before you stick it in me!
[...]

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Crazy Credits

'Copyright' is spelt as 'copyrigth'.

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Soundtracks

"Smile Away The Rain"
Written by R. & M. Berardi
(r) Mureo Music Pub

User Reviews

Masterful vision of a man enslaved by sexual and alcoholic gluttony

Spectacularly sleazy, beautiful, boisterous and sexy, this is the real Bukowski deal, a booze-fueled erotic odyssey by the adventurous Ferreri with the perfectly cast Ben Gazzara as Charles Serking (Bukowski).

Ornella Muti, as Serking's sexual muse, is Venus incarnate and turns in a powerhouse performance as Cass, an emotionally damaged whore with a penchant for pain. The scenes of Gazzara swaggering in and out of LA's fleapit bars, apartments and hotel rooms convey a filthy, delirious ambiance that is vividly captured by Tonino Delli Colli's superb cinematography and Dante Ferretti's exquisitely oily production design. This is such an amazing looking film with a thick, steamy, anything-goes atmosphere of lust-ridden anarchy.

Much grittier than the accomplished "Barfly" and more watchable than "Love Is A Dog From Hell", the entire affair has an emotional, raw resonance that slavishly captures the Bukowski sensibility and remains consistently perverse in its singular vision of a man enslaved by alcoholic and sexual gluttony.

Phillipe Sarde's score is moody and rich, as is Gazzara's breathy voice-over.

A masterpiece.