Scrappy Italian comedy, made up of bits and pieces, manages to plunk down Goldie Hawn in Rome (this before her career got a second wind with "Private Benjamin"). She's an American actress who gets mixed up with her friend's married lover (Giancarlo Giannini). They have little screwball mishaps and misunderstandings before making hot love in a hammock. Sloppily-edited, and with fuzzy sound and gloppy cinematography, the picture would appear to be an almost total loss were it not for the stars, who have a modicum of chemistry. Besides, Goldie's almost always worth a look. *1/2 from ****
9 Reviews
Silly but fun
elevator_opratr10 May 2005
It's amazing how even big-name stars like Goldie Hawn, smack dab in the middle of their career can record a total idiotic flop like this that #1) no one ever heard of ... #2) really poor script, shooting, and acting ... but #3) is fun.
That's what this is. What in the name of heaven prompted Ms. Hawn to record this? I found this flick for one buck in the bargain DVD barrel at the dollar store. Was she desperate for work? This was post "Foul Play," so her career was already set. I don't get it.
NEVERTHELESS, now that I have all that off my chest, this was a fun movie, for what it was worth. Giancarlo Giannini almost reminded me a little of Peter Sellers with his slick but bumbling slapstick acting. Goldie Hawn complimented the slapstick.
It's worth watching. But unless you are a die-hard Goldie fan, don't go out of your way to find this rare film.
That's what this is. What in the name of heaven prompted Ms. Hawn to record this? I found this flick for one buck in the bargain DVD barrel at the dollar store. Was she desperate for work? This was post "Foul Play," so her career was already set. I don't get it.
NEVERTHELESS, now that I have all that off my chest, this was a fun movie, for what it was worth. Giancarlo Giannini almost reminded me a little of Peter Sellers with his slick but bumbling slapstick acting. Goldie Hawn complimented the slapstick.
It's worth watching. But unless you are a die-hard Goldie fan, don't go out of your way to find this rare film.
Giannini & Hawn were Great Together
whpratt120 February 2007
Giancarlo Giannini plays an outstanding role as a guy who has a mistress and the opening scene shows them both together in bed. Giancarlo leaves and comes back and finds Goldie Hawn answering the door of his mistress house. To make a long story short, he takes Goldie Hawn on a trip with him to his dying father's house. However, along the way he tries to hit on Goldie and as she sits innocently with her legs crossed. These two stars fight like cats and dogs through out the picture or just like a married couple after a year of each other. This is a very screwball comedy involving adultery and anything else that is not kosher. Goldie looks so young and beautiful and both actors give an outstanding performance. This is truly a great Goldie Hawn Classic film with plenty of laughs.
Lovers and Liars - and Lame
Harbert124 September 2009
Knew nothing of this film when I put it in the player, except that Goldie Hawn was central to it. I see the original film ran over 120 minutes, my disc says 96. It should have been even less. The plot is predictable - Italian male professional, married with family has to leave town because of a family crisis. When he can't persuade a woman with whom he had an affair a year previously to come with him on his trip, he takes in her place an American woman (played by Hawn) who happens to be staying with the first woman. The story is an attempt to develop the relationship between Hawn and Giannini.
Some of the element of unbelievability comes from the unbelievable boorishness of the latter. Some of it is contributed by the jumps in continuity. And the poor color control of my disc did not help. Oh, and did I mention the dubbing? There were some interesting insights into Italian family life, and there were some revelations in the last quarter of the movie that in a better director's hands would have portrayed some aspects of Italian family life to much greater effect. The funeral becomes a very interesting occasion.
There is brief nudity near the start and near the end of the film.
Some of the element of unbelievability comes from the unbelievable boorishness of the latter. Some of it is contributed by the jumps in continuity. And the poor color control of my disc did not help. Oh, and did I mention the dubbing? There were some interesting insights into Italian family life, and there were some revelations in the last quarter of the movie that in a better director's hands would have portrayed some aspects of Italian family life to much greater effect. The funeral becomes a very interesting occasion.
There is brief nudity near the start and near the end of the film.
TERRIBLE! Hawn is good, movie is BAD!
salmineo23 November 2003
As a huge Goldie Hawn fan, I collect all her films. I spotted this DVD for $4.99 brand new and thought it was a bargain. I have never heard of this title and now I know why. Set in Italy, many of the actor's voices(sans Goldie) are dubbed to English. The plot is lame, the acting is horrible, and only Goldie Hawn gives a good performance(I have yet to see a movie in which Goldie wasn't good). But even the talents of Goldie Hawn cannot save this horrible excuse for a film. If you are a Goldie fan, and feel you need to have this in your collection, don't expect anything special from this 1970's era film. If you are not a Goldie fan, avoid this!
one of Goldie's lesser known films
ksf-23 November 2015
Someone gets a call in the middle of the night. Someone finds out that someone else had a heart attack. Confusing ? It gets even more confusing, but then if you have the patience to hang with it, it does start making more sense. Anita (Goldie Hawn) meets some guy (Giancarlo Giannini), the ex lover of her roommate, and catches a ride with him. Much like Chevy Chase's Vacation, everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong. It's a grand adventure of a road trip, and they have some ups and downs along the way. Lots of writers listed on this one, so if it seems a bit disjointed, it has good reason to. Goldie made this one just after Foul Play. Giannini had also been nominated for an Oscar. The trivia says this was going to be a Fellini project, so as odd as it is, its probably more normal than if HE had done it!
This was finally directed by Mario Monicelli, who had been nominated for two Oscars for best writing in the 1960s. Overall, its pretty good; just a shame that Sophia Loren couldn't make it way back when. IMDb thinks the run time is 120 minutes, but the DVD from DML is only 95 minutes, so this version is missing a whole chunk. i will try to add this run time to IMDb.
This was finally directed by Mario Monicelli, who had been nominated for two Oscars for best writing in the 1960s. Overall, its pretty good; just a shame that Sophia Loren couldn't make it way back when. IMDb thinks the run time is 120 minutes, but the DVD from DML is only 95 minutes, so this version is missing a whole chunk. i will try to add this run time to IMDb.
Surprisingly urbane satire/comedy
jeremy311 August 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Giancarlo Giannini plays Guido Massacesi, a successful advertising promoter in Rome. At first, you think the movie is going to be like Three Coins In The Fountain. It turns out to be the opposite. Guido, a sex graving, middle aged man, pairs up with a beautiful, blond American named Anita (Goldie Hawn) on a drive to Pisa. Instead of being the dumb, blond, Anita turns out to be a lot harder to figure out than he imagined.
Guido reveals that he is impulsive, temperamental, and really troubled. He stops at his hometown and reveals his guilt about being the one successful son in the family - saved from having to slave his whole life away in a chemical factory. Guido also reveals his hypocrisy by refusing to allow his family to meet his new girlfriend. He fears, rightly, than they will just consider her a foreign prostitute.
This movie is filled with good satire. He causes a car accident, blames everyone else, but while at a hospital is moved by the permanent patients fated to live lives as paupers and confined. Suddenly, he feels a lot of guilt for who he has become - successful, spoiled, and arrogant. He also brings her to a tourist island, but because it is off season everything is closed. Lastly, there is a funny scene at the end, during the funeral of the father, that everyone reveals their spites, suspicions, and jealousies. All in all, it wasn't the typically romantic Italian movie. It was filled with social satire about the real state of Italy in the late 70s.
Guido reveals that he is impulsive, temperamental, and really troubled. He stops at his hometown and reveals his guilt about being the one successful son in the family - saved from having to slave his whole life away in a chemical factory. Guido also reveals his hypocrisy by refusing to allow his family to meet his new girlfriend. He fears, rightly, than they will just consider her a foreign prostitute.
This movie is filled with good satire. He causes a car accident, blames everyone else, but while at a hospital is moved by the permanent patients fated to live lives as paupers and confined. Suddenly, he feels a lot of guilt for who he has become - successful, spoiled, and arrogant. He also brings her to a tourist island, but because it is off season everything is closed. Lastly, there is a funny scene at the end, during the funeral of the father, that everyone reveals their spites, suspicions, and jealousies. All in all, it wasn't the typically romantic Italian movie. It was filled with social satire about the real state of Italy in the late 70s.
Promising, but ultimately fails to deliver!
JohnHowardReid12 March 2016
Warning: Spoilers
It always amazes me that some reviewers can give a movie a really splendid write-up and hail everything about it from the acting to the photography, from the writing to the direction -- and then give it a rating of five out of ten! I know I'm hopeless at maths, but to me a rating of five out of ten implies that the film was either a very mediocre offering or that it had passages of great interest mixed up with scenes that were seriously flawed, or maybe scenes that promised a lot of conflict but ended up as damp squibs -- like the scene in this movie in which the deceased's mistress joins the funeral procession but nothing happens, either positive or negative! And that it why I would normally have given it 5/10. But I've given is 6/10 because there is a scene of a road accident early on in the movie which is the most spectacular I've ever seen -- and as a professional film critic who averaged ten movies a week, I've seen over 20,000 movies in my time. So this one, plagued by scenes that promise a lot but deliver little, gets a six.
A little bit of foul play Italian style.
mark.waltz7 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Goldie goes Italian in this comedy co-starring Giancarlo Giannini, traveling with him and her cat as he tries to figure out a way to seduce her, believing at first that she hates sex but not realizing the truth that she's looking for romance even without a commitment. In typical Italian movie fashion, he's already married, and in spite of his desires for affairs is obviously in love with his wife. There are family issues concerning his father who is in ill health, and along the way, Goldie's actions cause a huge car accident, followed by other assorted pratfalls and hijinks that delays his arrival at home. Of course, all sorts of funny drama occurs with Goldie's presence at the funeral. And of course, there's an elderly Italian mama overseeing everything, wiser than all the middle aged people trying to comfort her.
For years, I've been led to believe that this was considered a fiasco, but hearing about that made me end up enjoying this all the more because it is funny even though the stars don't really have great chemistry. There's great location footage, and Goldie looks fabulous and of course is an absolute charmer so even in the worst of her movies, it's difficult not to at least admire her. But ultimately, the issue with the film is that it's pretty emotionally empty, not really leading to anything substantial, just to attractive people making their way, and dealing with wacky situations and even wackier people, a pleasant way to pass two hours and not text the brain, only eyes which is riveted to the Italian countryside.
For years, I've been led to believe that this was considered a fiasco, but hearing about that made me end up enjoying this all the more because it is funny even though the stars don't really have great chemistry. There's great location footage, and Goldie looks fabulous and of course is an absolute charmer so even in the worst of her movies, it's difficult not to at least admire her. But ultimately, the issue with the film is that it's pretty emotionally empty, not really leading to anything substantial, just to attractive people making their way, and dealing with wacky situations and even wackier people, a pleasant way to pass two hours and not text the brain, only eyes which is riveted to the Italian countryside.
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