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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex* (1972)

A series of seven vignettes on sexually related matters: a court jester (Woody Allen) lusts for a Queen (Lynn Redgrave), a doctor (Gene Wilder) falls in love with a sheep, an Italian bride (Louise Lasser) appears to be frigid, a married man (Lou Jacobi) likes to dress in women's clothes, a game called What's My Perversion? challenges its panel to guess the contestant's sexual perversion, a giant breast terrorizes the countryside, the brain's control center attempts sexual penetration. Though it takes the title of the best selling non fiction manual by Dr. David Reuben, Woody Allen's portmanteau comedy bares little resemblance (thankfully) on the book. The movie is an amusing toss off made during Allen's lesser period (aka pre-ANNIE HALL) and gives him an opportunity to satirize 1950s horror films (the giant breast), 1960s Antonioni (the frigid bride) as well as FANTASTIC VOYAGE (the brain control center sequence). Not unexpectedly, some of the results are hit and miss. Still, each segment is short enough not to wear out its welcome (though some of its sexual attitudes now seem dated) as it breezily moves along. With Burt Reynolds, Tony Randall, Anthony Quayle, Regis Philbin, John Carradine, Jay Robinson, Pamela Mason, Geoffrey Holder, Heather MacRae, Robert Q. Lewis and Erin Fleming.

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