Italian sex comedy with Lando Buzzanca and Catherine Spaak
This film by Giorgio Capitani, which is also known in German-speaking countries as "EIN GLÜCKSSCHWEIN MUSS KEIN FERKEL SEIN / A lucky pig doesn't have to be a piglet", lives up to its title above (DER GROSSE SCHWARZE MIT DEM LEICHTEN KNALL). A slight bang is an understatement. In the years around 1970, Lando Buzzanca, born in 1935, was the star in many Italian sex comedies, which, even in retrospect, are quite embarrassing (though one should keep quiet about the nonsensical stuff that was being filmed in German-speaking countries at the same time... I just say "report films"!).
In this film from 1973, Lando Buzzanca plays Demetrio Cultura, a Fiat dealer in beautiful Palermo who has a bizarre luxury problem. Although he is married to the rich and beautiful Elena (Catherine Spaak), he is increasingly unable to tolerate her snobbish ways. And the confused Demetrio is also very annoyed by the overly spirited outbursts of his passionate lover Elena. Somehow the good Demetrio is a man of a very old breed and not made for modern women. Then he accidentally hears about a crazy German in Argentina (muscle guy Gordon Mitchell in a brilliant supporting role) who provides submissive "slaves" from Latin America to similarly overwhelmed men like Demetrio. No joke! Demetrio gets on the plane, goes into the jungle with the behaviorally suspicious Mr. Von Thirac (...and "Mondo Cane" immediately comes to mind) and actually picks out a lovely jungle lady named Manua (Veronica Merin). Back in Palermo, the stupid Pasha lets his "slave" serve him from start to finish. The climax of the escapades is reached when Demetrio lets his Manua pull him through Palermo in the rickshaw. It doesn't take long for his fellow citizens to react...
This sex comedy really takes some getting used to. Politically incorrect, one can only be amazed at what the Italian filmmakers got up to. As already mentioned: In German-speaking countries, even stranger things were unleashed on cinema audiences in those years. At least "DER GROSSE SCHWARZE MIT DEM LEICHTEN KNALL / The Big Black Guy with the Slight Bang" still works reasonably well as a satire on machismo and the desire for submissiveness. There was probably something in the air in those years that this film could touch a certain nerve. The great thing about Lando Buzzanca is that he always makes a fool of himself. The man who is overwhelmed by the passage of time makes himself ridiculous and not the "enslaved" woman. The rest of the cast is worth seeing and makes the film a big slapstick that is entertaining and not to be taken too seriously.
One can always be amazed at what could be admired in the cinema in the wild seventies.
