1965's "Casanova '70" may be a one joke plot from director Mario Monicelli and producer Carlo Ponti, but it's played with wit by Marcello Mastroianni, the perfect choice to play a womanizing NATO major whose fear of impotence is dispelled by a need to be aroused by life threatening danger (not the classical Giacomo Casanova but a modern day equivalent). Conquest is simply too easy unless there is great risk involved, such as a dare to kiss a lion tamer in her cage with all lions present, or a prostitute so unlucky that all her customers meet tragic fates. His main squeeze is Virna Lisi, so charming and delightful that one hopes that she'll catch him in the end, but by far the most amusing femme fatale is played by Marisa Mell, as the countess whose jealous husband has a history of murdering her suitors. This takes up the bulk of the picture's second half, but with Michele Mercier ("Black Sabbath"), Beba Loncar, Margaret Lee, and many others offering prime Italian pulchritude one truly cannot complain about any lulls in the action, repetitive though they may be.
