LA PARTE PIÙ APPETITOSA DEL MASCHIO, Pioneering Italian sex film

La parte più appetitosa del maschio (1979), directed by Petunia Lawrence Hamilton [Lorenzo Magnolia]


It looks as if the European softcore genre and its subsequent hardcore development attracted a great many directorial obscurities whose sole film credits until then had been as on-set assistants. Such is the case of Lorenzo Magnolia who, working on a script by the prolific Giovanni Simonelli, made La parte più appetitosa del maschio, an Italian-German co-production that, although little-seen, still enjoys a controversial reputation for its pioneering place in the history of the Italian porn movie. The hardcore trend had already been taken up by the Italian Emanuelle films, although only in their foreign versions, and it was D’Amato (perhaps inevitably) who made the first domestically-screened hardcores with his late-seventies Dominican series, although these wer first shown in the 80s. This apparently leaves three 1979 films, Giorgio Mille’s I porno amori di Eva, D’Amato’s Immagini di un convento (apparently) and Magnolia’s La parte più appetitosa del maschio, in that order, as the very first Italian hardcore films exhibited as such at home, even if the facts as such seem to be controversial (1). Anyway, La parte più appetitosa del maschio (made, like Mille’s film, for Pietro Beldepio) seems to have simultaneously circulated in Italy in an alternate softcore edition, which presumably corresponds to the Barcelona-dubbed version I have seen, first screened in Spain in 1982, precisely the very year “S” cinema was threatening to glut the market.

Simonelli’s story concerns an academic (played by veteran Renzo Rinaldi) who, engaged in writing a dissertation on the sexual stunts of antiquity, decides to hire a thief to steal, then return, precious material from a female rival scholar. The choice falls on the mathematician Eugenio Cavallo (Paolo de Manincor), himself engaged in intellectual pursuits of his own, having turned to theft as a means to finance an demonstration of his “Theorem of Cavallo”. Although nerdish, unprepossessing and bespectacled, Cavallo appears to be irresistible to women for reasons hinted at by the meaning of his Italian surname – shades of Pippo Franco’s adult comic book Peter Paper– and thus becomes much coveted by assorted females (one of them played by Cathy Greiner) who, on discovering his thefts, blackmail him into surrendering some of his money and providing them with constant sex in various different postures, corresponding to those being researched by the Rinaldi character. Following a seemingly endless series of scenes with Cavallo involved with his various women in increasingly difficult sexual acrobatics, there is a happy fairy-tale ending for all.

Certainly, Magnolia’s film can claim some interest on the basis of its pioneering or quasi-pioneering status. Its other asset lies in a great title: “the most delicious part of the male”. Otherwise, this is repetitious stuff, poorly paced and of no visual interest, although the lead does come across as a professional legit actor, and the women (especially Grenier) are generally attractive. There may be some background themes to be found here: like so many sex films, this one’s about power games and gaining the upper hand. Here, however, the theme extends to social and monetary status, bringing a reminder of the fact that in a society such as ours, promoted as providing equal opportunities for anyone, the reality is that it is much easier to become wealthier if one is wealthy for a start. Here, however, I wouldn’t dwell too much on this.

For the record, the music is routine synthesiser stuff with Rossini quotes. It is credited to Alessandro Alessandroni on my print and, reportedly, to Roberto Pregadio on others. The Spanish-language soundtrack features the late Gloria Roig providing her distinctive, slightly guttural voice for Cathy Greiner’s role.

(1) CINEHOUND poster A.N. could perhaps correct my account if erroneous.

Your account is extremely precise.
In Spain La parte más apetitosa del hombre was released in August 1981.
Was the Spanish version released on videocassette?

Yes

ZETA VIDEO S.A



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