I first saw this film in a cinema at the time of its original release - then again on TV about ten years later - then AGAIN some time in the PC eighties (once more on TV: but this time, seriously BOWDLERISED) so I am able to appreciate it from three different viewpoints.
And each time, I have to confess to rather LIKING it. It's a bitter-sweet comedy, MILES from Norm's usual style - and yet that is half its appeal.
Of course, fans of his "gimp" movies were outraged. Of course, PC types waiting for him to get his comeuppance for his character's indiscretions were mortified when he just went back to his wife with renewed vigour. And of course, having been made by Mssrs Tenser and Golan, it was CHEAP.
But think about it for a minute... It avoids ALL of the clichés that most scriptwriters would have fallen for. It finally moves the Little Man AWAY from the character he'd been playing for sixteen years. And it does actually explore some of the issues of "free love".
There are really very FEW films that take such a non-judgemental look at a CONFUSING time. In Britain, the period from mid-'69 to mid-'71 was RIFE with sex comedies and horror flicks that took advantage of the UK censors' overnight relaxation on nudity - "Au Pair Girls", "Games That Lovers Play" and "The Vampire Lovers" to name but three - in fact, for those two years it seemed OBLIGATORY to include a nude scene in EVERY movie made for adults. But this film is so much MORE.
As a 56-year-old, I still believe that Norman's "On The Beat" (see elsewhere in these chronicles) is possibly the greatest British comedy film ever made and this doesn't come CLOSE. But do not dismiss it - it was never intended to. It revealed a different side of Sir Norm...and incidentally, most sides of the lovely Sally Geeson!
I wonder how it went down in Albania...
And each time, I have to confess to rather LIKING it. It's a bitter-sweet comedy, MILES from Norm's usual style - and yet that is half its appeal.
Of course, fans of his "gimp" movies were outraged. Of course, PC types waiting for him to get his comeuppance for his character's indiscretions were mortified when he just went back to his wife with renewed vigour. And of course, having been made by Mssrs Tenser and Golan, it was CHEAP.
But think about it for a minute... It avoids ALL of the clichés that most scriptwriters would have fallen for. It finally moves the Little Man AWAY from the character he'd been playing for sixteen years. And it does actually explore some of the issues of "free love".
There are really very FEW films that take such a non-judgemental look at a CONFUSING time. In Britain, the period from mid-'69 to mid-'71 was RIFE with sex comedies and horror flicks that took advantage of the UK censors' overnight relaxation on nudity - "Au Pair Girls", "Games That Lovers Play" and "The Vampire Lovers" to name but three - in fact, for those two years it seemed OBLIGATORY to include a nude scene in EVERY movie made for adults. But this film is so much MORE.
As a 56-year-old, I still believe that Norman's "On The Beat" (see elsewhere in these chronicles) is possibly the greatest British comedy film ever made and this doesn't come CLOSE. But do not dismiss it - it was never intended to. It revealed a different side of Sir Norm...and incidentally, most sides of the lovely Sally Geeson!
I wonder how it went down in Albania...