''The Loves and Times of Scaramouche'' (Italian: ''Le avventure e gli amori di Scaramouche'') is a 1976 comedy film directed by

Enzo G. Castellari Enzo Girolami Castellari (born 29 July 1938) is an Italian director, screenwriter and actor. Life and career Early life Castellari was born in Rome into a family of filmmakers. His father was a boxer turned film maker Marino Girolami. His uncle ...

Plot

Along with his sidekick Whistle (Giancarlo Prete), Scaramouche (Michael Sarrazin) unwittingly becomes entangled in a plot to assassinate Napoleon - only to find himself the unlikely object of desire for Napoleon's lascivious new bride, the Empress Josephine (Ursula Andress).

Cast

* Michael Sarrazin as Scaramouche * Ursula Andress as Josephine De Beauharnais *

Aldo Maccione Aldo Maccione (born 27 November 1935) is an Italian film actor and singer who is a member of the Italian comedy rock band Brutos. He has appeared in more than 50 films since 1964. He was born in Turin, Italy. Filmography * '' La Grande maffia ...

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

* Giancarlo Prete as Whistle *

Michael Forest Gerald Michael Charlebois (born April 17, 1929), better known as Michael Forest, is an American actor who provides the voices for many animated titles. Early life Born in Harvey, North Dakota, he moved with his family at a very early age to Se ...

as Danglar * Sal Borgese * Romano Puppo

Release

''The Loves and Times of Scramouche'' was released on March 17, 1976.

Reception

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the '' Chicago Sun-Times'' gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and revealed that "I didn't stay for the whole movie, which is sort of unusual; I like to sit through even the worst films in the hopes of finding things more atrocious than I've already seen ... But 'Scaramouche' had such a deadening quality - it was so lacking in energy and invention and wit - that somehow I knew there was no hope." Richard Eder of '' The New York Times'' wrote, "This tedious, jumpy, inept effort to do still another comic take-off on historical swashbucklery is as bad as impalement." Arthur D. Murphy of '' Variety'' dismissed the film as "a banal Italo-Yugoslavian alleged comedy effort" that was "silly, juvenile, hokey and mostly vulgar nonsense."

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

of the '' Chicago Tribune'' gave the film one star out of four and wrote that it "gets old fast unless you have an insatiable appetite for seeing actors beaned with salamis and butted with sabres." Gary Arnold of '' The Washington Post'' called it "a lot of title for very little entertainment" and a "strenuous throwaway production." Linda Gross of the '' Los Angeles Times'' called it "a silly, slapstick spaghetti spoof of swashbuckling adventure movies" and "a badly-dubbed hodge-podge" which "lacks a deft historical perspective so even the artful battle footage by photographer Giovanni Bergamini looks like it belongs in another kind of movie." Maurizio Cavagnaro of the Genoese newspaper ''Corriere Mercantile'' defined the film as an "indigestible mess".

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* 1976 films English-language Italian films English-language Yugoslav films 1970s Italian-language films Films directed by Enzo G. Castellari Films set in the 1800s Depictions of Napoleon on film Cultural depictions of Joséphine de Beauharnais Italian comedy films 1976 comedy films Films scored by Fabio Frizzi Jadran Film films Yugoslav comedy films 1970s Italian films Danish comedy films {{1970s-Italy-comedy-film-stub